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False Spring

by Zachary Cale

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1.
Shine 03:21
Shine a light Upon the path so I can see I need your voice To blend with mine in harmony Fill my lungs With your breath to lift me up I need your love To make me strong and radiant Song take flight Lifting high Drag the tide With eyes like diamonds Shine so bright Ease my mind Show me how to be at peace I’ll be the light I’ll be what you need me to be Song take flight Lifting high Drag the tide With eyes like diamonds Shine so bright
2.
Mad Season 05:40
The sand is shifting The clocks are turning The river’s rising the sky is all aflame I have to look away Disconnection Isolation Our buried problems become exposed in the rain I have to look away Wish I could be strong Be the light in your song But I’m tumbling down Mad season Lost weekend Uneasy feeling blacking out the sky Come on give us some light Under the weather We roll together Tarred and feathered we wipe the sleep from our eyes Come on give us some light Open the floodgates Watch it wash away As the sun plummets down
3.
Come Morning 03:27
I’m afraid of leaving but I Know the time is now To pack my things and settle debts To break ties with the ones Whose willful ignorance Fills my mind with noise and violence So where do I fit where do I go What kind of man am I I’m just a traveler among more travelers Looking to put roots down Away from the maddening crowd Give me a reason I need a reason now I’m just sitting on a fence Two fingers out to test the wind For the golden age is crumbling Come morning I’ll be gone again Stones are thrown in resentment For reasons centuries old I’m lost in questions I cannot answer Caught between opposing sides That fracture and multiply I stand here voiceless too tired to even cry I’m just sitting on a fence Two fingers out to test the wind For the golden age is crumbling Come morning I’ll be gone again
4.
False Spring 01:57
5.
6.
Nature runs its course again Depression rears its ugly head I’m going back to where I started from My tears are dry my heart is spent I used it all to make the rent Bent over backwards until I came undone Tried my best to outshine the sun Out of work and out of touch Memories turn to rust All I knew was left out in the rain Death card pulled from the pack A change is come I can’t turn back Cross the border use a different name Don’t belong in this picture frame Nothing quite like rejection To light a fire where you’re standing The last fair deal has gone down It’s check out time best I leave this town In the sobering of the sunlight And the restless hours of the night Time will find me hanging by a thread Stumbling through the years I go Rolling with it blow by blow Distracted by the briars in my bed Can’t still the thunder from crackling in my head Morning came and morning went The sky grew dark and I grew tense Like a beast at last unchained Unsure which path he should take
7.
Careening 03:39
Circling the summit Without a minute to lose Like an earthbound comet Heading straight for you On a frozen pathway Pushing past the wind No longer on the freeway Grinding your engine Draw back the curtains Let the light come through Lift this veil of curses Before it defines you Break the vicious circle Find the escape route When the comet crashes I’ll be next to you Wired to the sky All through the night, all through the night, all through the night Fire in your eyes All through the night, all through the night, all through the night All through the night, all through the night, all through the night Careening Screaming From the heavens it falls From the heavens it calls
8.
By Starlight 03:33
On the freeway Paying no mind to my speed What’s lost won’t be found I started to race Past a small distance I climbed All low and high Beneath a bloodshot sky Using the last of the light No time to stall now there is no reverse By starlight I can see your sad eyes I know sorrow carries this hurt My heart it don’t push Like it used to it’s gone soft So many miles I wandered this far To see all the worst come to life I too can shine With an evil light Dancing across the wire Caught in a tailspin spiraling down By starlight I can see your sad eyes I know sorrow walks on this earth
9.
I wanna be the man beside you I wanna be your best friend I wanna be the man who loves you I wanna make some difference I wanna be your piece of heaven In a world that’s cold and mean I wanna mend what’s badly broken I wanna figure into your dreams Hold on, hold on I’m just a breath away, I’m just a breath away Hold on, hold on Don’t you know my name, don’t you know my name Come on give me your hand Come on give me your hand Come on give me your hand I wanna be the one beside you I wanna be a better man I wanna be the one who loves you I wanna give you everything I have Hold on, hold on I’m just a breath away, I’m just a breath away Hold on, hold on Don’t you know my name, don’t you know my name Come on give me your hand Come on give me your hand Come on give me your hand
10.
Slide 03:36
So many storms so many changes You had to face just to arrive Becoming what you are born for It don’t come overnight Time don’t bow to you Though I’ve seen you slow it down Time won’t bend for you Though it might let you slide You say slide, let me slide Lord let me slide Slide, let me slide Lord let me slide Lord let me slide Lord let me slide All those faded pages You had to turn, they cut your skin And all those pretty verse you had to learn Just to begin Time won’t wait for you Though I’ve seen you slow it down Time won’t break for you Though it might let you slide You say slide, let me slide Lord let me slide Slide, let me slide Lord let me slide Lord let me slide Lord let me slide
11.
Riverbed 04:50
Have no need of heaven I built it up to break it down A fool now I’ve been lay-living Forgot about where I belong A fool now No time for me to rest I live all day at arms There’s trouble here on the road to Babylon The day won’t deliver I’m weighted down I’m going to the river To clean my crown Sun brings in the morning Here comes every little law That I crossed Gone down to the water To throw away all I’ve got And all I’ve lost And when I stand in the stream Newly made I will be I have only come to make it known There’s nothing left behind me I wish to own There’s nothing to deter me From coming home When I lay with you I hear the hammer of your heart Clear and sharp Have a hard time believing Your answers come without a cost No none at all Down the road I find I’m light of step clear of mind Together I know we’ll be safe from the storm The thunder cracks above us Oh let it come The sky will fall upon us Oh let it come
12.
13.
14.
It’s time to pack up it’s time to move The lights have changed down the avenue I know you’re stubborn but you know it’s true It’s not the same town you once knew To leave the place that you know so well Is like breaking up with yourself Where do you go where are your friends They done split for the horizon Where will you go now What will you do now Where will you go now that your home doesn’t feel like your own Pick it up baby kick it on down the road There was a time when you knew these streets Every stain and crack in the concrete But all the charm has been chipped away To make room for the new estate Where will you go now What will you do now Where will you go now that your home doesn’t feel like your own Pick it up baby kick it on down the road Pick it up baby kick it on down the road
15.
Amnesia Moon 04:15
Is this a dream, some cruel joke pulled on me Amnesia moon, who are you? Like a stone sinking, through oblivion A man without a past to share No soul to bare, no name to give No truth to bend, no love in mind No will to fight, the dark that tries To block the light I guess this is me, raging against destiny Amnesia moon, who are you? Like a stone sinking, through oblivion A man without a past to share No soul to bare, no name to give No truth to bend, no love in mind No will to fight, the dark that tries To block the light
16.
Free to Go 06:52
Well do my eyes deceive me or is that land just ahead I’ve been treading water so long that now all I want is a bed There was a mutiny on board the ship I was to navigate And my luck has deserted me and left me in this watery grave But I won’t go down easy Least not until the earth’s beneath me Please God Don’t let this be a mirage Please God Don’t let this be a mirage Well it’s true that confusion is the only thing that’s real And salvations expensive and only something you could steal And in my search for answers to illuminate the treasures that I seek I have only run in circles ready now to be swallowed by the sea And I’ll go down easy When my breath leaves me I’m free to go To return as a ghost You’re free to go To return as a ghost

