We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Trees

by Lawrence Illsley

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    With every download receive an exclusive, digital copy of the album artwork and original poem A hospital birch, Trewellard, by Lawrence Illsley
    Purchasable with gift card

      £7 GBP  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a 6 panel gatefold case with original artwork by Lawrence Illsley. This album is personal and intimate, recorded in Lawrence's childhood home a year after his mother passed away. The booklet features an original long poem 'A hospital birch, Trewellard' written especially for the release of the album which tells of Lawrence's experience recording the album. The poem is inspired by the poems in his award winning collection A Brief History of Trees, where each piece tells the history of a particular tree alongside his journey through grief.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Trees via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      £10 GBP or more 

     

  • Get the CD album of Trees and the award winning poetry collection A Brief History of Trees all at once with a massive 25% discount on the pair.
    ships out within 3 days

      £15 GBP or more 

     

1.
I shouldn't hope to understand the shifting hues of desert sand cause I grew up with fields instead the rapeseed yellow, the poppies red Once out walking years ago I saw these colours laid out on the road I knew what to do before anyone said you pause at yellow, but stop at red Familiar too is the blue foreign sky a tooth's still a toe and eye still and eye but these can be traded as somebody said the coward is yellow, the murderer red But passengers change their ships in the night the sailors of sand unmasked in the light one second alive another one dead the sunset is fading from yellow to red Perhaps I'm a tourist confused at the sight perhaps there's a painter who plays with the light but when blood spills out of somebody's head the desert it changes, from yellow to red I shouldn't hope to understand the shifting hues of desert sand cause I grew up with fields instead the rapeseed yellow, the poppies red
2.
Ogres 04:32
When I met you in a daydream I was young and not so bright you had this way of walking sideways and this glitter round your eyes Many times you were a sapphire like a pebble drunk on wine other times gone all a quiver poisoned arrows in your mind Lock the door and bolt the windows down cause I’m weary of the storm Let the ogres come they will drag you away from me but I will fight them with my sword catch them with my cavalry On the bare and ragged rug many sinners afternoons disappeared into the sunshine but in phases like the moon Passions rose, cannon roared you dress got blackened by the fire your face distorted like a horse’s struggling with the heavy mire I looked up and heard a door slam now I’m waiting for the storm Two can laugh and so it grows a pathway through the torrid night life was all that we could carry suddenly the bag is light Lock the door and bolt the windows down cause I’m weary of the storm Let the ogres come they will drag you away from me but I will fight them with my sword catch them with my cavalry
3.
Here's to the boy on the other side of the wall the one who is solemn and deals with it all the curd of the earth, the sword of the soil and my hands Here's to the worth of a winter's toil when the days are long but the nights are longer hungry now, I listen for the band and when the chorus falls you will hear us all Stumble in my long-lost rover suffering is over. If it's a lie that's always closer it's just and eyelid closer. Here's to the girl on the farthest of shores although you can't see her, the fairest of all she cradles the earth, she shovels the soil with her hands Here's to the worth of a summer's sun when the days are done and the nights go on hungry now, I listen for the band and when the chorus falls you will hear us all
4.
NY Lizards 03:23
You ripped my clothes you commandeered the chemicals the western military presence icicles collect the river inside a cave the symmetries all seem impossible. The modern age a manicured woman and a manacled slave step inside a house they disappear the symmetries all seem impossible here. Let the tears come let them disappear. Let the New York lizards crawl up the walls. You fell asleep inside my arms I felt the rain apocalyptic landslides I looked around and saw you clear the frozen ground where symmetries all seem impossible. I love the sound of rushing grain and passion in the skyscrapers laser fire gears whirr the symmetries all seem impossible here. Let the poor love in the hand me downs capture your life. Let the city streets like a photograph capture your life. Let the tears come let them disappear. Let the New York lizards crawl up the walls.
5.
Solid Gold 04:16
You are the idea that rides over my head and I want all the world to know that you are solid gold Rosa-lee you came to me the cliff-path rough above the sea a charred and blackened scarf around you head The fire burned within the grate fine herring bones upon the plate I thought saw a flicker but you're dead You are the idea that rides over my head and I want all the world to know that you are solid gold All those times that we would sit on consecrated ground and kiss hours massed like banners now too few Those thirteen months a century that pile of leaves a fallen tree I thought I felt a flicker from you You are the idea that rides over my head and I want all the world to know that you are solid gold A tremor passed beneath us yet that glass upon the sideboard set the water when it ripples is blue Carry me across the sand life has laughable demands but only love that's simple, only love that's simple is true Yes, you are the idea that rides over my head and I want all the world to know that you are solid gold
6.
Diamonds 02:31
Show me love, the diamonds in your eyes Show me love, the diamonds in your eyes Summon a reflection of the caverns inside ourselves Show me love, the diamonds in your eyes Our house has original corner stones a mantelpiece, the irons are hot in the fire Our house has a view that the swallows seek apple juice, and cabinets held up by wire Show me love the diamonds in your eyes
7.
Loss of innocence inner-city’s entertainment a lack of circumstance circumnavigate the globe can I have this dance? asked the king in all his raiment take the upper chance and throw it away along with your clothes Psycho fighter Silence denier Raised on cut diamonds Says a lot about your fibre bite A somnambulist cursed the sense of evolution whilst from some science priest comes a wave of new devotion this little island is all awash with old opinion so count your calories cause you’ll never can’t digest them all Psycho fighter Silence denier Raised on cut diamonds Says a lot about overbite Says a lot about your appetite Say a lot about your freaky nights Says a lot about the house that you call home
8.
So many men, so many lives so much dead skin, so much to cauterise colour me in, with your passionate eyes sell me your world, sell me it’s lies Sing me a love song before you go So many words, so many hard covered in plastic, covered in card these ticker-tape hills, are they covered with wine? I’m going to kiss you, I think it’s time Don’t forget to Sing me a love song before you go Don’t forget to Sing me a love song before you crawl out of the window, and fly
9.
The River 04:18
I want to see how far that the river flows I want to feel the path that the river follows I want to hear the rapids rap on the water below I want to feel how fast I want feel the waves of the new horizon I want to feel the rays of each new burning sun I want to feel the latitude slip a navigation I want to feel the sun But I don't need your photographic paper I just want to share play me chords, minor or a major vibrate the air

