Synthesis in a Painted House was written 10 years ago when I was 16.
I had made friends with some recent graduates from my school who worked at the local airstream coffeeshop. They took me in as one of their own, and one of them even gave me my first guitar lessons.
I'd go over to their old creaky house in downtown Winston-Salem, NC (my home town) to hang out, play guitar, and listen to music.
The house was painted all these beautiful pastel colors, and the atmosphere was always positive and warm.
This song, as abstract as the lyrics are, was born out of the feeling of belonging those people and that house provided me.
lyrics
We became the silver vine
Made a home around the power lines
The power lines
Eat into the sides of crooked stores
Marbles in a jar upon the floor
To mark our age
I’m younger than my name
But my arms can bend
For my fingers to scratch my chin
And I know these people
How they can speak without a sound
Feel the transience of harmony
Subtle hints of light that go unseen
The oscillation
Of this nameless love
You steal the radio and bury
Screaming, “seize the day”
We must omit
The interference
That omnipresent hiss
But time has a way
Of pillaging that pretty face
And I know these strangers
How they hang photographs from their ears
You read a storybook over again
Knowing already how it will end
With feathers aflame
The creature saves the day
So my love can live
Inside the lips of some cold den
And I know these people
How they all kiss each other clean
Tyler Canada – Lyrics, Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Joseph Sanchez – Bass Guitar
Hudson Keffer – Electric Guitar
Max Stabile, Daphna Ron – Drums
Performance Credits:
Tyler Canada – Vocals, Acoustic Guitar, Shaker
Joseph Sanchez – Bass Guitar
Brandon Biallas – Electric Guitar
Max Stabile – Drums
Recorded by Thomas N. Clements II
Mixed by Eric Crespo at Torch Toucher
Mastered by Camilo Silva at Camilo Silva F Mastering
Album art by Kellette Elliott
Tom Heyman documents life in San Francisco circa 2023, refusing to succumb to easy characterization & instead capturing the city’s nuance. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 22, 2023
Tanya Donnelly, Wreckless Eric, Rosanne Cash, contribute cover versions of John Wesley Harding’s songs for this charitable compilation. Bandcamp New & Notable May 6, 2021
Keith Richards, Rosanne Cash, Lucinda Williams, Joan Jett, and more pay tribute to the enduring and visionary music of Lou Reed. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 23, 2024