We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Ghost King

from Black Inscription by Rabbit Rabbit Radio

/

about

Natalia’s star-lit reverie is shattered by the incongruous sight of familiar man-made objects – gloves, bottles, magazines, toilets, plastic bags, nets that continue to fish, even in retirement, a phenomenon called ‘ghost fishing.’ It is as if we empty our belongings into the ocean as an offering to the ghost king. He spins our bright plastic bits up into a swirling gyre, and watches the sunlight from above pour through like a giant stained glass window, making something grotesque and horrifying, yet oddly beautiful.

When WHOI research scientist Taylor Heyl was going over the data from a research cruise off the coast of Massachusetts, she sorted over 91,000 still images, cataloguing every piece of anthropogenic debris they found. She sent me the complete list, which became the impetus for this song.

lyrics

This looks so familiar.
Don’t tease me now.
This looks too familiar…
I know this place.

I’m swimming through my living room,
I know this place.
I’m swimming through my den,
I know this place.
I’m swimming through my kitchen,
I know this place.

This shouldn’t be here.
This is wrong, this is wrong.
I shouldn’t be here.
I don’t belong, I don’t belong.

The peace I’ve found, I borrowed it,
the place where I am one and none.
I borrowed it, I borrowed it.
But I can’t give it back.

This sanctuary harbors me,
I cannot let it go.
I borrowed it, I borrowed it,
but I won’t give it back.

All these things we’ve made, we made for him.
Sits and watches sacrificial rain.
Send them up and spin them round and round.
Watch the light shine through the vaulted crown.

credits

from Black Inscription, released January 11, 2018
Music by Matthias Bossi, Jeremy Flower and Carla Kihlstedt
Words by Carla Kihlstedt

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Rabbit Rabbit Radio image

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. ... more

contact / help

Contact Rabbit Rabbit Radio

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Rabbit Rabbit Radio recommends:

If you like Rabbit Rabbit Radio, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier chats about his new LP and the influence of Pharoah Sanders.
listen now