more from
Another Record
We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

A floodplain mind

by Misophone

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €10 EUR  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of A floodplain mind via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days

      €15 EUR or more 

     

  • T-Shirt/Apparel

    ships out within 3 days
    edition of 27 

      €15 EUR or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of A floodplain mind via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    edition of 21 

      €27 EUR or more 

     

1.
2.
These are the days I’ll remember Always with a hint of sadness They have gone, they are passed Unsurpassed by gladness The secret walk that we took Upon the slate grey day The hayseed sun that silent shook And dappled the fields with shine Always with a hint of sadness The madness of summer The snails on the wall The trees swing like apes Excited and tall The canvas edges croaking With the dust of morning All the ghosts of evening Cloaking our heads like madness
3.
A floodplain mind and a heart for hills No wonder that I feel so ill The walls they tower and grip the sky That holds the grey clouds passing by I’m drowning in this life I’ve let Twist me like an old cassette On walls I’ve built is scrawled REGRET The torn receipt from an unclaimed bet There’s nothing left - my brain a flood I feel nothing but the thrum of blood That beats a drum within my ears I have no Hope no hate no fears I feel nothing - I am undone Staring at the setting sun The days run quick like horses wild I’ve made a man - I’ve killed the child
4.
The moors breathe like wine And the hillsides scream with jays The roses break and dead align Where the curtain edges fray The floodplain sits in silence Where horses bend and moan The serpent serenades the silt Where ochre arches groan These days of ours, were never ours, Were never ours it seems I feel like I’ve been drinking The hours have lost their clocks The minutes whirl, as does the sky. And gathered by the docks The seabirds swirl with sunburned mirth The houseboats bob and scream These days of ours, were never ours, Were never ours it seems These days of ours, were never ours, Were never ours it seems
5.
Apple 04:21 video
I’m swimming in the ashes Of the bridges that I’ve burnt I’ve turned all of the pages Of the lessons that I’ve learned I gave you the apple You gave me the pip Some of us have time to wait To stare ahead and sit But I’ve too much past to ponder I must up and always wander I cannot wait it out No not any longer But I still have a place Residing in the corner of my mind A place unknown by all That you my love will find But I don’t know you name Your face I’ve yet to eye I’m still soon to meet you I hope before I die I don’t know what will pass And know no good things can last But all detritus from my life Is meaningless to me.
6.
Joy 03:39
Joy has tired and grown old, Sorrow has risen and with it the cold. Joy has tired and grown old, And the heron discards the sorrow it sold. Snow has given lies a chance to gather Quietly together, and we digress Joy has tired and grown old, Sorrow has risen and with it the cold. Joy has tired and grown old, And the heron discards the sorrow it sold.
7.
Confidence 02:16
8.
Voices 05:21
A voice inside my head Wishes I were dead And every morning pushes pins into my skull of lead And all that I hold dear Is far away from here Is far away I fearful Fully feel I’ll disappear And all the rain has come And flooded out the sun Which bobs on down the estuary Like a bullet from a gun The rats are big as dogs The rain is thick as fog They eat the vomit from my shoes And turn my brain’s cold cogs I want to sink in sand I reach to touch your hand But it’s not how I planned And so I stand and stare I don’t feel anything I just don’t care I don’t feel anything I just don’t care But I feel everything And I’m scared
9.
The leaves have turned to rust too soon, Drunk to hell and it’s barely noon, The cracked earth split like a dust stained wound, The bleeding trees breathe heavy too. My splintered hands are tired now, I’ve turned the hay and I’ve walked the cow, And I long for wisdom’s winter day, When words were more than simply something to say, When words were more than simply something to say, When words were more than simply something to say, Let’s go to hell and burn away. We breathe in quick and hold for rain, As Thunder boldly burns again, As we weave our unwise words, But I’m still free as any bird… My splintered hands are tired now, I’ve turned the hay, I’ve walked the cow, I long for wisdom’s winter day, When words were more than simply something to say, When words were more than simply something to say, When words were more than simply something to say, Let’s go to hell and burn away.
10.
Apricity 03:45
