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The Aviary

by Ana Silvera

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1.
Manon 03:37
You wake to the song of crows On that rarefied street row Where even the trees stand prouder than the rest You took your coat and fled Leaving evening's brocade dress Hanging like a banshee from the oaken chest Oh Manon, lay your cool hands down And gather night up in your daybreak arms And when the season finally turns You'll see that everything's unlearned You're standing naked in the town The truths you wore once like a crown Are rusting now -  Oh Manon, those wet black leaves like pirate flags They sail their branches on a wild wind fast They think they're journeying towards the fabled stars But they forgot that they are bound by roots and trunks and sodden earth Still they sail, sail on You left the dim light to contend with early Mars You left what couldn't be still dreaming in the dark Oh you and I, Manon, were captives from the start We are sisters of this longing that's the keeper of our hearts Pilgrims of this sorrow, with our flags nailed to the mast With your will set You light a cigarette And watch the smoke make faces pensive and uncertain And waiting for the train In that dog-eared station cafe The rain is lowered like a last act curtain You draw his mouth in coffee Paper for his hair And the the chorus line sings: "He's not here" But you Manon will fill these broken lungs with air "Miseria Cantare"
2.
The Harbour Song (free) 02:51
The hours converge on a sea as hard as diamonds White gold and glittering in the harbour And the day begins to make its cloudy way nightwards Now I know what I know I won't risk a second look backwards I saw you on a sunken day You were dancing on the deck  It had already happened long before we first met I turned till you looked my way Bailed water from your wreck I was hook, line and sinker swayed By your drowning one-man act I forged you from Sehnsucht a Harlequin's mask I squinted and loved you for plain circumstance But the world knew better, knew better than I - It is watchful and far less desirous of lies Well, the day sprang a leak with our treasures on board Our coveted out-of-the ordinary hoard But I couldn't care less for those jewels that I left  I just wanted my safety of passage assured Switching the tracks from black to blue Glory train's bound but not for you Head on my shoulders, my eye to the gun I'll get away second time round I saw you on a sunken day You were dancing on the deck  And it had already ended long before we first met Oh I murdered it so artfully I was quite the diligent But you aided and abetted me So don't play that innocent
3.
Water on shingle and vagrant hours That stumble round this sun-struck town And white lantern blossoms With torn off wings Break from their branches With pale yearning Oh my mind came unmoored in the night You set it adrift With a kiss that was sweeter Than anyone else's That I've known before then or since Oh gardenias and cheap cigarettes On your mouth and your fingers I tasted In the name, on the hands and the back of love Ships were raised and lovers fought And the Gods above watched from a ringside box As cities were wasted to ashes and dust I saw you go through a low window By the idle tide of dusk And I should have seen through those arrows and bows That even golden apples rust Oh my mind came unmoored in the night You set it adrift With a kiss that was sweeter Than anyone else's That I've known before then or since Oh gardenias and cheap cigarettes On your mouth and your fingers I tasted
4.
