Recorded by Quince Ensemble.
LYRICS
I.
The sky is doing that thing we like.
We’re alone. Being bad.
My body weeps
until I get what I want,
until I get what I want.
The sky is doing that thing I like,
doing that thing that you like.
Doing that thing we like,
doing that thing that we like.
Death is the pearl in a writer's hand
That’s what you used to say.
I call you edge of my edges.
You call me the shell of the heart.
We just fuck until our bodies aren’t bodies anymore. Yeah!
The sky is doing that thing that we like,
doing that thing that we like.
It can rain all day if it wants to.
II.
You find yourself in action.
You wear a shirt with buttons.
You speak in boring passages.
You’re a tree emptying.
A train going by fast.
The fire’s gone out.
You’re still there, singing
The fire’s gone out
What’s happening to me?
The train rattles
the house like a wave passing through a boat. It shakes you and you shake out
all the bad things
you’ve done to yourself.
Text by Smith Yarberry (2021)
PROGRAM NOTES
Written in collaboration with Chicago-based poet Smith Yarberry (they/them), the surface of the text to Yarberry songs reflects a post-millenial disaffection and nonchalance. An unfocused skim through the text, which concerns love and relationships, might suggest to the reader lyrics to a pop song. Subtly poking through this casual attitude and narrative, however, are flashes of trauma and poetic insight.
Similarly, the music calls for vocal qualities of various vernacular styles, including R&B and soul. Subtly woven throughout the pop-influenced harmonies are microtonal colorations, moving forward the a capella repertoire but also paying homage to the expressive intonation of much of R&B and soul. The vocal demands for each singer are as difficult as any new music, but the musical surface is as constantly engaging and infectious as pop music.
Version of II. The fire’s gone out for soprano and prepared piano (dbl. keyboard). Recorded by Vidita Kanniks, soprano, and Georgia Mills, piano.