Death’s face pressed against the frame Placing pale prints upon the pane Framing Summer’s empty room in grey An iron sky that summons end of day And the moon strikes a smile across the sky Snaggle-toothed too diligent to die And a smile in the night is not a lie Less still, when light-spilled dawning morn is nigh And death’s pale prints are covered soon in snow And silver sunlight spreads and silent grows And Hope like ghosts clings barely to the slow Call of day which breathes from earth below But all it takes is a moment to recall That pride is not what comes before the fall And drunk as a new dropped calf I too will call Your name into the dark and empty hall
11.
River bed 04:47
The river bed’s pebbles do no more shine The chipped bone glass now full of wine Death and I are feeling fine And fine in feeling so entwined Across the line ‘tween whole and broken You can’t close a door that was never open I can’t recall the words we’d spoken Your broken hope’s unspoken token The fog within my silent mind Settles silt-like and I find This obfuscation blurs the binds That tie - and lies are sometimes kind Do not tarry absent long And quick believe that broken song That carries all fate’s latent wrongs With all misshapen longing gone The sun spreads silent through the pane It’s good to be alive again This sleep has clung to walls and rain Does rust the leaves that clog the drain And though I’ll never be the same I see the footprints down the lane That watched you go as I remain To watch the sun spread through the pane
12.
Sky 02:22
Ella los guardó todos estos años Envueltos en papel delgado como piel Resguardados dentro de una caja de zapatos En un estante inadvertible. En una habitación verde como arvejas Dos pequeños zaparos de porcelana De un pastel de bodas Cuidadosamente conservados. ¿Alguien los extrañó? ¿Alguien los vio partir? Están ahora en mi hogar Sellados en un lugar oculto Se han convertido en un nuevo recuerdo. Pero más que nada, Son un eco de ella El deseo de darle sentido a cosas pequeñas Cómo frecuentemente el sinsentido de todo ello Puede ser abrumador Hay momentos cuando cosas tan pequeñas Son los fantasmas que otorgan consuelos Y todas necesitamos consuelo. Y el sol está brillando Alimentando mi piel Y yo olvido casi todo.
13.
Curse the crows with too much spleen The morning light cannot be seen This woman I don’t know her name But I know all her dreams The seashells gather on the sill I think I might be very ill The light from windows cross the street Does but the corners fill The screams it seems will never cease The cloth as soft as new spun fleece Will cover me from all the curse’d Outside world and give me peace This woman I don’t know her name But I know her all the same Myself I know not anything I know not anything I do not know how to engage With the world, too quick to age I’ve felt too old too many years Too many years to say I’m a clown without an audience
14.
Sunlight 03:34
It has freed itself from night And brought to life the morning Dust like tired flies in light Takes flight despite night's warning Love has never taken hold But boldly wanders nightly And has more weight than tired eyes And heavy words thrown lightly Sunlight laps upon the shore Of morning and the tired turns Of half forgotten thoughts dissolve And no lessons have been learned No lessons have been learned of love Of laughter soon dispelled Of lives unsoldered as above The sunlight sours and swells
15.
The days bleed into one As we plead for winter’s sun To run and hide in hollow hills And wait for warmth to come And rinse the the grey from frost-frayed days And skies like veils of silt This isn’t what we planned for This isn’t what we built So build a fort and set it on fire Laugh upon the funeral pyre And see the sea birds on the wire Screaming for the summer I’ll find a place to new reside The inside world will now provide No need for the heedless world outside I’ll close the door and once more hide The days blur into fraying mist I’ll punch the walls with bleeding fists Forget the taste of mouths that kissed And break the urge to not resist
16.
Night comes early in the hills Spilling shadows down the lanes With rusty haze the woods does fill The shapes and sounds unchanged but strange And sitting in this growing grey There are, I find, no words to say No words to scream; no words to sing As silence clings to everything And there is too a darkness sunk Within my heart and mind and so I slowly drink until I’m drunk And speak in tongues I do not know It will not pass ; it will not go With every passing day it grows My mind is filled with sand like snow Which slowly pours away my soul Still and silent slowly spills The night like ink across the sky Shadows shift and silent still Until light to night bids goodbye
17.
(Interlude) 01:11
18.
Snow 03:27
The snow was all we new As the day descending flew Past the signposts on the sun And into darkness we drove we drove live falling bees Past shaking angry trees With a veil of rain resting on the window The sun was not the days old friend As summer days would fain amend In future window leaning afternoons. The pane and view were greying blue As all around us sang The mud and gravel singing with the sunset. But here the brittle course of night Has spluttered like the matches light That momentarily lit your body. And though we know we’ve lost the glow Of pasts dreaming of future homes We know we can drive until the morning.
19.
The mountains sung and leaves were leaving The sky the colour of waters weaving Through the hunchbacked hills and so The day would no more rest but grow The hills alive, the wind a whisper The faces burned, a heart that missed her But freedom is an autumn leaf It wants too much and lasts too brief And days will pass like sunflower seeds Which settle ‘neath the tangle weed A rolling stone will gather not As yesterdays are soon forgot A life like this was born not bought Where day is long and duly wrought For freedom is an autumn leaf It wants too much and lasts too brief
20.
I will pass through fields of wheat Untill my feet are black And though the years so quick retreat And gather behind my back I will always slip across These countless nameless streets Till i once more hold and keep What i held so sweet And so i march, I march like armies old Through steep ravines and rivers and Through the snow the snow sheets cracked and cold Through all the world delivers I will pass away i know In your arms in which im sleeping Having shared at least a kiss With the fleeting love i'm seeking I will pass away i know in your arms The road behind is thick with gorse And bracken lined with bramble Oh if i but had a horse I would not stoop and amble As time is quick and wont allow A chance to live another Life upon this soil and sea Or find another lover
21.
Silt 01:01
22.
Monsters 04:15
Monsters in the night Riddles in the dark Who’d have thought such empty things Could constitute great art Staring at the ceiling Scratching at the walls Ive not known much And doubt I’ll ever Know that much at all. But what I know I’ll keep In a secret space behind The bricks I’ve laid with debts unpaid A place that you won’t find And one day we will burn Your house down to the ground And from the endless dark of night You will not hear a sound Except the hum of insects Their busy limbs thrum through All the smog-laced fog of autumn’s Warming breath and dew But love will be the answer I’ll listen for its call I’ll listen for its whisper It’s voice too still and small Monsters in the dark Riddles from the night I’ll not know friend from foe it seems But still know wrong from right
23.
've never seen such strange and sombre Faces that did peer Out from hooded holes in cloaks That greated me a'feared 'Where you going boy?' one asked With a voice like splintered oak 'I want to go across the sea To where the chimneys smoke, And where the streets dont echo shyly Or your secrets bleed But to see and shout and laugh With all as one just freed 'Youre soft as soap' he said as broke A smile across his flat Chin, as brick like laughter Rocked his body for and back 'If you'll work all hours i give Then you can feel the rumble Of the sea for all the years That you can spit and stumble So i left the crumpled harbour That had seemed so distant From the simple town i'd tread Whose walls were so resistant And dipped across the sleeping sea And squinted as the land did Blur and then just dissappear In a sun so heavy handed And so the white of waves did dip And flail and spit and quiver And i at last was on my way With joyful fear did shiver
24.
It snowed today - in April Shaking waves of white across the hills Vast hills Where the ghosts of trees grip the sky I don’t know what I am doing The grand plans of dying youth Burst like dandelion seeds And still it snows! The sky - once a piercing silver Is now a sliver of sun light Slithering through the grey The ground here clipped like crimped felt It’s unreal yellow green Spilt in soft green streams Upon the summit I pass through a sea of misplaced mist Dismissed by night And given to the morning The dawning light a siren beneath the waves I don’t want to leave this place This place I’ve come to know But go I must Go I must As the sunlight rusts the sky I am a lie I am a lie
25.
Light plays brightly through the apple bows The days run madly which I’d gladly disallow If I had but half a hope to secret sway Where I’m heading but I know there is no way So I’ll wait for yet another dawn to lead me Down the byways of a future yet unknown I don’t recall the places I once lived in I don’t recall the falling leaves of home And I don’t have that much hope left for tomorrow But I’ll keep an extra bottle for the break Of waves of rays of daylight washing sorrow From the secret sleep of all my past mistakes I hate myself within the rear view mirror My eyes like bacon fat - congealed and grey I let go of the wheel but for a moment And then decide I’ll wait another day And then the sunlight dances through the branches Of the coatless trees in waking air And for a moment I am gladly nothing Just a ghost who will gladdened madly stare At beauty in its maddening precision And wonder at the thoughts that flood my mind Ridiculous obscene and still deluded But hoping still one beauty I may find