about

Trees was recorded in July in my mother’s living room, Trewellard, Cornwall, a year after she died.

The album is a memento to my childhood home - a space we had always shared songs in.

The booklet contains a new long poem, A hospital birch, Trewellard, which tells the inside story of the weeks I spent recording the album. It is inspired by my award winning poetry collection A Brief History of Trees (Live Canon, 2020).

A Brief History of Trees tells the story of the year after the loss of my mum. A year which culminated in my returning back to Cornwall to record this album. The collection won the Live canon Collection Competition in 2020. Many of the tracks on Trees feature in the poems: a performance in a church of Sing Me A love Song, a gig by the Thames of Ogres and Long Lost Rover. And each poem documents my discovery of trees. So the poem is a brief history of trees, both in time and also in a way, a brief history of the album, trees.

The collection works in conversation with this record.

Two parts of the same elegy.

This record is for Caroline and Reuben, who rescued me from the storm.

credits

released February 26, 2021

All songs written and performed by Lawrence Illsley

Produced and mixed by Martin Stansbury

Mastered by Christophe Bourgouin - A la Carte Audio

Sarah McQuaid, additional vocals on tracks 1,2,3,4,7,and 8

Roger Luxton, percussion on tracks 3,4 and 7, additional vocals on track 7

Martin Stansbury additional vocals on track 7

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Lawrence Illsley Abertillery, UK

Lawrence Illsley is an award winning poet and songwriter. Trees is his debut album and is released to coincide with his award winning poetry collection A Brief History of Trees.

contact / help

Contact Lawrence Illsley

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this album or account

Lawrence Illsley recommends:

If you like Lawrence Illsley, you may also like: