Crisis of Faith

Lyrics:

I hear the voices again

They say I should suffer for my sins

They say I should cover up my head under the sheets atop my bed and wait for colic to kick in

They're my friends

I see the shadows at night

They slip through the remnants of my pride

They think I should lie here terrified at what my mind has made me do and bring the mood to finally die

Do they lie?

I know truth isn't mercy

I know justice isn't kind

I know laughter is the answer

In the downfall of design

I'm denied three times

For all my fear, my guilt, my shame

How can I pray?

I feel the sinking of shame

A constant pressure all around my frame

The knowledge that for all I've done, the joy I've won, the webs I’ve spun through desperate months, I'll never be the same

Good game

I know truth isn't mercy

I know justice isn't kind

I know laughter is the answer

In the downfall of design

I'm denied three times

For all my fear, my guilt, my shame

How can I pray?

In my fairness, I am cruel

In my justice, I'm a fool

In my sloth, there lies desire

In my mercy, I'm a liar

How can I be justified

When I cannot be just inside?

I taste the traces of doubt

A difficulty striving to surmount

The bleak abuse on evening news, a need to prove, to feed, consume, and we conclude there’s no one in the crowd

Devout 

I know truth isn't mercy

I know justice isn't kind

I know laughter is the answer

In the downfall of design

I'm denied three times

For all my fear, my guilt, my shame

How can I pray?

House of Cards

Lyrics:

I'm doubting

A lack of faith

Are we becoming the gods that we create?

I'm drowning

A moment that lingers

Forestalling the path that has been laid

Are we building our temples on treacherous soil?

Are we seeing the end of a song?

Are we betting our houses and tossing a coin?

Are we sealing the end of us all?

When it's crashing down, will you make a sound?

Is it well with you?

Is it well with you?

When the cards are down, can you build a house?

Will it shelter you?

Will it shelter -

I'm manic

A lack of wait

Can't control my impulsive mistakes

I'm mad, and

I think it's appropriate

How can we hope through the hate?

Have the coins that we count on been rigged from the start?

Have we waited too long to respond?

Have we held all our cards far too close to our hearts?

Have we ever been close to our gods?

When it's crashing down, will you make a sound?

Is it well with you?

Is it well with you?

When the cards are down, can you build a house?

Will it shelter you?

Will it shelter -

The alL Acoustic EP

This EP is a reimagination of my LA EP - each song deconstructed into one form of acoustic song or another. It starts with a classic singer-songwriter acoustic guitar rendition of Pay My Rent, continues with East Coast performed exclusively on grand piano, goes completely off the deep end with Above The City rescored for string orchestra, and ends with an A Capella version of LEAP.

If you’d like higher quality downloads of these songs (or you’d like to support my work), feel free to check out my bandcamp, otherwise, listen on your favorite streaming service!

LA EP

This EP is a collection of songs that revolve around my move from Northern Virginia to Los Angeles, California. It begins with a leap of faith; stalls out with musings about what it means to be a part of a city, a culture, a coast; then ends by laughing at the absurdity of the entire situation.

If you’d like higher quality downloads of these songs (or you’d like to support my work), feel free to check out my bandcamp, otherwise, listen on your favorite streaming service!

Pay My Rent

Lyrics:

I've been tryin' to fight the fever
You're always on my mind
And I ain't growin' any younger
I've given everything to try

You know I'd do most anything for you
But I don't know what else to do
You could show me a path filled with tacks and broken glass
I'd walk right through my shoes

But can you
Pay my rent?
The more trouble I have, the more money I spend
It's such a
Shame I spent
All my wage to pay for you
Can you
Pay my rent?
It's the last of the month, and the damage is done
So won't you
Save my debts
From all the change I've spent on you

Well you could
Buy me a beer and then dip
And I'll know you're mine
But if I
Try to survive on one sip
You leave my throat dry in the mornin' time

And I can't live without you
Lord knows that I have tried
And anytime I think I doubt you
You provide my peace of mind

Lyrics:

There's a road I take when I'm in the Bay
And the mountains flow up and down the coast
Above the city
Above the city
And when I get in, it is further still
From the dancing lights and a real life
Above the city
Above the city

And if it's a bad call, it's a burden
What a long way down for a turnaround
It's gonna be last call in a hurry
When I'm so tired I can't feel it anymore

I'd rather be happy than...

There's a place we go to look down below
On the passing cars underneath the stars
Above the city
Above the city
And we talk about how it gets too loud
And the drugs we take to forget our place
Above the city
Above the city

And if it's a bad call, it's a burden
What a long way down for a turnaround
It's gonna be last call in a hurry
When I'm so tired I can't feel it anymore

I'd rather be happy than...

When I was young
I thought that I could run
Faster if oneself could be enough
Now I judge
All that I have shunned
What I've become
And what I am not above

And if it's a bad call, it's a burden
What a long way down for a turnaround
It's gonna be last call in a hurry
When I'm so tired I can't feel it anymore

I'd rather be happy than...

LEAP

Lyrics:

Runnin' away from a good life
Cuz I've never been good at goodbyes
Hard to find the words to shut this down
Stumblin' back to my habits
Couldn't get worse now, or can it?
Will I make a mistake if I stay?

I've been fakin' it for such a long time
It'd be great to just make you believe
Is it fate or is it just the wrong time
What a dangerous state for my dreams

Runnin' around but goin' nowhere fast
Gotta get out cuz we're not made to last

Sometimes you gotta
Leave
To change your way of thinkin'
One blink and then you're sinkin'
At night I hear you say
Sometimes you gotta
Leap
When you can't see where you're goin'
Cuz hopin' isn't knowin'
But faith can keep you safe along the way

I don't know that much, but we can work it out
I got a bank account, and I'm gonna make you proud
So clock out with me; we can leave today
Don't miss this opportunity, cuz she knocks once and then she walks away

Leave
To change your way of thinkin'
One blink and then you're sinkin'
At night I hear you say
Sometimes you gotta
Leap
When you can't see where you're goin'
Cuz hopin' isn't knowin'
But faith can keep you safe along the way

This world is not for the waitin'
I think I'm missin' you the most
Cuz when I feel like I am goin' strong
I'm tempted to go

Sometimes you gotta
Leave
Cuz stayin' here might kill you
I thought this once; I still do
To fight another day
Sometimes you gotta
Leap
When all you've got's a feelin'
So try and start the healin'
Just take one breath and then one step

Sometimes you gotta
Leave
To change your way of thinkin'
One blink and then you're sinkin'
At night I hear you say
Sometimes you gotta
Leap
When you can't see where you're goin'
Cuz hopin' isn't knowin'
But faith can keep you safe along the way

Lyrics:

Baby it's all shades of gray
Cuz lately it all stays the same
But maybe it'll pay to play
Through the changes a little longer
My heart's not always where it's safe
When stars aren't falling into place
And all you've got's an empty space
To fill a little time

This road
Goes home
So don't
Let go

Time is calling me to guess
What's right from wrong and what is left
Eyelids falling from the test
I'm backed against the wall
Cards that fell when you were young
They mark the spell that's pulled you under
Hard to tell now if the sun
Is going up or down

A room where I am not a stranger
They're moving on away from me
The places we would sit and drink the night away
They're slipping right between my fingers

Well, these walkaways
Feel like holidays
And I'm still the broken man I used to be
As brake lights
Turn to late flights
You drove me back to the bed on which I used to sleep

Someday I will face the facts
The ones they didn't make to last
And nothing's gonna change the past
You might as well move on
I'm cursed but it is not my fault
Lines blurred and halfway crossed with salt
Jerking to an empty halt
After coasting for so long

Can't fight it alone, I got nowhere to go, I'm not far from my home but I'm far from my home
You put me on a bed and what you left unsaid still splits me from the east to west
And it's harder to tell when I'm all by myself cuz it might be as well that I'm going to hell
And this path that I chose is what frightens me most when I am on the other coast

Collaborations

Sometimes I get lucky enough to work with some wonderful musicians that I know: here are some tracks that I got to help out with

She

Lyrics:

She doesn’t think about you

Half as much as you think about…

She doesn’t think about you at all

You told me not to pine for you

But I feel so evergreen

Ever green with envy, put the pen ink to paper and savor it

Labor til these rhymes stave the cravings and I save her

Save the time we spent together like spinning disc memory

Preserve her and our moments together in ink

Til the moments flow back when I close my eyes to blink

What comes around goes around and around again

Like I’m roundin’ the bend of a mountain road where I have been

Many times before; look over your left shoulder

See a view you’ve misconstrued so many times before

Orthopedic

I can feel it in my bones. A storm’s comin’; I can hear it blowin’ down my window

Crash

Hear glass breakin’, soul shakin’

Shakin’ the knees that the soul don’t have no need for

Ghost from the past floats over the glass

Break me in two as easily as Moses with a staff

Most would just laugh

Tell me that I’m insane

But none of these can see even a crease inside this brain

They don’t know what this means to me

Living piece of my history

As beautiful and distant as the sky above the pine trees

I’m doin’ long division on stolen sheep

This rest feels undeserved as you’re not next to me

You’re just so cold as you walk away

As cold as your eyes as they don’t turn to meet my gaze

As cold as your hands on mine, cuz mine are warm

As cold as your hands are when they close the door

Familiar; you’ve closed this one before

Not that I’m keepin’ score; you keepin’ score?

I’ve been through this before; it left quite an impression

A lesson learned, left with regrets, but wrestlin’ with depression turned

Me into an enemy, left me here with steady feet

As distinct as the horizon when the sun sets at sea

Questioning everything; crashing into love and fallin’ deep

Left another with denial, anger, and bargaining

I’d lost that aggression when you came back to twist my levers

I think you and I are destined to do this forever

This is what happens when an unstoppable force

Meets an immovable object; waves stop at the shore

This love is madness, as you know is like gravity

All it takes is a little push, then these thoughts start stabbin’ me

Masterpiece, whether under moon or sun

And I kept on pressin’ because you’re just too much fun

Cycled through, my mind returned to you and your name

The wheel spins, but the spokes stay in the same place

You’ve got a life you want to live

You’ve given all you had to give

Never wanted to fall for you again

But then, I never wanted to be just friends

Life continues on, and we along with it

A song given to capture the wrong image

A static picture of the past to obsess and trim it

Cut and paste til it resembles what we want with it

I don’t know what you think or thought or dreamed or read

My views of you are tumors doomed to consume my head

But as much as you and I have both changed

Through the decade, you and I have both remained

Exactly the same

Album artwork by @amyownfie

The River

This album has been in the back of my head for years now - the overall motif is that of an ouroboros - a snake eating it’s own tail. This symbol represents reincarnation, rebirth, and the cycles of life. The album is nostalgic, both musically and emotionally. It roughly follows the pattern of falling in love, falling apart, and putting yourself back together to do it all over again. I hope you enjoy it.

Big shoutout to Mathew "Quill" Vandeneynden for doing such an amazing job with the album art and to the Green T Project for their help with distribution.

If you’d like higher quality downloads of these songs (or you’d like to support my work), feel free to check out my bandcamp, otherwise, listen on your favorite streaming service!

What We Want

Lyrics:

You hide
Behind
The fact that it gets harder to breathe when I'm around you
Your eyes
I find
Are vacant with adrenaline coursing through our veins

Waiting for our moment
And random stars to align
Waiting as I ever grow older
And ever more terrified

What I want
Is never an option
What I want
Is never unkind
Are we on
Or just breaking promises
Not our fault
That we're just killing time
What I want
Is only to save you save me
What you want
Is holding the line
If I break
Will it be a breakthrough
Or is all of this
A myth inside my mind

This fate
Is fake
Our puzzle pieces fit but don't lie perfectly flat, and
It's true
That you
Are living life away from me,
As real as I can feel and see

I know the little date on your shoulder
Is telling me that we have expired
Watching as I get ever older
And ever more terrified

She's fading
Into the night
I'm waking
Into just another day
These silhouettes inside my mind
Can't be coincidence, she loves to walk away
The same girl could break the same heart twice
I bit off my own tail then went in for another bite
But then I'm greedy and I'm easy and unkind
And you're pure and you're secure and you don't really seem to mind

There's nothing I can do
I see that look upon your face
Biting off more than I can chew
Ad ending up in the same damn place

Amongst Crows

My new album, Amongst Crows, is available now!  You can find it on iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp, CDBaby, and probably a few other places I'm not aware of. 

A digital booklet containing lyrics and more is available for free right here. 

Thank you so much for listening.  I hope you enjoy!

Love and blessings-

Will

Come and Get It

This is the first single from my album, Amongst Crows! It's a fast paced, driving rock and roll track written and performed by yours truly.

Lyrics:

Fake a laugh

Out of gas

Predicable endings comin' into the blue

On the fritz

Call it quits

Ignorance is bliss until it happens to you

Society

Is rioting

Quietly, inside a vacuum or four

A silent scream

Is echoing

Listen careful, or you'll miss the swing of the door



So leave the light on

If they're coming tonight

I ain't lookin' for specifics

I ain't lookin' for a fight

Let your hair down

If he hit you today

I won't throw the first punch

But I won't get out of the way

Leave the light on

If they're comin' tonight

I ain't lookin' for my morals

I ain't lookin' for the right

But let your hair down

If he hit you today

I won't throw the first punch

But I won't get out of the way

Come and get it



Force a smile

Talk a while

I've come too far for this to end

Fade away

Night and day

Accidentally drifting round the bend

Camouflage

Sabotage

Jackin' words from the back of my throat

Industry

Humility

Can't have one without the other goin' broke