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about

The first thing I always think to say about “Silently” is that it features a choir of chickens. Well, not real chickens. Just… the band, doing our best chicken impressions. Because why not?

Second, this was definitely my attempt to write something in the vein of the Great American Songbook, back when it was okay to use phrases like “quite remiss” in pop music.

It was a ton of fun to record. Anders (the drummer on the rest of the album) had to leave early, so Rob Stroup sat in for this last song, assembling a drum kit out of boxes and kitchen utensils. And the drunken barbershop call-and-response vocals were handled by Rob Stroup and Naomi Hooley, both hilariously holding their nostrils closed while they sang.

Chickens. Mouth trumpet. Kazoo. Nasal and inebriated backup singers. All fun ways to dress up a sad song about “how the heat of desire is akin to a warm winter fire that burns bright, then expires, silently."

lyrics

Now I recall when you would first confide in me
how all of the world was singing its song inside of me
Only three words, and the melody lifts surprisingly
How the blue of your eyes was the same as the clear summer skies
In my mind they conspire
silently

Then came the day I couldn’t recall when first we kissed
It seems the memory’d strayed, but hadn’t we both been quite remiss?
Love went away, I’ll never know what becomes of bliss
How the heat of desire is akin to a warm winter fire that burns bright
Then expires
silently

We’re holding on
To holding on
Too long
But it’s always enough to say
we’ll stay
today

How the things we denied were the same as the things we relied upon
But required
silently

credits

from The Great Make Believer, released March 11, 2016

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Chris Robley Lewiston, Maine

"Chris Robley is at the top of his game with his new work." - KCRW

Maine-based singer/songwriter and award-winning poet Chris Robley (formerly from Portland, Oregon) performs orchestral indie-pop and fractured folk reminiscent of John Lennon, John Vanderslice, Harry Nilsson, and Joe Henry.

His poetry has appeared in POETRY Magazine, Prairie Schooner, and many other journals. ... more

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