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Monthly Journal

by Thomas Truax

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    w beautiful full color 12 page booklet with monthly photos in Jewel Case
    "This album just works. As catchy as it is haunting. Retro acoustics compliment Thomas's bass voice.. Well-tempered indy pop infusions and sexy jazz undertones"
    - Lisa Kalloo, So Mojo

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1.
2.
February February whatchya doin to me? Everybody's being graded on their popularity In the cathedral of my heart the stained glass is on fire Its the closest thing I've come to a religious fervor And the water in the shower is a-talkin aloud Sayin' boy you are a-hopeless you should go back to bed You can wash and you can scrub until you turn bright red But you'll still be dirty in the head February February whatchya doin to me? I tried to jump the river but was sucked out to sea I woke up on the shore with my suit all wrinkled Between Dick Van Dyke and Rip Van Winkle I used to have the patience to draw a whole tree But now I'm lucky to get through a branch or three And I've been howlin' at the moon again like some kind of loon Come on springtime you couldn't spring too soon!
3.
March Winds 03:57
March winds, you keep blowing, and keep our kite floating.
4.
She puts a lighter jacket on The cold is going but still not gone You know your brother and your baby need ya But still you stand down wind from Fukushima Forget your flowers Just bring your showers April And let your rains disguise our tears Forget your flowers Just bring your showers April Wash clear the tarnish from this year Your limbs unfold your petals open sweetly but Your brooks are lined with stinging nettles lately I feel a shiver in my knees Perhaps I'm too eager to please We'll meet down at the Working Man's in Reading Then we can carpool to the Royal Wedding The cars push in and out through this big city Like blood cells in a map of capillaries Each work day's like a single beat Each of us play our tiny part I've heard that things are going to turn But still this dry foliage burns Forget your flowers Just bring your showers April And let your rains disguise our tears...
5.
I'm just remembering how it got On that warm May night When you were showing your tattoo off In the campfire light And we could almost see the breeze As it slid in from the seas And we were free as fireflies in May We drank and danced around the fire The sparks they spun like fireflies We stayed awake til there was no more Then we'd roast s'more s'mores We got very musical As empty bottles became bells You shook another full of shells We cast ourselves into a spell And we were free as fireflies in May The summer stretched itself ahead The beach itself became our bed And we were free as fireflies in May
6.
Lost On the Moon in June My one and only's gone Now London's upside down Wild city, screaming, glistening I don't see your glow or hear your singing Beause I'm still on the Moon Heartbroken in June Sweet memories hide everywhere Every corner, every crater My friends try talking me down I'm grateful they're around They will keep me hanging on But in my heart right now I am so gone.... gone gone gone Though she's no longer here We still talk in my head How about that one? Oh right, we have done Then lets try this new one instead She's somewhere out there With feathers in her hair Maybe she's found someone lately That makes her as happy as she once did me
7.
Give yourself a gold star Put it on your guitar, put it on your car You know you deserve it 'Cause you have come so far That teacher that flunked ya Well fuck her 'Cause her gold stars, her sticker stars Could never shine half as bright as yours That smell of fresh cut lawn That you puked on at the dawn It's a gift for you Mr. Robinson 'Cause there's a whole lot more that's going on Than your groomed and tidy lawn And here's to you Mrs. Robinson And one for you too Miss July Just when you think you're getting really old You get a little bit older still I guess you'll always be that child inside Still got your chin on the window sill Somehow you've kept your lamp still alight Through all these dark and stormy nights Let's give ourselves one more gold star For making it half way through another year Half way through another year
8.
When the August Moon Lights midnight up like noon Out of everyone, might you be the one that Wont leave me hanging undone Please don't let me down Don't you let me down Out of everyone, might you be that one that Wont leave me hanging undone I pull my own weight but sometimes it's so great Yeah sometimes I'm afraid that I might fall So don't you let me down Please don't let me down Out of everyone, might you be that one that Wont leave me hanging undone When the August Moon Lights midnight up like noon Out of everyone, might you be the one that Wont leave me hanging undone Driving to your house I see the rising heat The military cemetery Flashes by like a strobelight And in this melting economy It's hard to be what you want to be Riots in the streets As history repeats Made to feel selfish and worthless and that's just scratching the surface Made to feel selfish and worthless and that's just scratching the surface Please don't let me down...
9.
Grandmother says Whatever You know I'm easy I've just got one piece of advice And that is never, no don't ever Don't book a wedding in September The videographer has got Deja-vu and double vision He's suffering from a hangover Or its a double wedding, he's not quite certain The bride takes out the bridesmaid's eye With the bouquet that the bride makes fly The bridesmaid was distracted by An old man that looks just like a little boy The little-boy-looking old man Watches an ascending balloon The child from whence the balloon came Cries softly trapped inside his pram His Mother takes a cigarette break Forgetting to secure the brake (Of course) the pram it rolls off towards the lake But in it's path: the wedding cake The sky explodes with white frosting Much slipping, sliding, panic ensuing From a distance it looks like they may be dancing Some take to the lake and are even swimming Grandmother says Whatever You know I'm easy I've just got one piece of advice And that is never, no don't ever Don't book a wedding in September
10.
We bought an old dark house Put up a fresh new fence Bought into the illusion of permanence But as the new paint peels So too the we feel And the low price makes new sense Everything's Gone Halloween The candle is ticking The clock is dripping The pudding is in the proof We need bigger beads for bigger prayers There's footsteps on the roof The paranormal experts are called in They pick up results right away Phantom vibrations Spectral gyrations Validated by photography (they said) Everything's gone Halloween around here I used your Halo like a Yoyo You liked it at the time But then you ran to Mom Head bowed in shame When you heard those church bells chime crying...Everything's gone Halloween with him Have you given up the ghost or has the ghost given up on you?
11.
The seven-billionth child was born yesterday And relatively speaking I know I am still lucky I'm going away but I'll come back some day I will always be wherever I stay
12.
I live on a lower level you live in a higher zone Is it me that's going up Or is it you that's coming down? Something to hold on Family and friends They're coming around again Family and friends Family and friends They're coming around again Lord won't you erase my drive Some of these memories are fearsome And now I'm seein all these tents outside the church Couldn't we just reinstall the system? I just stop for my aspirin then Slip back down the alley to avoid the din The windows on the high street are so loud and bright Those automated elves they work all night Here's Albert the groundhog with his long warm hugs, lightweight but well-intentioned And here's PC Jack. "Are you still on that Mac?" He's still chewing on that bone of contention Purple Aunt Myrtle, all bananas and candles, interjecting with her usual precision They redid the kitchen, they settled on lavender, "But it really was quite a decision" She says that's partly why Uncle Todd don't say much, the other part's his rheumatism But he asks me where I've been, was it off to Berlin? "Aint that where they drink that Gluhwein?" And isn't it nice that we're all here together? First dinner and then when's the game on? Last year I made so many friends on line, and made so many dinners alone. Family and friends They're coming around again Can you believe the speed of this year? The Carousel turns again

about

This album was recorded over the full circle of a year, starting last January. I committed to writing, recording and releasing (to online subscribers and a select group of radio DJs) one song per month. The concept was to create a living, mutating album in which tracks were informed by and reflected the mood, weather, and atmosphere of the changing seasons; the world news, daydreams, night dreams, travel experiences, memories and events of my personal life as they unfolded. The only rule I set for myself was that I had to write each song after the month started, and get it done early enough that it might have a chance at being played/heard before the month ended.

At the time I started I had no idea what a challenging and turbulent year lay ahead, nor what form the finished collection would take. The dream I wrote about in January seemed to portend some building menace, and in looking back now it is curious how the songs sometimes foreshadowed events ahead, like when my father died, adding a heavier pertinence to the song 'March Winds' which I'd written earlier that month.

Amongst other heavy things that transpired a longtime deep love relationship gradually and sadly broke apart, and in November I was forced to leave England which I had called home for the past several years, due to tightening UK visa restrictions. I wound up completing the final songs in Germany. In a way this project helped me from completely losing it by being one of the few constants I could return to regularly while everything else seemed to be collapsing. Music, both listening to it and making it, can be medicine in tough times. 2011 was also a difficult year for so many of my friends and family members.

But it wouldn't be fair to say that there weren't also times of joy and beauty, excitement, new starts, some good gigs and some wonderfully strange goings-on, both real and imaginary. I hope these songs reflect all that. In the end they are just entries in the journal of a single life on an off-kilter planet during a trying year.

I feel lucky and privileged for all the support and encouragement I've gotten for this project. To those of you who have helped me I send you my warmest thanks.

-Thomas
Krefeld, January 2012

credits

released February 7, 2012

All songs written, performed and recorded by Thomas Truax. Cover layout by Thomas with help from Philip Lethen. Cover photo of Thomas by Stephanie Swalwell. 'Graduate' (July) photo by Chris Saunders. Saturn Photo courtesy of NASA. Truax Penny Farthing logo based on an original sketch/concept by Amra Sariya. Mastering: Dirk T. Jambor at Truetrack

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Thomas Truax Birmingham, UK

"Thomas Truax crafts rich, poetically evocative songs about insects, trees, technology, and a lifelong obsession with all things lunar. He travels the world performing with his "band" of bizarre self-made instruments including a motorized drum machine made with bike wheels and a souped-up Gramophone called 'The Hornicator', as well as his venerable guitar 'Hank'.
"Inventive and Romantic" -TimeOut
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