cardinal

Credits

Evan Stephens Hall – guitar, vocals
percussion on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7
banjo on tracks 1, 5, 7
keys on tracks 1, 7
bass on track 1

Nick Levine – guitar
vocals on tracks 2, 5, 7
bass on track 3
banjo on track 8

Zack Levine – drums
percussion on tracks 2, 3, 4, 7

Sam Skinner – bass on tracks 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
keys on track 7

Nandi Rose Plunkett – vocals

Adan Carlo Feliciano – bass on track 2

Mike Levine – pedal steel on tracks 1, 3, 4

Doug Hall – piano on track 6

Songs by Evan Stephens Hall
Recorded by Evan, Sam, Nick, Zack
Additional Recording by Seth Engel at The Owlary
Mixed by Sam & Evan with help from Nick & Zack
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound
Additional mastering by Steve Fallone at Sterling Sound
Cover Design by Evan, LP design by Nick & Evan

Thank You: 
Our parents
Cam Boucher
Greg Horbal
Dexter Loos
Chris Stillmank & the Batcave family
Molly Schaeffer
Tawny Peaks
Happy You
Coaster
Michael Kaple aka Sedna’s not alone.
Steve Suway
::)
&&
<#
<3

Release Date
February 12th, 2016

• Old Friends
  lyricstabs

  walkin outside labyrinthian over
  cracks along under the trees
  i know this town grounded in a compass
  cardinal landing in the dogwood
  i keep goin over it over & over
  my steps iterate my shame
  how come every outcome’s such a comedown
  lately afternoon with the shades drawn down
  i kept sayin i just wanted to see you
  sayin what’s wrong with that?
  needle shakin outlines in a compass
  every outcome’s such a comedown

  i knew it when i saw it
  so i did just what i wanted
  so i go through with this
  i knew happiness when i saw it

  i saw your boyfriend at the port authority
  that’s a sort of fucked up place
  well so i averted my stride on a quick one
  he’s coming back from goin over your place, huh
  i feel like we could forget about it
  i feel like i could mellow out
  i don’t feel undone in a big way
  there’s nothing really bad to be upset about, well
  just when i thought i was getting better i
  woke up on the ground
  an appointment or a disappointment
  any outcome’s such a comedown

  as if i needed a reminder
  that i do only what i wanna
  so i go through with this

  walkin out in the nighttime springtime
  needling my way home
  i saw leah on the bus a few months ago
  i saw some old friends at her funeral
  my steps keep splitting my grief through these
  solipsistic moods
  i should call my parents when i think of them
  i should tell my friends when i love them
  maybe i should’ve got out a bit more
  when you guys where still in town
  but i got too caught up in my own shit
  that’s how every outcome’s such a comedown

  i knew it when i saw it
  o, i did just what i wanted
  so i go through with this
  i knew happiness when i saw it
  & i saw it

• Cadmium
  lyricstabs

  i was walkin with my neck out
  some ways i wish i was
  was walkin with my neck out in some ways that i wish that i was
  out on the bevel of sound it sounds like everything else
  you’ll know it when you hear it cuz u know the way my voice felt
  ignore my tone & everything i sing i sing for me
  ignore the phone on your bed it rings it rings it rings
  shirt collar ringin me out & my collar bone got all red
  & already severing prose i wrote so i sing instead
  i hold you put your neck out tell me the ways you wish you were
  keep your confidence sound, your hook my eye my spur
  so when i went to hang out, i hung behind your eyes
  but my eyes still flicker with doubt
  quickly o i cant decide
  i’m tapped out
  don’t it always seem to go that
  you could hold it right in your hands collapsing & still not know
  (your hands’ collapse & still not know)

  say what it is
  say how it is with everybody i know
  i’ve got no temper for that
  i send you this
  cadmium red, one for every layer i shed
  & i shed one layer for thisss
  say what it is
  it’s so impossible
  but if i just say what it is
  it tends to sublimate away
  when i was looking to drop
  my life away

  more every year
  i shine light on edges i tried to unfeel
  but we’ve gotta do better than that
  some sortin out
  so i’ll be sittin on the outskirts if you wanna talk about it
  things in there were just gettin so loud

  say what it is
  it’s so impossible
  but i just say what it is
  it tends to sublimate away
  when i was looking to drop
  my life away

• Then Again
  lyricstabs

  i was totally nervous to go to japan
  i tried to travel once, i lost my keys
  i was leanin in with my shirt tucked in
  i was on that train repeating
  how
  it’s so illogical
  it’s nothin you can see
  we repeat
  try it one more time with feeling
  it’s easy

  wakin in an unusual town
  every morning this september
  you could sleep it off & leave it all
  but in the morning you remember
  so i split the difference of lonesome & lone/ly
  i lay i atrophy
  i was laying in with my lung crushed in
  i was on that plane repeating
  how leaving’s so relieving
  how
  it’s so illogical
  its nothing you can see
  there’s no retreating
  try it one more time with feeling
  help me

  it’s so illogical
  its nothing you can see
  we repeat
  try it one more time with feeling
  it’s easy

• Aphasia
  lyricstabs

  so satisfied i said a lot of things tonight
  so long aphasia & the ways it kept me hiding
  it’s not so much exactly all the words i used
  it’s more that i was somehow down to let them loose

  so complicated i cant wait to get explaining
  your listening distended out since i’ve been crying
  so long aphasia & the ways it kept me hidden
  so long to silent nerves & hesitant oblivion

  you came & sent me out unfurling in the street
  & i felt unprecedented confidence in speaking

  stick around im thinking things’ll be alright
  newly delivered wont you live with me tonight

  something tonight was such a letdown on my pride
  it takes a part of me i don’t got to take some things in stride
  i’d pace around the place so quiet in myself
  id wake the next & see my silence went unfelt

  just when i thought i had this pattern sorted out
  apparently my ventricles are full of doubt
  now
  nah things go wrong sometimes don’t let it freak you out
  but if i don’t have you by me then i’ll go underground!
  nah but what you’ve got was in your reaches all along
  plus one day you’ll be reaching for me & i’ll be gone
  to help remind myself I wrote this little song

  one day i won’t need your love
  one day i won’t define myself by the one i’m thinkin of
  & if one day i won’t need it
  one day you won’t need it

• Visiting
  lyricstabs

  i’m spectral for days on end these days
  with thoughts about visiting
  so how about my voice rings out for you
  & you could tell me what you’re doin?
  \
  well
  the truth is i lost all track of time
  & i wound up wandering
  & unravelling fragments all inside
  but i rise up aligning

  cuz the truth is
  i don’t know what
  but you did it

  AAAAAAAA

  but
  how long will i wander by your side
  how long will i wander?
  i wonder if that’s what it might feel like
  i figured i’d warn ya
  i am out of my god damn mind & out to california
  follow along the dotted line with
  with arcs of our blood

  the truth is i
  don’t know what
  i’ma find it

  AAAAAAAA

  after the drugs have worn off
  & we’re brittle in the light
  would you still be there for me
  still do things for me?
  soul on the radio
  shakin your car around
  city to city
  montclair & elsewhere
  nervous about goin over

  its all true
  i like you
  you move me
  but the truth is
  i don’t know what
  i thought i knew it

  AAAAAAAA

• Waveform
  lyricstabs

  on a page torn from this book
  i drew a waveform with your blood
  & so i follow it & so remorse
  courses through my body of course

  in a little while
  i’ll go
  unless you might wanna hang a while
  then i won’t
  you’re the only one i found so far
  so outside i could be around
  so come down
  come over!

  on a cutting board
  the lights were shutting down
  an avocado cut through your thumb
  coursing out, already undone

  in a little while
  i’ll go
  unless you might wanna hang a while
  then i won’t
  you’re the only one i found so far
  so outside i could be around
  so come down
  over through the fire escape
  it’s so late but i know you aren’t tired yet
  & i’ll bet you’ve got a couple things you think i should know
  but unless you wanna say em now
  i’ll go

• Size of the Moon
  lyricstabs

  do you wanna dance?
  fine
  but do you remember when
  in your living room
  when we made some room & moved ourselves around in it?
  it’s how my heart resumed
  i got caught/ you got those caravaggio moves
  we had some good ideas but we never left that fucking room

  do you wanna talk?
  fine
  i’ll talk it out with my dad
  it’s always nice what he says
  he’ll have some good advice from something in a book he read
  if i did what i wanted then why do i feel so bad?

  would you like a drink
  while we wait for everything
  to get good again?
  we’re good at things & so are a lot of our friends
  we should forget these setbacks & get back movin again

  i dont know what
  i’m afraid of
  but i’m afraid
  one day it all
  will fall away
  maybe i read that

  but still, let’s see
  if nothing else it’s an idle curiosity

  so would you like that drink?
  fine, yea i know. i remember that too
  in your living room, right?
  when we began to fight but then we both got confused
  then we were laughing & crying in awe of the size of the moon do you want to die?
  fine you’re right
  but i wonder what it feels like
  to stop feelin so alive
  what if we could wake up in five years & things’d be feelin alright?
  i wanna visit the future & dance in a field of light!

• New Friends
  lyricstabs

  is there anyone here i know?
  i look around the room, whatever, i let it go
  steve’s in germany
  thats it
  i try to think of anyone else no, yea that’s it
  so i resolve to make new friends
  i liked my old ones but i fucked up so i’ll start again

  what’s the worst that could happen

  strings fray like my good days
  tied around my finger i felt so afraid
  i had my mind on her or on my own
  and when i
  looked back up everybody else was gone
  so
  i resolve to make new friends
  someone tell me to quit my head
  and help me forget it

  what’s the worst that could happen
  the end of summer and i’m still in love with her
  i said forget it
  was it worse that i wasn’t sure
  the end of summer and i’m still in love with her
  i said forget it
  forget it
  forget
  it