I was in a hotel when the city first fell It was gilded and sullen and neoclassical I took up with an officer and then his general He bought me almond biscuits and a freshwater pearl And took me to the opera, and after to Pigalle A dancer wearing tassels ate the rose off my lapel These days I'm wearing Shalimar, no never my Chanel Cos it reminds him of his mother He wears me like he does his duty shoes Immaculately polished, and he keeps my soul In the Paris saloons And he occupies my moods... On the Rue des Abbesses We could see violets Had colonised the boulevards in June I walked him down to the station Banners fly from the irons  And vapour trails Come rising up Like dove tails... Bridal veils... Sundial creeps its hours Into July Among the ruins Lanternas light I still count his steps On this esplanade Like rosaries... Arms surround me Arms surround me I was in the hotel when the first bomb fell It shook the chandeliers and that old crystal Came tumbling down on the tiles like the steeples  Of the St Paul bells I get my pleasures in the dim stairwells In fairground hands I undo myself - Rise and fall like the painted poles Of the carousel And now autumn unthreads Her last dress of gold  Upon long lawns  Shadows unfurl I still count his steps  On this esplanade Where violets grow...
5.
Hometown 02:36
My soul runs in the waters Runs in the waters Around my home town And my bones float with the rafters Float with the rafters around my home town My eyes are food for fishes Served on sea dishes For doves and for gulls Won't somebody bear witness Someone bear witness That I'm smiling now So tell all those well-wishers To stop ringing their bells Cos I don't need the time of day Where I lay now - No, I don't need those tears And those bells And those veils where I lay...
6.
Snow Queen 03:14
I'll make you a corsage Of Chantilly lace Comfrey and eyebright And reeds from the lake And tie it with cambric Before you awake Upon your heart sleeping This precious keepsake From here the land's edge Is a scrawl on the sea It writes and unwrites itself Tirelessly And I, in the eaves On my eiderdown seat See riddles and rhymes Where your words ought to be And the green-fingered lady Who longed, longed me to stay Made all the roses wither away And smoke, lilac footed As I climbed, climbed the gate And reams of clouds hid me As I made my escape It was autumn, autumn How long did I sleep? The moon-coloured waters They whispered your name And said with her carriage The deep snows came And she kissed you and bound you With icicle chains Made winter your lodge And gave frost to your veins From here the land lies Like a mast on the sea It rises and banks And it confuses me And I, in the eaves On my eiderdown seat See riddles and rhymes Where your words ought to be The ice-shouldered Queen Who vowed, vowed you'd remain Made all the roses Wither in spring And from the snow palace I'll steal you away And my tears will make Your poor heart bloom again Like roses
7.
I walk at low tide And watch that rag-grey sea Trammel down the shoreline To tear dust factories And I salute the magpie And sing a sad luck blues And try to find a picture That could take the place of you But you're residing in me An unintended guest And now you've brought your friends and all your family I've not a second's rest I know I sinned and gambled and I wagered that I was immune Like Troilus in the temple mocking star-struck lovers much too soon It was me of course who was on course to get it in the eye Darling, won't you hear my heart come riding stoned and blind When the city's on you, and its scratching to get in And the night is blacker than a plague of devil's wings I'll be waiting in the doorway, for your mouth on my skin And the stars will rain down silver like the angel's lucky win And the road lines will pluck tuneful on their vagrant violin And your words will taste of bourbon, and your hands will make me sing We'll walk at low tide and watch that eye-glass sea Trammel down the shoreline To tear dust factories With a rose of black hawthorn And an ermine out of down We'll toast the coronation To the very best love in town But now you've taken over It's a mutiny You've changed the locks And left me in a strange and somehow altered key I know I sinned and gambled and I boasted that I was immune Like Troilus in the court I didn't count upon the sight of you It was me, of course, who was on course to get it in the eye Darling, won't you hear my heart come riding stoned and blind
8.
Pin your name upon my sweater
 And walk with me to the launderette
 We'll watch my socks play tag together
 Hear the buttons sing, see the moon's ascent
 
I'll say your hair has grown much longer
 But I think that you should keep it that way
 Oh it's so fine here in September
 When the river's red, and the sky's dove grey...
 
Two dollar psychic around my corner I'll say 'Did you see me coming?'
 But I guess she's heard that one before

And in her deck, there lives a viper
 And a prince with lions and unshared troubles at his door
 
Well, I know death, it's a foreign country
 It left me breathless, it left me rich and made me poor

 And I have made myself an island -
 But I don't mind if you come ashore
 And here is my letter, like I promised from New York
9.
Oh the bandstand is flooded - Is flooded with rain And the saints that came marching In Jesus' name Find their bugles and buckles All rusted away They will not be salvaged For one last crusade In this city of sinners The children today Grow up chemically vicious With sex on the brain And their babies have babies So fat and so angry We feed them and feed them And still they are hungry And all the King's horses And all the King's men Couldn't put our love together again Once you gave me the moon I was after the sun That's the way it was always And will be Amen When I first saw you At the Easter Parade I knew from the start How I'd whisper your name How we'd wander the city And dance in the lanes And kiss by the lamplight To 'Lily Marlene' Now this city's for wasters The coming-of-age And hard-wired and dead-eyed With cash and cocaine But Jerusalem's coming It's just round the corner A holy man told me Though what does it matter when... All the King's horses And all the King's men Couldn't put our love together again Once you gave me the moon I was after the sun That's the way it was always And will be Amen
10.
Salome 04:55
Then spoke the King "Any earthly thing To see you dancing" How could I stop Those words from rising Like flames on my tongue (Though not holy ones) If God himself could not? There's a man There's a man And he will not love me Like all the others long to So bring me his head Upon a silver platter And with his eyes Still wide He'll watch me dancing And I'll be dancing for him At night I dream He pours cool water Into my mouth The veils turn water Then he'll rise golden... There's a man There's a man He was the only one I ever wanted So bring me to bed And they'll applaud my death For who will pray For my soul now to rise?
11.
Sky, heavy as bell rope Is ringing the changes August has cried In her swell-bellied labours She climbs up the steeple And waits for the chime Halos of rain on the conifers shine Halos of rain on the conifers shine I'd like the world to stop Just for one morning And tell me the hour Now this kingdom is fallen The livery's decked And the courtiers are bloody And lillies grow now From his mouth and his body And I could pound nettles Till my hands were blistered But swans crowd the lake and no - I'm not their sister In pedalos once we were brave sailor men One two we fell, and then we stood again... In pedalos once we were brave sailor men One two we fell, and then we stood again... I want to be grand To mourn as an actor Playing a bit part So I don't have to feel this Extend my arm gracefully Sipping in silence Bone china, behind a veil So not to see this And I search without walls And I search without finding I search like a blind man With fortune to guide me In pedalos once We were brave sailormen One two we fell And then we stood again... Roots, pale in September And tender as memory Seed in the rooftops And flower in the belfry Silent in amber That once winter time We slept safe as houses My brother and I We slept safe as houses My brother and I
12.
Rainbows (free) 04:23
Ever of faithless heart My only allegiance is song The flight and perch of birds Half glimpsed on secret garden walls Why must I always go When the going's only good? When the fight is overthrown I'm sorry darling, I'm no good "Stay in touch", he said As I descended the stairs Oh I still feel his touch It's travelled miles with me, I swear I poured rainbows down his throat Sweet as cherry, thick as rope He shook me till the touch light woke Until this sin was worthy, beyond reproach How can I redress A river run to the sea? It's too late to regret The one I promised I would be And though I act the part I feel I'm just a ghost Oh I still love my heart But my head's been turned by a restless ghost He drank whiskey, I drank gin Our words were caverns to dive in To trace the curve, to climb the arc This holy light, this precious dark "Stay in touch", he said As I descended the stairs Oh I still feel his touch It's travelled miles with me, I swear I poured rainbows down his throat Sweet as cherry, thick as rope He shook me till the touch light stirred Until this sin was flew like a brace of birds

about

Produced by Ray Singer & Brad Albetta with arrangements by Maxim Moston

Praise for the Album so far:

'Gorgeous...a stunning album that mixes operatic and folk elements with magical storytelling' The Guardian

'Dark and delicious modern torch songs' WORD Magazine

'There's both a lavish, vivid imagination and an intense intimacy at play in the music of Ana Silvera...altogether these are haunting, grown-up fairytales' METRO

'Refined by Silvera's delicate and cerebral artistry, The Aviary is a joy' R2 Magazine

'Melodies that just wont leave you alone and a voice that tugs at your heart. Lady Stardust sings her songs of darkness and decay...not to mention love, loss, illusion and dissolution" Max Reinhardt, Late Junction, Radio 3

"Silvera's voice.. has a Björk-like spontaneity - an ability to be gritty and fragile one minute, warm, rich and ripe the next" Arts Desk

'Within our visually over-emphasised culture.. to be transported so readily into a story through music is a welcome revelation' Aesthetica Magazine

8/10 - "Silvera applies such a richly detailed aesthetic to her work.. the result being a multifaceted and utterly beguiling piece of art" WearstheTrousers Magazine

"Ana Silvera is a poet who wraps her words in a style of music that is as personalised as the stories she tells. Her songs reflect episodes in her life, influences and characters, full of historical imagery and dramatic fantasy." Bearded Magazine

credits

released March 12, 2012

All songs written and performed by Ana Silvera
Produced by Ray Singer, Brad Albetta & Ana Silvera

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Ana Silvera London, UK

'Stunning...magical storytelling' -The Guardian

Ana Silvera is a London-born singer- songwriter and composer whose folk and bluegrass-tinged tunes are lyrical, intimate and emotive, works of ‘lavish, vivid imagination’ (Metro). ... more

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