about

"False Spring is a long, sweet ramble of an album... A companion for the long haul" -PITCHFORK

"These are generous songs, filled with a need for connection and conversation... it’s hard not to hear 2020 in virtually every moment of False Spring" - AQUARIUM DRUNKARD

"[False Spring] is a raft in waters that aren’t so forgiving and its worth holding on tight." -RAVEN SINGS THE BLUES

"Whether acoustic or electric, his playing speaks to you plainly, directly and rather beautifully." -DUSTED

False Spring, Zachary Cale's sixth full-length album, explores the spaces between the cold we left behind and the uncertainty ahead, between that fleeting, green warmth and its lack. "Shine a light on the path so I can see," Cale sings on the album opener, "Shine," making a plea for hope and happiness rather than merely claiming it, starting the search for whatever possibility may exist. And the album explores so many possible paths in ever-shifting textures. On "Come Morning," Cale admits "I'm just sitting on a fence, two fingers out to test the wind" while on others songs -- the disorienting anxiety of "Mad Season"; the bittersweet travel of "By Starlight"; the mix of hope and regret that comes from staying afloat on "Slide" -- False Spring vacillates between facing down the troubling now, reckoning with and paying tribute to then, and sifting through the dark to find the faintest match-head of light for tomorrow.

Cale's poetic lyrics etches out all these themes in complex layers and careful melodies, but the band he assembled for False Spring drives home the sense of openness and possibility in these songs. Cale is accompanied here by Brent Cordero on piano, Wurlitzer and organ, James Preston on bass, and Charles Burst and Jason Labbe on drums. Cale brought the songs to the studio and enlisted the players to flesh them out. He didn't write parts for the musicians; they figured out their own way through these tunes. The record is the sound of the band finding itself, capturing these songs live in all their subtle, ragged glory. The album's 16 songs run just over an hour, but the expansive record is, at every turn, an intimate affair, the listener invited in as these players find connections between this part and that, between one song and another, between melody and feeling.

Stylistically, the band never hems itself in, expanding its sound and morphing it over the album's extended playing time. Early tracks set up shop within lean, dusty folk rock, but things change from there. There are touches of cosmic Americana and country and some Petty-esque tight yet gauzy rompers. Several tracks are instrumentals, acknowledging roots and stretching exercises for Cale and the band. The sweet, solo guitar of the title track, for instance, uncovers some of the early country-blues sounds humming under these tunes, while "Magnetic North" whips up a full-band blues stomper. These instrumentals, and the album as a whole, explore tangents and push at borders, but while they add variety they also -- on a more fundamental level -- suggest cohesion at the heart of the album's wide-open sound and aesthetic.

False Spring is Cale's first album in five years, since the gauzy and atmospheric gem, Duskland. The album was received well, a tour followed but within the year Cale refocused his energy on writing new material. In 2016 he went on a solo tour opening for Dan Bejar of Destroyer in smaller cities across America. More recently he's been playing in a spattering of other bands and supporting other musical projects.

And all that time, he's kept one foot in the studio, recording lots of material, several albums worth. And all of this on top of a full-time job. In short, like so many independent musicians, Zachary Cale has been working.

This new album, though, isn't the sound of work at all. It's the sound of setting thought aside to feel the music. This doesn't set out to make a product; this album explores a process. And, as a result, these dusty, bittersweet tunes stretch out, they breathe. They live in all the in-between spaces Cale evokes so beautifully in his lyrics. The fleeting spring can leave, the new growth may get marred by frost, but the warmth of these songs -- in all their hope and worry and anxiety and open possibility -- will stay with you long after the final note ripples out of the speaker.

-Matt Fiander

credits

released May 29, 2020

Performed by:

Zachary Cale: vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric piano, synthesizer
James Preston: bass
Brent Cordero: piano, wurlitzer, organ
Jason Labbe: drums, percussion
Charles Burst: drums, percussion

Guests:

Alfra Martini: vocal hamonies
Dan Iead: pedal steel
Erik Elligers: saxophone
John Panos: flugelhorn
Ryan Johnson: percussion
Matt Boynton: synthesizer, rhythm machine

All songs written by Zachary Cale © Ride Through The Rain Music SESAC (p) All Hands Electric 2020

Tracks 5 and 9 recorded by Charles Burst at Seaside Lounge 2018.
Tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 13, 14 recorded by Matt Boynton at Seaside Lounge 2018.
Track 12 recorded by Jason Meagher at Black Dirt Studio 2016.

Mixed by Matt Boynton 2019.
Mastered by Josh Bonati 2019.

Cover illustration by Ryan Williams

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Zachary Cale Brooklyn, New York

NEXT YEAR'S GHOST out May 24th via Org Music.

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