Lyrics To Suffocate

A Track-By-Track Guide & Stream Of Memory Tapes' Player Piano

"I don't know if shy is the right word," pondered Dayve Hawk when Kev Kharas tried to delve beneath his carefully constructed elusive persona back in 2009 . "I'm just not desperate for attention." Back then, our Kev - a man with his ear always glued firmly to the ground - pulled off something of a coup to coax some words from the shadowy cove behind Weird Tapes, Memory Cassette and then, finally, Memory Tapes, such was the extent that his anonymity had puzzled the blogosphere. Later that year he released his debut long player Seek Magic , an album that was, as Ben Graham said in his review , simultaneously "of-the-moment and yet so unbearably nostalgic... what lies beneath the perfect surface remains unknown".

But with new album Player Piano set for release on July 5, we've been bequeathed something of a gift from Hawk: an exclusive UK stream of the LP, and his own personal track-by-track guide to the record, in which he reveals the influences, meanings and thought processes behind his second offering. Listen to the album by clicking the player embedded below, and read on to find out about the insomnia, failed relationships, cynicism and social awkwardness that helped form Player Piano .

'Wait In The Dark'

Dayve Hawk: I'm an insomniac, so I've spent a good deal of time lurking around darkened hallways, waiting for people to wake up so I can fuck/cry/argue with them. When I was little I used to lay in bed at night and convince myself that everyone I knew was gone, and I was the only person left. I thought it appropriate to write a love song from that perspective. It's a bit like being a ghost: can't touch the living.

DH: Most of my 'upbeat/pop' songs are more like trying to be 'upbeat/pop' songs. I've always loved the contrast of Motown and other early pop records, where you sing an uplifting song about being broken hearted: the lyrics are how you feel, but the music implies hope. I usually end up working from the opposite perspective: the music is my better nature, and the lyrics are me shouting myself down with self-loathing and cynicism. You end up somewhere between a genuine smile you're trying to hold back, and a false smile you put on for a show.

When I say "We will never be better off than we are", I definitely mean the glass is half empty.

DH: This is my attempt at writing a simple song. I remember reading about the early says of Doo Wop, about people tuning in to these weak little stations and hearing a kind of ethereal/spooky love song drifting back to them. I relate to that sort of sincere but also dissociative idea of music more than any 'realness'. I like the idea of looking at things through a filter, leaving things to interpretation. It can be more genuine sometimes to connect on an impersonal level.

FIRST BLOOD - SUFFOCATE LYRICS

The polluted face of life hiding in black clouds unknowingly killing you, killing me. HIS FILTHY HANDS... are wrapped around our trusting throats but the last thing that we need is another liar breathing the fire... SUFFOCATE... of death down below. Suffering in solitude as your last breath slips away... with no one ever knowing. From the last generation, turning their backs to the truth, to the new generation, continue to spread the truth. Rebellion against the truth... Ignorant minds hide from the truth... Angry minds defy the truth... Greedy minds deny the truth... as we all SUFFOCATE.

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