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Rabbit Rabbit Radio, Vol. 3 - Year of the Wooden Horse

by Rabbit Rabbit (Carla Kihlstedt & Matthias Bossi)

/
1.
WHIFF OF HEAVEN You’re the golden mean. You’re balanced in between. Don’t bury the map too soon. I caught a whiff of heaven. (Here we are again) In the night, the untraceable night, I caught a whiff of heaven. This story’s not mine to know. You be the preacher and I I’ll be the choir. I’ll be the devil and you be the fire. Alive alive alive alive alive alive again. This story’s not mine to read. I’ll read the map and you take the wheel. You set the trap and see how they feel. Alive alive alive alive alive alive again. It’s not mine to know, mine to tell, mine to read. It’s not mine to guess, mine to judge, mine to see It’s not mine. Not mine. It’s not mine.
2.
The Promise Oh, the rapture. Oh, the joy. Oh the faded love still fits and starts again. Oh, the muscles under soft, soft skin. Oh the helpless, the strong, the gleaming, the beaming, the promise, the promise, the promise. Look up again. I promise you light. I promise you the stars above. I promise you plenty. I promise you breathless love. Oh, the cage. Oh, the lion. Oh, the dart. Oh, the piercing blow. Oh, the stolen life, the watering mouth, Oh, the slow, slow, slow. THE PROMISE Light from above this table of ours. Leave us in peace. Leave us in pieces. I promise you bliss. I promise you hands held up to the sky. I promise you fury. I promise you inconsolable joy. I promise you rapture. I promise you inexplicable tears. I promise you the world. I promise you the world. Oh, light from above this table of ours. Leave us in peace. Leave us in pieces.
3.
NOKOMIS By the shores of Gitche Gumee, The shining big sea looming, Three sisters threw me from the starboard bow, Delivered 29 men below. By the shores of Gitche Gumee, I saw her point right through me. Nokomis daughter of the moon, she knew. She knew there wasn’t much left to do. By the shores of Gitche Gumee, We didn’t know her but she saw us coming. Nokomis, daughter of the moon, she called. She called the water to absolve us all.
4.
FALLING AWAKE Will you wait for me in the dark? Can you make it hurt from the start? Make a fool of me. Play your part. Sell an acre of my broken heart. I’ll sit up ‘til I stand up. I’ll stand up ‘til I run. I’m run down ‘til I’m face up. I’m face up when I’m dead. I’m dead because I’m living. I live against your will. Your will is like an answer. An answer makes me still. Keeps me from falling awake.
5.
NAMELESS Sign your name and sell your shadow. Hide inside another dream play. I’m in the right part of town. I’m in the wrong frame of mind. You’re playing games, throwing down. I’ll go along for the ride. Look at the face of the girl you can’t erase. She’s your prophet, she’s your queen today. Cast the play, cast your dream, and hear everybody scream. Just don’t ask her what it means to pay. I love you better namelessly. You’re a map to things I’ll never be, so paint me with your lucid lies. Speed is forgetting and speed is alone. So I’ll draw a line... A line across the salted earth, A scar across my memory. Just hold still, let me spin. Don’t say a word, Just let me in, China girl.
6.
THE PERFECT ABOMINATION Give my regards to your dear old ma. Tell her I'll visit soon, I swear. Has she become what she was working on all these years? I think I saw her looking at the sky. (Pull the trigger, let the rain come down.) I saw her standing in a field of flames. Is she still there? I meant to write a million times. But I couldn't put pen to paper to save my life. She said the fields were full of poppies when she was young. Have I become the thing we used to run from? They built a box that seeks all of the love that's missing. All of the warmth and the softness of bodies. Listen up in the thin air, the perfect abomination. Heavy rain comes down. Rain comes down. Untraceable. Unbreakable. Unthinkable. Pull the trigger, let the rain come down.
7.
MOINEAU JE NE SUIS PAS VOTRE PROBLÈME JE VAIS S’ENVOLVER COMME UN MOINEAU LE VENT EST VOTRE VOIX NOUS TOUCHONS À TRAVERS UN MUR CONTINUER À PRÉTENDRE QUE VOUS ÊTES MOI ESSAYER D’ÊTRE HUMAIN NE MARCHEZ PAS SUR LE VERRE NOUS AVONS CASSÉ LA NUIT DERNIÈRE S’IL VOUS PLAÎT CHANGER VOS VÊTEMENTS LAISSER LA CLÉ SOUS LE TAPIS ÉCRIRE SI VOUS VOULEZ
8.
ALL OVER AGAIN Pigeon-toed with a wobbly eye. I always cried when I put you on the subway. but you loved me, yes you did. I used to drive you home and not come up. Your mother always hated me. Take a walk past that place on 6th street where they sang you happy birthday. You said you hated Lou Reid and indeed, I saw you more as a bangles girl. Starting all over again. Starting all over again. I feel it starting all over again without you. Sorry doesn't matter when you're all alone. Maybe we'll paint a picture we can send back home. Did you know my self control is at an all time low? Better not to talk. Slide down the back seat of the cab. Please don't think I'm fucking with you. I'll be the worst you've ever had. Starting all over again. Starting all over again. I feel it starting all over again without you.
9.
THE BEAUTIFUL BLUR Sickly boys and churlish girls walk hand in hand. Angry angels and busy saints scour the land. The sweet smell of afternoon gin, and the black earth folds her in. Hands drop. Their defiance entwines. They march side by side making desperate lines. Look up! See his family name inscribed on the archway in a rainbow of shame. She fixes her mind on the one thing that’s still, but her thoughts spin around it so fast and the beautiful blur holds her steady. So steady. His culpable dreams tell her more than they ought. She hides away treasures the adjuster forgot. Let’s plug in the ocean to cover the din. Let’s plug in the ocean so the silence can’t win. There used to be stars here, she says, so he turns out the light and holds her steady. So steady.
10.
11.
UNIVERSAL ELIXIR Caution to the wind. We come from the water. Things that don’t go together. But do. Smoke of all sorts. What the body wants. Universal elixir.
12.
OBLIVIOUS And I remember this: Eyes bright with desire. I’ll keep alive the parts The parts I can’t forget. We cut the branch to spare the tree. The sun poured in, oblivious. We loosed the latch to catch the thief. We hid inside. The sun poured in, oblivious. And I remember this: Closing down. I fight my pillow. But I know I’m right. Can you taste my despair in your mouth as the the sun pours in, oblivious? Can you smell the exhaust, the exhaustion As the sun pours in, oblivious? We cut the branch to spare the tree. We loosed the lock to catch the thief. We tore the book to build a fire. We couldn’t look, But the sun poured in, oblivious. We meet without touching. We touch without feeling. We feel without seeing. We see without knowing. We know without learning. We learn without trying. We try. And I remember this: We changed clothes in the dark. I became you and you became me.
13.
Morning Song 05:46
Morning pulls you back to a world made new. She opens your lids on an old day dressed in light again. Send me a letter from this red day. Send me a letter.... Morning pulls you back to a world made new again She pulls you along, fragile and strong and bold as a midday moon. Send me a letter from this red day Send me a letter before it fades away.

about

Rabbit Rabbit Radio, Vol. 3: Year of the Wooden Horse is the third album by wife and husband team Rabbit Rabbit - Carla Kihlstedt (Tin Hat, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, 2 Foot Yard) and Matthias Bossi (Skeleton Key, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Cosa Brava, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth). It features guest appearances by guitarists Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Art Bears, Massacre), Nels Cline (Wilco), Mark Orton (Tin Hat, the Nebraska soundtrack), Shahzad Ismaily (Mark Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Secret Chiefs 3), Michael Mellender (Sleepytime Gorilla Museum), Ava Mendoza (Unnatural Ways), Joel Hamilton (The Book of Knots, Sasha Dobson), their long-time collaborator Jon Evans (Linda Perry, Tori Amos, Sarah McLachlan) and more.

For three years, beginning in February, 2012, they released a song on the first day of every month to their subscribers, along with a home-made music video, photos, studio notes, and other arguably relevant insights into their creative process. At the end of each year, they reordered and mastered the year's output and released it to the general public as an album.

In 2014, newly besotted with a their second child, one incredibly amiable fellow named Viggo, this guitarless duo invited their decidedly guitar-laden friends to help keep their ship on course. Every month, they invited a guest guitarist to send them a rhythm track to an as-yet-unwritten song. The pair then built a world of harmony, rhythm, texture and lyrics around each one. The result is an exhilarating mash-up of guitar-driven anthems.

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released July 1, 2015

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Rabbit Rabbit Radio Falmouth, Massachusetts

Rabbit Rabbit Radio is the song-spinning duo of Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi. Collectively, they are founding members of Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Tin Hat, 2 Foot Yard, Causing a Tiger, The Book of Knots, and Fred Frith’s Cosa Brava.

Drawing on their love of both art & folk song, industrial & improvised music and heart-wrenching balladry, their songs are raw, beautiful, sparse and rich.
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