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Dog Thoughts

by bellwire

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1.
Dog Thoughts 02:20
April 1st & feeling < foolish; I’m drawing ghouls on unlined paper, stacking paperclips, & counting my breaths. It’s more therapeutic nonsense. I have no WISDOM to impart. I have NO GOOD ideas but NONSENSE clogging my vas deferens and PAKT into my pinky toes like cottage cheese in condoms. Waiter there’s no poison in this kool aid. Waiter there’s a poison in my outlook. Waiter. Did I ask--(NO!) DID I ASK TO LEARN YER NAME?! No BRAINS left in this little headamine... so THIS’ll BE the DAY that I---DIE, OR! if today’s not good for you I could reschedule... I fuck the law & the law cums. [repeat (ad nauseum)] …& the law MAKES NO EYE CONTACT just a kicka the hoof & a squeal. Kendrick wants his mule & forty acres. Kanye pre-YEEZUS needs a getaway. Jigga is giggling on Letterman & I’m with him on youtube. I’m not with you tonight, Walt Whitman–– There are self-help books on my nightstand beside the astroglide, ashtray, gameboy, flu medicine, coffee mugs, doctor’s bills, & dental floss. If anyone needs me tell em not to–– I’ll be in bed.
2.
Time Out 02:31
I had my eyes closed. I had religion. I got away. I found my eyes closed. Without religion, I lie awake. I’m inside-outward and my bones will take me far away. CHORUS You got your path–– oh I got mine. I won’t get fat hovering over phone lines. You catch a cab to catch The Sun Lions. I’m burning candles flat and wishing I could call a “time out.” You are my side-soul. You’re my nutrition. You’re miles away. You’re soaked in flowers. I’m fingerpickin’. Let come what may. I’m sugar-powered, but my heart holds out I’ll be okay. CHORUS I had sense enough to call you here. My mind’s on guns and knives. Given enough chances to disappear, I can say I wouldn’t say no every time. I had my eyes closed. I had religion. I got away. I found my eyes closed. Without religion, I lie awake. I’m inside-backward and my bones will take me far away.
3.
It’s just happenstance. I’m a cold, cold hallway. I can’t ask for second chances... when you wade into snow without your clothes what do you know: it’s cold. CHORUS You go your way. I know you’re just a call away. That’s okay. I don’t need shit right now. I’m going my way. And yeah I’m just a call away, and I’m okay–– I just don’t need shit right now. Going out in the world… Oo! It can make my toes curl. I tell you one thing makes it easy… Guh-gimme my world framed by the red, red frames of my sun-cooked shades. CHORUS
4.
Let It Shine 02:32
Are you digging basements in basement floors? Could you even describe to me the outdoors? This is so fucked up! Let’s just see what she says. And keep on actin’ like I ain’t seen the deep end. You know what’s going on. This is always going on. CHORUS I’m never gonna let it shine. You said it was mine (this little light of mine). I’m never gonna let it shine It’s muh-mi-mine. Are you digging basements under basements? Come on. There’s roller derbies, fireworks and facelifts. Got the basketballs blown up let’s see what she meant. You got a new dog and Zoloft let’s see where we get. Buh-buh-buh-baby I told you. CHORUS I’m taking off I don’t like that look (no nono noooo no) Oh whatever I’ll just stay put(so so soo long so so so long) CHORUS
5.
JAKL 03:04
The sky was gray. My beard was chrome. I heard a cannon fire in the great state of Texas in a past life. My badge was lost and my breath too. I gave salute to all my predecessors standing in line. I had a dream I was a dog: a bright red jackal who would tear you limb from limb on the inside. CHORUS Those are the prettiest tanlines running across your spine. And I can’t make up my mind how to tell you. And please keep me awake. I’m a hope or two away from my true light if I could tell you.

about

"Crafty inventive songs infused with humor, wit and absurdity" - La Crosse Tribune

"[Dog Thoughts] is full of quick-witted, wordy, power pop akin to Elvis Costello or early-day Pavement." - Dig Boston

Bellwire deliver power pop in the tradition of The Nerves and Elvis Costello with their latest release, Dog T houghts. The lyrics have the unbridled urgency of long­lined 1960s Bob Dylan, but they’re contorted, turned inward, and sped up for the millennial attention span. The words come from frontman Tyler Burdwood, a spazzy and romantic rock and roll weirdo. He’s been writing music with guitarist Mike Holland for ten years, starting their first band at age 15.

This is the band’s second EP recorded and produced by Elio DeLuca (Titus Andronicus, Hallelujah the Hills). The band’s previous release, F ollow ing the Plan, was rooted in the imagery and conflicts of adolescence. Previous drummer, Chris Faulkner (now touring with G ymshorts ), made the band lean ahead of the beat and gave the EP a ‘77 punk feel. With Dog Thoughts, Bellwire go to college. The band loses their religion, learns to love hip­hop, and finds a new clock to play to.

Andy Fordyce, a jazz drummer teaching music at U­Mass Lowell, worked with Bellwire for the Dog Thoughts sessions. The album’s best musical moments come from the push and pull between Tyler’s sugary simple guitar riffs and Andy’s trained approach to rhythm.
The album’s last track, “JAKL,” is a song Mike and Tyler worked out seven years ago in a previous band. Tyler Burdwood said, “Most of the album is my songwriting, so it’s jagged and hyper­energetic. JAKL is the way Mike writes­­it has a much looser feel and previews the music we’re working on now.” It was written when the band practiced in a small New Hampshire town, contributing to the song’s pastoral vibe.
Mike’s artfully dragged JAKL guitar solo is stored deep down in muscle memory. The guitar solo his brother, bassist Jack, takes over the entirety of the headstrong garage banger "Let it Shine" is its total opposite. It is unplanned and foaming at the mouth, aspiring to Robert Quine in Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation.”

The album’s most extreme track is “Dog Thoughts,” a “Horse Latitudes” style rock poem. Tyler Burdwood recalls recording it: “We wanted to record everything live in the room together so we could react to each other in real time. I think I told Elio, our engineer, ‘Mike and Jack are going to play a deconstructed version of ‘Take a Walk on the Wild Side,’ while Andy plays jazz drums and I recite poetry.’ He said, ‘That’s sounds like a steaming pile of shit,’ but after recording it he told us, ‘That’s the first song on the album.’”

credits

released May 24, 2016

Tyler Berd--Guitar, singing, words
Michael Holland--Lead Guitar
Jack Holland--Bass, lead guitar on “Let It Shine,” back-up vocals
Andy Fordyce--Drums
Natalie Kovalcik--Back-up vocals
Matt Freake--Drums on intro to “Fleetwood Stakt”
Elio DeLuca--Organ, back-up vocals, auxiliary percussion
Sam Rheaume--“JAKL” words

Produced and recorded by Elio DeLuca at The Soul Shop in Medford, MA

Mastered by T.W. Walsh

Album Art
Drawings--Tyler Berd again
Design & Layout--Chris Chew

A big thank you to our loved ones and the people in our lives who love us.
LOVE is a mattress: soft and sturdy.

Thanks to Lauren Paredes, Luna Estey and Andrew Chenevert for workshopping the first draft of the “DOG ThOUGHts” poem.

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bellwire

Tyler Berd - Vocals, bass

Jake McKelvie - Guitar

Jeff Walsh - Drums

Jonee Earthquake - Pedal Steel

Music by Ty and Mike Holland

LP out 10/31
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