Get all 7 Artmagic releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of I Won't Change You, The Songs Of Other England, Live, With Strings, "Down In The River" - Single, Become The One You Love, "Forever In Negative" - Single, and I Keep On Walking EP.
1. |
The Farmer And The Field
05:09
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All the long day working slow
Under a winter sky
Neatly ploughing row by row
Ready for seed to thrive
Take the strain
By wind or rain
’til the fields revive
One tiny square of a land quite bare
The earth is hard and alkaline
I tend my field
In hope it could yield
A better harvest in time
So I will work at the land they gave me
And pull it apart with steel
Let me work ’til the life has left me
Bringing the land to heel
The farmer and the field
Take the strain
By wind or rain
’til the fields revive
One tiny square of a land quite bare
The earth is hard and alkaline
I tend my field
In hope it could yield
A better harvest in time
So I will work at the land they gave me
And pull it apart with steel
Let me work ’til the life has left me
The struggle is all that’s real
The farmer and the field
The farmer and the field
’til the work is done…
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2. |
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A Kentish singer came
While late in bed I lay
I idled on the edge of sleep
And listened as he played
A voice of twisted branches
With tenderness perfumed
It was if a hawthorne tree
Had in the winter bloomed
As I came to he was telling
Of an endless morning light
I felt I’d woke to May Day dawn
That late November night
With a voice
Like a hook
Oh, he’s pulling me gently
To the old song book
And the dust blows away as he sighs
And the songs of Other England
Come alive
We comb the world for beauty
We pine for the unique
And then you hear a wealth of it
In England’s underneath
And this is how I found it
I let him be my guide
He led me up to the heavy doors
And flung them open wide
With a voice
Like a hook
Oh, he’s pulling me gently
To the old song book
We will hear what they left us to find
As the songs of Other England
As the songs of Other England
Come alive
With a voice
Like a hook
Oh, he’s pulling me gently
To the old song book
To be sung
All they need to survive
Hear the songs of Other England
The songs of Other England
Come alive
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3. |
The King Of Fishers
05:09
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I’ve lived this life so long it’s all I know
You’ll find me where the steady current flows
Casting hopeful lines to land a catch
Then home to feast on what the hook has snatched
All of us are swimming to survive
Running like the salmon through the lonely tide
I’ve come this far without a hand to guide
Crowned for all to see with hooks and flies
I live the dreams of poets and fools
I play the king of fishers
Between the rocks and the river pools
I play the king of fishers
Astride my canvas throne I rule my land
This tiny piece of England I command
The king of fishers
Alone by night I sink to fathoms deep
And dream of breathing water as I sleep
Oh I’ll see the lure of love before I wake
But never find the nerve to take the bait
Come the morning nothing will have changed
Trudging to the river to play the role again
Summer, winter, always in my place
Silent as another loveless day escapes
I live the dreams of poets and fools
I play the king of fishers
Between the rocks and the river pools
I play the king of fishers
Astride my canvas throne I rule my land
This tiny piece of England I command
The king of fishers
Wherever placid water flows
I play the king of fishers
As bitter seasons come and go
I play the king of fishers
I long to be pulled upstream
To where the water is wild
From the dead calm of my life
The king of fishers
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4. |
The Fruit Of The Mystery
04:08
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The beds are stripped and cold
The kitchen table bare and old
And thinning linens roll between
The crashing waves of the machine
The sun scratches at the clouds
The light barely bleeding out
Dull bells sound a call to pray
But she will keep away
The sacramental charms she wore
Abandoned on the bathroom floor
The decades of shadowplay
So easily they fall away
She says,
“Let everyone else be fed
On yesterday’s daily bread
I’ll feast on what I see
The fruit of the mystery”
I’ve lived too long for hunger
Now I will starve no longer
This harvest I will plunder
Take my fill of life and never want for wonder
We pay the price to live a life
I wither where I used to thrive
But time is marching on my door
So I won’t listen any more
Enough of that neurotic rage
That stumbles drunken from the page
Delivered in sombre tones
By men that love has never known
I’ve lived too long for hunger
Now I will starve no longer
This harvest I will plunder
Take my fill of life and never want for wonder
The beads on my rosary
Worn down with piety
The truth that they kept from me
The fruit of the mystery
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5. |
I Won’t Change You
03:51
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You can tie the rope
I will take the weight
I will let you be the trap
If I can be the bait
You can be the words
That I don’t want to speak
I will let you take the strain
If you’ll let me be weak
So stand in my way
Lead me astray
I won’t refuse
It’s up to you now
I could change my ways if I want to
But I won’t change you
Show me a sign
Or leave me behind
There’s nothing left
For me to prove now
I could change my mind if I want to
But I won’t change you
I won’t change you
I won’t change you
Once I had the heart
To love without a plan
I never questioned why
I fell into your hands
So maybe you are dirt
Then I must be the rain
And when your earth is parched and worn
I will fall again
So stand in my way
Lead me astray
I won’t refuse
It’s up to you now
I could change my ways if I want to
But I won’t change you
Show me a sign
Or leave me behind
There’s nothing left
For me to prove now
I could change my mind if I want to
But I won’t change you
I won’t change you
I won’t change you
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6. |
Black Flowers Bloom
03:42
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Rewind, replay
Every wasted day
Unspool your joy
’til nothing remains
Vicious is the bud that blooms
In those desperate afternoons
Flourishing where doubtful shadows loom
Shame, shame
The permanent stain
All’s consumed
And black flowers bloom
Shame, shame
The bitter blood can’t be contained
And all’s consumed
And black flowers bloom
How you struggle
To keep the past at bay
How you struggle
To throw the past away
It takes the garden by the roots
It coils around the tender fruit
Until it throttles every hopeful shoot
Shame, shame
The permanent stain
All’s consumed
And black flowers bloom
Shame, shame
The bitter blood can’t be contained
And all’s consumed
And black flowers bloom
Pulling up the roots
Pulling up the roots
Pulling up the roots
Where black flowers bloom
Pulling up the roots
Pulling up the roots
Pulling up the roots
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7. |
The Clean Room
03:47
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This is the clean room
Here we can help you hide
Free from the staring eyes
You never dare to meet
This is the clean room
You’ll be safe inside
We’ll seal the door from the other side
And leave you to retreat
For you we’ve made
The perfect cage
And here, in peace
You’ll be contained
Deaf to the lover’s call
Numb to the body’s needs
Here where inertia harbours you
In the clean room
Oh, it’s the clean room
Where the air is filtered
And change is kept at bay
Where the cold white bite
Of unnatural light
Is constant night and day
In the clean room
Where it’s always quiet
And always calm
Here where the outside world
Can never do you any harm
For you we’ve made
The perfect cage
Where sadness will not thrive
And joy won’t take
Deaf to the lover’s call
Numb to the body’s needs
Here where inertia harbours you
In the clean room
Don’t protest
We know best
Be the infant at our breast
Deaf to the lover’s call
Numb to the body’s needs
Here where inertia harbours you
Safe in the clean room
At peace, at last
The butterfly behind the glass
Pleased for the pin that runs you through
In the clean room
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8. |
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Birder girl
With a veil of rain
That was me on the estuary
When I was just thirteen
The skies alive
So much to see
As time ran rings
In a blur of wings
Around my book and me
I lived to see them flock and fly
Flock and fly in the Essex sky
With my boys’ own book of birds
The perfect gift for a girl
See the paintings come to life
Flip the pages, watch the skies
As the birds swoop down in number
In the boys’ own book of birds
So where’s that wide eyed girl
That learned to love the world
Cocooned in waterproofs
With redshanks calling
I never meant to stray
But so much gets in the way
And I grew up to be a stranger
To the boys’ own book of birds
The perfect gift for a girl
See the paintings come to life
Flip the pages, watch the skies
As the birds swoop down in number
In the boys’ own book of birds
Let me start again, let me start again
Find my way again, find my way again
Let me start again, let me start again
Find my way again
To the boys’ own book of birds
The perfect gift for a girl
And the paintings come to life
Watch the pages fill the skies
And let the birds swoop down in number
To wake the girl from slumber
I long to watch them flock and fly
Flock and fly in the Essex sky
I long to see them wheel and cry
Wheel and cry in the Essex sky
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9. |
Into The Light
03:39
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Lonely by yellow lamplight
Filling your pen
As the ebb tide drains your heart
The pearl forms again
Writing your way back northwards
Into the green
To dream of remembered hills
Where you’d never been
Every word from despair was torn
Down in the deep
Hidden from sight
But the roses outlive the thorns
Long as you sleep
They will survive
How did you bear that yearning
When it would come?
With the rage of cornered beast
Or the shrug of a tired man?
Was there ever burden shared
When the graft of the day was done?
Or only the narrow bed
To wait upon
Every word from despair was torn
Down in the deep
Hidden from sight
But the roses outlive the thorns
Long as you sleep
They will survive
Now you rest in the darkness warm
Down in the deep
Hidden from sight
Still your roses outlive those thorns
Though you may sleep
See how they thrive
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10. |
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We think we’re good
And pretend it is so
Until we draw blood
Then downwards we go
We think we’re civilised
It’s just a veneer
We barely separate
Reason from fear
We heed the voice
That makes it so clear
No more compassion
Only a sneer
We stalk the weak
With empathy frayed
Becoming animal
We circle the prey
An airless room
Bare and stark
The concrete walls
All burned and marked
See good, see evil
Can’t tell them apart
Here
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark of the human heart
The heart is cruel
And heavy with hate
Only intellect
Can balance its weight
With every beat
It begs to betray
Unless we temper it
Savage we’ll stay
An airless room
Bare and stark
The concrete walls
All burned and marked
See good, see evil
Can’t tell them apart
Here
In the dark
In the dark
In the dark of the human heart
An airless room
Bare and stark
The concrete walls
All burned and marked
See good, see evil
Can’t tell them apart
Here
In the dark
In the pitch black heart
In the dark
In the dark of the human heart
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11. |
Sing For The Snowfall
04:34
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The snow fell down
On the granite town
Quite suddenly
The dull grey streets
Under thick white sheets
Became poetry
With a cold white crown
And a dazzling gown
From dead end to mystery
But it was gone
In a day
That’s the price
The price that we pay
So sing for the snowfall
For as long as the moment remains
We keep no memory
Of pleasure or pain
’til the moment comes round
To remind us again
We got in
And if we’re lucky
We’ll get out without much of a fight
So sing for the snowfall
The sight of snow
Above, below
Is heavenly
And when I’m called
I hope it falls
So heavily
After the perfect white of winter
The sun renders all into slush
But to see
Even once
Even once
Was enough
So sing for the snowfall
For as long as the moment remains
We keep no memory
Of pleasure or pain
’til the moment comes round
To remind us again
We got in
And if we’re lucky
We’ll get out without much of a fight
So sing for the snowfall
Sing for your life
The boy at the window stares out on the canvas below
Full of wonder
As this new world glows
White crystals glisten as far as his young eyes can see
He’ll remember
Let him be
See
So sing for the snowfall
For as long as the moment remains
We keep no memory
Of pleasure or pain
’til the moment comes round
To remind us again
We got in
And if we’re lucky
We’ll get out without much of a fight
So sing for the snowfall
Sing for your life
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Artmagic London, UK
Artmagic is Suede guitarist Richard Oakes and singer/producer Sean McGhee .
“wistful…dramatic…casts an undeniable spell - 4/5”
Classic Pop
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