the shops are closed, at least in my imagination
nowhere to go, no jobs to do
I feel released from all consumer indecision
feeling pink & sleepy, dreaming through

these are the hard husks of my lonely fatalism
only a fool would see it so
I had no means, I had no way of buying trouble
so I stayed out of trouble, I stayed home

home – that’s where I’ll be
entirely on my own, I’m free to

I’m going to weave a nest around you where I find you
if not tonight, some other time
until I feel your shadow folding my horizon
there’s nothing lovelier than be alone

home – that’s where I’ll be
entirely on my own, I’m free to

I’m going to build a shed of leaves and shelter in it
& bring you home, my bowerbird
and be content until time starts to prise it from me
the one thing lovelier than be alone

home – that’s where I’ll be
entirely on our own, and free to

and when you eat me like a bird who eats the shell & all
your every word a kind of call
we’re going to pool together all of our resources
and spool it all together, here at home

we’re going to build a shed of leaves & shelter in it
only two fools would see it so
I’m going to feel your shadow holding my horizon
o, home

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Eliane Delage: guitar
Gjilberta Gelag: cello
Cathoel Jorss: song, vocals, backing vocals, production
Taylor Ryan: guitar, engineering, mix & mastering
Jaime Suarez: June drums
Dan Walsh: February drums

when we found
these lands of you here
we were blinded by our gods,
the greatest of whom is gold

and we started to find
more beads, more spoons here
wanting for our Queen
a valuation of some kind

and our primitive fears
gleaming through here
bleeding soil to stone
with our seeds stymied & blind

if all that is left of us
are these beads & these apologies
stumbling on the stars we’ve let come
between us and our early visions
we haven’t much left
of the certainties we started out with
I try to remind myself now and then

and exploring the land
hard hooves & shoes here
pulping elder trees
crushing mountainsides to lime

and our primitive fears
gleaming through here
bleeding soil to stone
with our seeds stymied & blind

learning back our hive mind:
that which starves you out cannot feed me
steering down the chemical aisle
poisons to flush, poisons to gargle

are we deaf
to the sound of courage
each of us on our own for so long
all we can hear is the city

now we can’t cooperate
and we say you can’t compete
keep unearthing the heaven here
wondering all the time

I fear what would come between us:
politics ~ that is, I believe being right
is worth more than your mindfulness
o, no matter what the world gets

throw it away when you’re done
throw it away down the barrel of your gun

if all that is left of us
are these beads & these apologies
stumbling on the stones we’ve ground down
to sand in our machine’s embraces

I fear what would come between us:
politics ~ that is, I believe being right
is worth more than your mindfulness
o, no matter what the world gets

throw it away when you’re done
throw it away
throw it away down the barrel of your gun

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Cathoel Jorss: song, vocals, backing vox
Tyrone Noonan: piano
Cass Maya: sound design, engineering, hand drums
Marko Djordjevich: drums
Taylor Ryan: mix & mastering
license
some rights reserved

Vow to Surrender

there is a new system & it’s
& it’s called McDonomics
you can only be there if you
if you vow to surrender
everything about you that could
that could get in the way of profits
and you can only be an artist
if you learn to market

o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
so I vow to surrender
vow to surrender

there was a world election & the
& the United States won
everybody voted & we
we all vowed to surrender
everything about us that made us
made us different from others
and we also lost everything
that we really had in common

o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
so I vow to surrender
vow to surrender

say you don’t remember voting
for the United States
you vote with your pocket every
every time you spend money
I have made a promise to the
to the landscape around me
not to the let the promises of
of advertising confound me

o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
but I vow to remember
o – o – o – o – o –
money pays my bills
o – o – o – o – o –
but I vow to remember
vow to remember
vow not to surrender –
I vow to remember

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Cathoel Jorss: production, song, arrangement, vocals
Taylor Ryan: New York engineer, mix & mastering
Damien Charles: Melbourne engineer
Davin Pidoto: Melbourne engineer
Sam Pankhurst: double bass
Brian Abraham: drums
Genifer Robin: backing vox
Julian Freshlife Jones: backing vox
Rockiem Thomas: backing vox
Swizzy Bank: backing vox

I came for
what you came for
my eyes blue like the sky
my heart blue like yours

show me your sleep
I’ll show you mine
garbled words in the night
as you work through your fires

sweet as rain
on our old roof
you’re only finer now
as your dreams find you

you are my sweetness
down to the sour taste of you
you are my saltpan
I’ll lick the bitter waste of you

cos I came for
what you came for
my eyes blue like the sky
my heart blue like yours

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Cathoel Jorss: songwriting, vocals, arrangement
Kelly Nagata Powers: piano
David F Gibson: drums
Alex Hernandez: double bass
Taylor Ryan: engineering, mastering & mix

slide past me slowly, no, don’t wake me
I want to stay the king of this landscape
and in my dreams, that’s when I’m entirely
ruler of all that I have invented …(repeat)

and all too soon I’ll wake
into an ordinary day …(repeat)

where is my castle, where my instinct?
everything vital fades away from me
I’ve led my dreams a merry chase, yes
I have looked cowardice in the face …(repeat)

when night is gone I’ll stay sleeping
because it’s easier than the day …(repeat)

o man, grasp me as you know best
I’m just sitting here, singing underneath my dress
hoping you might take yourself a hold of
any one of these threads… of these threads

just let me sleep… (let me sleep…)
just let me sleep… (just let me sleep…)
just let me sleep…
just let me sleep…

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Hue Blanes: vocal, piano
Brian Abraham: drums
Sam Pankhurst: stand-up bass
Damien Charles: engineer
Cathoel Jorss: song, backing vocal
Taylor Ryan: mix & mastering

Glad to Join the Army

if Mary had the money
she’d be glad to join the army
& to plant her feet, devote her soul
& regulate her wakings
cos the shoutings of the sergeant
drown the doubts that she has brought along
& traffic regulations that will keep us all in safety

as we hurtle to collision
with the ultimate decision:
that’s the wrath of an impersonal
and unnoticing Nature
who says: ‘look what you have done to me, and
see what you have made of me
you’ve locked the necks of mountains
and you’ve melted all the glaciers’

*had to go to war
*don’t be sad
*with a stable heart, we’ll meet again

*well it’s not my choice
*the government sent me to war
*but I’ll be back

*if I was a bird
*if I was an eagle
*then I would come flying towards you

& nothing’s growing easier
than ever we were promised
in the books we wrote some years ago, and
claimed they were the name of god
if God were here beside us
he’d be shaking his head, shaking his fist:
‘you were only selfish when I offered you stupidity’

now all the other animals
are fleeing from their only home
into the burning oceans & the canyons of your city
you say you didn’t mean it this way, you were only
trying to make some kind of difference
I want to make a difference. I want to ~
I want to ~

I want to ~ I want to ~

if Mary had the money
she’d be glad to join the army
where coincidence devotes its soul
to keep the human spirit
wholly separate from accident &
separate from body ~
and the heart & head conduct themselves
as though what’s thought is never felt
she handles the machinery
& greases down her weaponry
commando through the greenery
she’s feeling every second ~
and life has now a purpose
in this stolen sense of virtue – and she
puts her best breast forward
and she stiffens in the hatred
courage like an exoskeleton
to keep the human spirit in
we don’t respond to love sometimes,
we think of it as softening
I want to ~
I want to ~

*Tibetan language poem by Tenzin Choegyal & translated by Tenzin

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Tenzin Choegyal: arrangement, dranyan, voice, poem
Cass Maya: hand drums, arrangement, engineering
Taylor Ryan: remix & mastering
Cathoel Jorss: song, lyrics, voice, production

it’s not disaster
but it could be
if we don’t learn to use our eyes
not like the last one
I think it would be
a long & terribly dangerous time

oo ~ for the skin, eyes, ears & heart
for the skin, eyes, ears & heart

it’s not the plastics
it’s not the metals
not the stolen blood nor the mixed oil
it’s more skin-sized
it’s more fleshly
what I love, what my toil prays for

oo ~ for the skin, eyes, ears & heart
for the skin, eyes, ears & heart

these are the last days
it’s no secret
before the change of some kind will come
I look forward
I remember
& I’m still wrapped in my little

oo ~ skin, eyes, ears & heart
skin eyes ears & heart

it’s not disaster
but it could be…

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Mark Rogers: guitar, lap steel
Natalia Paruz: musical saw
Gjilberta Gelaj: cello
Cathoel Jorss: song & voice
Taylor Ryan: engineer, mix & mastering

oh my darling, my love for you runs through me
like the river runs around a stone

I have a passageway through my house for you
and if there’s any way to get your feet on my land
I’ll bring you here, I’ll bring you here
and I know your heart is closed and full
there are many like you, sunk like a stone

the grace that passes me catches up with you
and it’s built like the back or the inside of lace
having no name; not needing to
and although you are so beautiful
I’m in love with the things that you help me make plain

if I want you in my life
must I hold you like a spanner
making a fist like I’m fighting

if I want you in my bed
must I hold you like a mirror
held to the lips of a dying man

I have a passageway through my house for you
and if there’s any way to get your feet on my land
I’ll bring you here, I’ll bring you here
and I know your heart is closed and full
there are many like you, sunk like….
a stone

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Sam Pankhurst: double bass
Hue Blanes: piano
Brian Abrahams: drums
Damien Charles: Melbourne engineering
Taylor Ryan: New York engineering, mix & mastering
Cathoel Jorss: song, vocals, production

Tuesdays I lie in bed with my ex:
have you got a t-shirt I can wear?
she comes to the door again and we just let it ring
sounds of funk irresistibly fill the air

tiny phone heats my pocket, a little tiny leash
phone knows exactly where I am lying
you gave me this jewellery so you can be in touch
any time without coming anywhere near me

you’re not sick, you’re thirsty
says the doctor Thursday afternoon
and I hear it as “thirty” because thirty is on my mind
metals in the water make me sick and keep me sad
but I have no science for these views

trees knock on the window like a suspicious spouse
trembling in the bathroom in a t-shirt too big for me
she comes to the door again and I hear you get up
am I sick or blind or thirty, my little white stick,
peeing in a cup ah

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Cathoel Jorss: song, guitar & voice
Chris Anderson: engineer, mix & mastering

I gave my body to you for safekeeping
there’s no point believing me
or disbelieving me
and as you’d only this drawer that you sleep in
then that’s where I stowed away
that’s where I stayed

you calm, you calm me

and in my body I store things that mean something
my self and my soul
my eyeholes & arsehole
everything I have is yours for the keeping
I know that’s old-fashioned
I know that it’s dull

you calm, you calm me

I don’t know why you don’t cry when you see me
did you ever see me
o did you believe in me?
now, looking down on us both from the ceiling
I know love conceals you
I know love reveals me

you, you, you calm, you calm me

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Mark Rogers: mandolin, banjo & guitar
Taylor Ryan: engineering, mix & mastering
Cathoel Jorss: song, vocals, production
Suzanne Davenport: piano accordian
license
some rights reserved

time brings its own compensations
in the essence of each sweet day
in the nick of time I have found out
ole, ole, ah-weh

and nature has no hurry
and the fields are full of play
and like they say, it’s always a perfect sky
ole, ole ah-weh

there is a dying woman lying in my bed
and I can’t turn her away
and she tells me when she wants to speak ~ if I’m there
otherwise I just think she’s saying, Stay with me

time brings its own compensations
in the essence of each sweet day
in the nick of time I have found out
ole, ole, ah-weh
ole, ole, ah-weh

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Gjilberta Lucaj-Gelag: cello
Mark Rogers: e bow, autoharp, & guitar
Suzanne Davenport: piano accordian
Cathoel Jorss: song & voice
Greg Nelson: made the riff
Taylor Ryan: engineer, mix & mastering
license
some rights reserved

there are no giants sleeping
there is no interest from outer space
only fools here
and we’re working our hardest
raised on notions that don’t stand up to the weather
doing our best to work things out better

there is no god awaiting
if I could believe it I’d believe it, believe me
only mortals here
and we’re doing our damnedest
raised on a diet of confusion & tripe
doing our best to make a good life

what if there are no heroes coming
there is no safety in our artifice
only Nature
who is getting tired of us
I hate to say it like I know, cos I don’t
I don’t know I don’t know I don’t know
I hate to say it like I know, cos I don’t
I don’t know I don’t know
I don’t know

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Taylor Ryan: acoustic guitar & slide guitar. engineer, mix & mastering
Dan Walsh: drums
Sam Izzo: piano
Cathoel Jorss: arrangement, song & vocals
license
some rights reserved

clearly you had a job to do
you set out so eagerly
I will lie in the shade of our shadow
under our tree
at the day’s end & after the train ride
you’ll step out of your shoes
let me dig into you with my spoon
& bring out your juice

o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
and I’ll cover your tracks

now that we’ve sharpened up your spade
you’ll find your day’s treasure
leaving loving at either end
like it’s only leisure
let me loosen whatever faults
have inveigled into your brain
lay you flat like a tablecloth
with a history told in its stains

o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
& I’ll cover your tracks

o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
& I’ll cover you

shut your phone, cover your computer
and close your office down
I will be here, I’ll light the fire
& remove your crown of frowns
working back, working for a future
you know it’s not too late
slam the door with such vehemence
that the glass will vibrate

o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
and I’ll cover your tracks

o baby you’re my job to do
let me bring you back
blacken my feet at the fire
and I’ll cover you…

clearly you had a job to do
you set out so eagerly
I will lie in the shade of our shadow
under our tree
at the day’s end & after the train ride
you’ll step out of your shoes
let me dig into you with my spoon
& bring out your juice

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Brian Abrahams: drums
Hue Blanes: piano
Sam Pankhurst: double bass
Damien Charles: engineer
Taylor Ryan: mix & mastering
Cathoel Jorss: song, vocal
license
all rights reserved

I like to gaze on you
you & your crown of sun
I’ll take on the both of you in my bed
want you to let me make you
lay yourself down ~
why won’t you?

well I let you wrest me to the ground
cos I thought you
might have something good to show me
that’s the last time I sit down in your presence
you ~ you ~ you ~
you seem to need a little towering over:
don’t you?

I like to gaze on you
you & your crown of sun
I’ll take on the both of you in my bed
want you to let me make you
lay yourself down ~
why won’t you?

well I know you had it harder than I had it
oh I know you had it harder than I had it
but if anger could recede like a tide from your brow
where I’d rather rest my cheek…
ahh

then…. I’d like to gaze on you
you & your crown of sun
I’ll take on the both of you
want you to let me make you
lay yourself down
why don’t you
lay back

CREDITS
from Hey, Big Splendour, released July 29, 2011
Hue Blanes: piano
Brian Abraham: drums
Sam Pankhurst: double bass
Cathoel Jorss: song & vocal
Damien Charles: engineer
Davin Pidoto: engineer
Taylor Ryan: mix & mastering