Get all 8 Justin Wiles releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Burning of Los Angeles, Our Children Became Islands, Reticent Alien, The Old Balladeer, Songs From Iowa & Lime, Climbing Up Slides, Tomorrow's New Year, and A New Familiar Place.
1. |
Spear in the Water
02:26
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2. |
Pioneer
03:40
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I am a lonely pioneer
Awaiting you on new frontier
To catch a wagon train
Across this blessed terrain
And bring our son and daughter here
The guilding sun explores at noon
Most nights I'm haunted by the moon
So clear it can't be true
Its face is black and blue
So low I hope it touches you
A fortnight more to go
Would I could make it so
I've never been so low...
My wife, my children and this land
These and our God make me a man
But we needed something new
Height to aspire to
I've never been so low...
I'm waiting for the day
I'm not inclined to say
I've never been so low
So lonely out here though
So I'm waiting up for you
The stars invite me to
We'll be a family in this new land
I am a lonely pioneer
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3. |
The Island Song
05:11
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What am I...?
I was born into the sea
Slid off a spear, divinely fashioned
I am my own family here
An infancy designed by passion
Under the firey, fertile earth
In dim-lit dungeons was the birth of daily death
Delivered unto unsuspecting sinners
Between a union, only rock
Keeps the deceased under a lock and key
But breathing by ourselves is beyond us beginners
Above the law, about to drop
Abreast of all, at best cooperation comes
With threats your heart will shortly stop its beating
Around the bend, a restful hour
We must remain aroused for now
At risk of contradicting all I've sung that's self-defeating
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4. |
Big Reveals
04:02
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I don't need to know what I need to know
Let the record show a plea for complete control
Steady spinning wheels, slowly greying head
Many big reveals while you were playing dead
And I don't know how to feel alright
Don't know how to feel alright about you anymore
I don't need to know where I need to go
Let the time pass over me 'til there's no time at all
Steady spinning wheels, slowly greying head
Many big reveals while you were playing dead
And I don't know how to feel alright
Don't know how to feel alright about you anymore
I don't need to know what I need to know
Let my eyes be closed in the light of an afterglow
Steady spinning wheels, slowly greying head
Many big reveals while you were playing dead
And I don't know how to feel alright
Don't know how to feel alright about you anymore
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5. |
Your Ugliest
03:48
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We stirred up an existence
He who listens hears you sing in the skies
We erected our prisons
Shared our visions with a light in our eyes
That would soon be a tiny heartbeat
You would come to resent more than me
But if I've ever seen your ugliest
It's when you ceased to be
In trying for a collection of perfection
Birthed the first of our lies
You arrested the opinions of your minions
With a mighty steel vice
That would soon be an icy embrace
Which would serve to ease our getaways
But if I've ever seen your ugliest
It's when I missed your face
Our children became islands
Your singing became silence
So I followed you down
Illustrating to all of the gods my defiance
We erred in our courting
Thus aborting and deforming our tribe
Ill-prepared for conforming
To the lording of a spiritual bribe
That would soon have you doubting the worth
Of your beautiful life on the earth
But if I've ever seen your ugliest
My vision must have blurred
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6. |
Shots in the Dark
05:38
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Confidential 'til interest dies
Inconsequential, get hypnotized
So you will seek no score
No crusades are a walk in the park
Walk in the park
And you will wage no war
Taking shots in the dark
Shots in the dark
Presidential sock puppet smiles
With influential spiral eyes
So you will seek no score
No crusades are a walk in the park
Walk in the park
And you will wage no war
Taking shots in the dark
Shots in the dark
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7. |
Neck and Neck
02:30
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If you were an orphan too, you would understand
You have always eaten out of someone else's hand
If I were to morph into an ambitious man
Living neck and neck in every trial that I ran
We're in a local race for a hiding place
In a silent chase we can never well erase
From any smiling face
And we're only ever picking up the pace
If you were adopted too, you would understand
If you've ever advocated someone else's brand
If I had a doctor to tell me how to stand
To abate this body's ever increasing reprimands
We're in a local race for a hiding place
In a silent chase we can never well erase
From any smiling face
And we're only ever picking up the pace
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8. |
Onaka
06:10
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Every night she visits me
Arms out and waiting
As I am fading
Into mortal certainty
I cannot complain
I want to be
Every light's diminishing
Save for my lady's
Finally my lady
As my song is finishing
I cannot complain
For more to sing
I cannot complain
No, I cannot complain...
Oh Death, you're beautiful
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9. |
Gondola No Uta
02:24
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10. |
Cursing Pianos
03:57
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If the water in your body makes up 70 percent
And you're squashed by a piano
Does your body form a pool on the cement?
And is it subsequently sent home to be buried with your family
Who have made their own ascent to meet their maker, cursing pianos?
If the images your eyelids open up to let inside
Are for no one else's lenses
Is a shadow really there if you decide to see only light?
Is it worth it to be perfect on the surface of a life
While underneath you grit your teeth and cast your shadows?
It's an awfully cruel surprise
A hooded figure approaches with red glowing eyes
And he asks you to be harmoniously
Prepared to perceive your demise
If as water you evaporate and feed a famished earth
To return a weeping willow
Did you seed your own arboreal rebirth?
What purpose is served by immersing in diversions
From the mirth that you deserve
When woeful tears hold no careers for weeping willows
It's an awfully cruel surprise
A hooded figure approaches in a fleshy disguise
And he asks you to shrink the thoughts that you think
To a more manageable size
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11. |
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Justin Wiles
Justin Wiles is a singer-songwriter whose compositions are centered around intricate, delicate, melodic guitars and poetic lyrics. His DIY recording style often includes dense musical arrangements and many layered vocals.
Justin Wiles recommends:
Mechanical Bride
by One Hundred Flowers
Really excellent experimental chamber pop, for fans of The Olivia Tremor Control, Circulatory System, New Pornographers. Listening pleasure amplified by simultaneous lyric-reading.
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Collapse The Structure
by The Dark Water Hymnal
Like The National, DWH puts dark ambient twists on folk ballads. My favorites tend to settle into a groove, with layers that ebb and flow, and ultimately swell to crescendo.
go to albumIf you like Justin Wiles, you may also like:
Moses Sumney’s debut full-length is full of moody, soulful songs, with warm, rich textures and tones.
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A female voice that feels out of another century quivers over a folk harp on the 11 tracks that make up this exclusive video album.
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There's a little Mazzy Starr and Beach House in these melancholic yet alluring dreamy folk tunes from LA.
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if no one else cares, why should I care?
by Good Good Blood
Pairing lo-fi indie rock with silvery folk instrumentation, the self-described "bedroom pop wizard" casts a cozy, poignant spell.
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