26.
and it falls down on the window shutters Like a film on a broken tape It blurrs the sight of those outside And doesnt dissipate and so it goes and grey it grows and swallows up the sky and so i know i do not know what i will decide i'd rather not to have to think about what foolish thoughts i own but drink will warm a foolish heart which before had inward roamed i have failed to prolongue the inevitable wrong that only your presence will right i've driven the long light of day and i long for the day not to rise after night and so it continues like laughter the rain and the flickering lights
27.
Yarrow 04:42
Yarrow and bird’s foot and dog rose and clover Breaths from a death of the night that is over And over and under the footsteps we thunder Let no man or woman or child put asunder The sky turns to silk and the milk of the moon Fades like your footsteps which faded too soon But maybe it’s good that no tracks do we leave Too many too keen to reach the top of the tree Perhaps we should stop and just watch the tree growing Perhaps we’ll then learn what we knows not worth knowing The gold finch, the swallow, the blackbird, the magpie Fill the air waving their wings in goodbye I fall in love in the blink of an eye And as I’ve grown old I’ve learned not to try To understand anything and let the deck fall No I don’t know anything no not at al
28.
As William and Mary walked by the sea-side, Their last farewell to take, Should you never return, young William, she said, My poor heart will surely break. Be not thus dismayed, young William he said, As he pressed the dear maid to his side, Nor my absence don't mourn, for when I return, I will make little Mary my bride. Three years passed away without news, when at last, As she sat at her own cottage door, An old beggar came by with a patch on his eye, Quite lame, and pity did implore; If you're charity you'll bestow, said he, I will tell you your fortune beside, The lad that you mourn will never return To make little Mary his bride. Mary started and trembled, O tell me, she cried, All the money I've got I will give, To what I ask you, if you will tell me true, Only say, my dear William live? In poverty he lives, said he, And shipwreck'd he has been beside, And return will no more, because he is poor, To make little Mary his bride That he lives, Heaven knows the great joy that I feel, Yet still his misfortunes I mourn, For he'd been welcome to me in poverty, In his blue jacket tattered and torn. For I love him so dear, so true and sincere, That no other I swear beside, If in riches he roll'd, and was clothed in gold, Should make little Mary his bride. The patch from his eye the beggar then threw, His old coat and his crutch too beside, With cheeks like a rose, and in jacket so blue, 'Twas William stood by Mary's side. Forgive me, dear maid, then William he said, Your love it was only I tried, To church let's away, for ere the sun sets, I'll make little Mary my bride.
29.
The flood 04:57
I am a casual friend of Jesus’ blood I’ll take what I can to escape from the flood And when I am done I will talk in strange tongues And sing in the streets and sleep in the mud I’ll tramp like a tinker from down in the south I’ll curse like a sailor and then clean out my mouth With another glass gift from the Islands of Scotland The anchor of blood that I taste in my mouth I’m all I have left now the world’s turned to shit I can't find a home and my clothes do not fit But I can be king in the good Prince of Wales And sing and deliver my sparkling wit I am a casual friend of Jesus’ blood I’ll wait for the rust to burst bright from the bud And all that I've known will descend into dust As the sun bows it's head like the cows to the cud I'll empty my thoughts as I empty my glass My veins are a track for the trains of my past Whose thoughts coalesce in the spaces between The places I've left on the shelves of my dreams I’m all I have left now the world’s turned to shit I can't find a home and my clothes do not fit I can't carry on but on I must go And try to deny what my mind won't permit The sails and the wails and the mongering fear The babies and prams and the river runs clear Down in the bay to all their dismay The water’s still here and it flows like their tears I am a casual friend of Jesus’ blood I’ll take what I can to escape from the flood And when I am done I will talk in strange tongues And sing in the streets and sleep in the mud I’ll tramp like a tinker from down in the south I’ll curse like a sailor and then clean out my mouth With another glass gift from the Islands of Scotland The anchor of blood that I taste in my mouth I’m all I have left now the world’s turned to shit I can't find a home and my clothes do not fit But I can be king in the good Prince of Wales And sing and deliver my sparkling wit
30.

about

Cassette available from "Galaxy Train"
galaxytrain.bandcamp.com

Video clip
youtu.be/_REA2PjKpPw?si=yjREP0mtmoGDv_nm


A FLOOdPlAiN MInD
Not ones to hurry things, A Floodplain MInd, Misophone’s latest
album has been over a decade in the making but rest assured S.Herbert and M. A Welsh, the sole members of this reticent British group, haven’t been wasting their time. Indeed, in this carefully crafted set of songs, they have reached the heights that their
earlier releases hinted that they could and captured in this wide ranging, ambitious collection something to savour: proper, truly grown-up songwriting. Misophone have always found their place in the silent spaces between the world-weary and the whimsical
- but here their songs reach a new-found focus and maturity - lyrics that seek solace in the woods, rivers and open countryside of a forgotten England, but that hint too at the darkness of the night, and meticulous melodies that evoke their wide-ranging and
ever-expanding influences (the Elephant SIx Collective, the songs and music of Bagpuss, Daniel Johnston, The Smiths, Taraf de Haidouks and the incidental music of Randall and Hopkirk (deceased)).
The range of collaborators has increased too - with beautiful
guitar contributed by Robin Allender (Gravenhurst, The Allender Band etc) on Snow, and by bedroom pop provocateur Boys Age (on agoraphobic little nightmare Close the Door). Sublime vocals have been lent by Maja Lena (on Voices), Noa Mal (on Close the Door),
India Blue (on Love lies Bleeding), Aubben Renee (on William and Mary) and Rachel Hayward (on Apricity)… hell, there’s even a mini-orchestra on The Flood, the album’s grand final statement (beautifully arranged by the wonderful Tom Rocton who once more contributes
his own fantastic trombone playing across the album). Actor and kind soul Maxence Danet-Fauvel provides artful spoken word on It Snowed Today, as does Zazil Yakin
Xipé on Sky
(as well as adding trumpet, synths, bass and growling at other points). Light must also be shone upon composer Chris Vibberts whose magic is sprinkled across a number of songs (playing with exceptional clarity. sitar, lapsteel. Khim, marxophone and melodica)
- he is a master of his craft and the album wouldn’t be the same without his thoughtful contributions. There’s even hurdy gurdy on folk traditional William and Mary (courtesy of Dutch musician Matthew de Roode) and Nickelharpa lending a scraping authenticity
to Voices (played with grace by Lewis Jones). It’s an undeniably international affair.
A Floodplain Mind is nothing less than Misophone’s masterpiece.
Time to get stuck in its silt-slicked tributaries.

credits

released December 1, 2023

All songs by S.Herbert and M.A Welsh
William and Mary - trad (arrangement S. Herbert)

All songs produced by Misophone

There are many other people who have brought these songs to life and into focus. We are eternally grateful to everyone who has added their magic.

Chris Vibberts : Sitar, lapsteel. Khim, marxophone and melodica
Tom Rocton : Orchestral arrangements and trombone
Maxence Danet-Fauvel : Spoken word
Zazil Yakín Xipé : Spoken word, translation, trumpet, synths, bass and growling:
Robin Allender : Guitar
Boys Age : Guitar
Maja Lena : Voice
Noa Mal : Voice
India Blue : Voice and harp
Aubben Renee : Voice
Rachel Hayward : Voice
Satoko TAKAHASHI : Violins
Noémie AKAMATSU : Cellos
Jeremy LUSSIEZ : Basoon
Florent CHARPENTIER : Clarinet
Loris MARTINEZ : Trumpet
Bastien PONSART : Trombones
Matthew de Roode : Hurdy gurdy
Lewis Jones : Nickelharpa

For more music by Chris Vibberts please visit:
therabbitholerecording.com/index.html

Mastered by Rémi Richarme (from Satellite Jockey band)
Digisleeve artwork creates by Julien Jaffré (julienjaffre.wixsite.com/carolina-et-ruliano) from paintings and photos sent by Misophone

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Misophone UK

Email: misophone@hotmail.co.uk
Facebook: www.facebook.com/misophone.official/
Twitter: @Misophone1
Instagram: @misophoneofficial

Misophone have been recording for almost two decades. In that time, they have recorded countless songs, stared at the sea
and generally hidden from view.
... more

contact / help

Contact Misophone

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Misophone, you may also like: