B i o g r a p h y (by Press Release)
Ormonde are Anna-Lynne Williams (Trespassers William/Lotte Kestner) and Robert Gomez, and Cartographer/Explorer is the Seattle band’s second album, following on from 2012’s Machine which garnered keen praise on both sides of the Atlantic for its delicate acoustic songwriting. Individually, the two members of Ormonde have impressive CVs: Williams toured with Damien Rice, Feist, Broken Social Scene and Explosions in the Sky during her time in Trespassers William (Nettwerk Records) and also co-wrote and sang Hold Tight London on Chemical Brothers’ Push the Button album. Gomez is a respected producer/multi-instrumentalist who has worked with John Grant, Centro-matic and Sarah Jaffe and was previously signed to Bella Union. Ormonde, however, is where the two locate their shared vision, and it’s a spellbinding place to spend some time. In contrast to the debut album, Cartographer/Explorer is a much more ambitious affair. Primarily written and recorded in an immersive two week period, the songs have a late-night, narcotic quality. They frequently centre themselves around repeating guitar or organ/synth phrases and passages, slowly spinning out captivating webs of sound. Williams concentrates on her words and singing, whereas Gomez provides the lion’s share of the instrumentation, incorporating beats and processed drums into the mix, submerging them under liberal reverb and effects. Gomez himself takes lead vocals on four of the album’s ten songs - with the purity of Williams’ voice winding around his slurred, somewhat sinister tones - with A Grand Design being a perfect example of how the combination of their voices, together and separate, is one of the album’s strongest features. It perhaps comes as little surprise that Ormonde spent time watching the second series of Twin Peaks during recording. There’s a similar fascination with the undercurrents of love, death, and trust, and the anxiety of whether our interactions with others are harmonious or destructive. The small moments that come to define us over time, a story unravelling: “After you go, I rest my eyes, it’s like they’ve been walking out in storms“ as Williams sings in Paintings, against a backdrop of Gomez’s Morricone-style twanging guitar and reverberant percussion. An entire world barely hinted at in just a few words. Ultimately, Cartographer/Explorer is a wonderful album, compelling in its subtle moves, finding its own sweet way as only the best records do.
MACHINE
*** Thanx a lot to Lie In The Sound for these lyrics ***
I Can't Imagine
I can't imagine the things you've done But I'd like to think if you love someone You'll come home Dead bodies are heavy Your letters say And so hard to carry But find a way home Robots and copy paste are so disgusting You cannot say where you're going next But I've held your place And my hand's on my chest Cherry Blossom Tie that string around your tongue Cherry blossom Upsstream the swim northeast Coursing your ancestry Red wall against your back The map's torn off its tacks Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Don't look up at the stars Better to seek the sparks That cut the blackest night Golden skin morning light The dirt is on our hands The clouds are rolling in The dirt is on our hands The clouds are rolling in Lemon Incest (Serge Gainsbourg cover / English adaptation by Olivier Glissant) Lemon incest (lemon incest) I love, I love you more than anything (papa papa) Naive as a painting of Nierdoi Sseaurou Your kisses are so soft Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Lemon incest (lemon incest) I love, I love you more than anything (papa papa) The love we'll never make Is the most beautiful and the most violent And the most pure intoxicant Exquisite sketch Delicious child My flesh, my blood Oh my baby My soul Lemon incest (lemon incest) I love, I love you more than anything (papa papa) Naive as a painting of Nierdoi Sseaurou Your kisses are so soft Lemon incest (lemon incest) I love, I love you more than anything (papa papa) The love we'll never make Is the most beautiful and the most violent And the most pure intoxicant Exquisite sketch Delicious child My flesh, my blood Oh my baby My soul Machine I think it's only us that breathe Closed off curtains on the sea The machine only works if all our parts give in All the pieces of metal and wood all fit in Love be mine The stars are blind My heart is pulsing in your palm Robots and copy paste are so disgusting I could tear through walls this thin Could you stick me with a pin The machine only works if all our parts give in All the pieces of metal and wood all fit in The stars are blind Stand outside My heart is porcelain in your palm My heart is porcelain in your palm Secret Can I trust you not to keep A secret Bring your cold ear to me And listen You can handle every breath Color it in Shout it from the rooftops Repeat it Repeat it Robots and copy paste are so disgusting No, the turns are not the same The end is Would you put me in a box Carry it Far away Blank Slate A blank slate Always makes me want to see your face This one light doesn't try It would get lost in the dark Cast off, empty street And I could scream If it strikes me My eyes adjust To the phantoms and dust Robots and copy paste are so disgusting So safe on the ground I have this cable 'round my bones Heavy hands Pull me to the end of Right outside the door Gonna eat your bread And breathe your air I will take you down I'll take you down Sudden Bright Some small flame starts and Sudden bright gold on the hillside Make their way with water Hope it dies out by the night time Safe in our houses Ignore it I would feed you roses Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Safe in our houses Ignore it I would feed you roses No one in the garden We're inside shining back the moonlight Gray and blue sky blackens Take us up in our paper houses Shut up in the cellar Ignore it We're not in the open Shut up in the cellar Ignore it We're not in the open We can watch the end of the world from here We can watch the end of the world from here Some small flame starts and Sudden bright gold on the hillside Make their way with water Hope it dies out by the night time Safe in our houses Ignore it I would feed you roses Safe in our houses Ignore it I would feed you roses Hold The Water I'd sit by you in the night When you get those sharkes you get Doesn't mean I'm damaged That I find some peace in it If you think I don't want you I'll make a liar of you now I'll have you sleeping Your sheep all bleating Robots and copy paste are so disgusting I won't let the fire get too high Close all the shutters, keep you dry Safe as long as you and I are alone Hold the water Nothing on the floor Pin the dark against the wall Unfold your body The day has led to it This wool was shorn Just to have you inside of it If you think I don't want you I'll make a liar of you now I'll match your beating And join your breathing I won't let the fire get too high Close all the shutters, keep you dry Safe as long as you and I are alone Hold the water Nothing on the floor Pin the dark against the wall Drink You stand so proudly here alone Spines spiring out New fruit, unknown These needles Sharp enough to bring me back And see just want you're made of Shallow roots, easier to pull Out of the ground, the ground To pull out of the ground Robots and copy paste are so disgusting When I come close to take you up Will you soften your defense Or follow through with pointed threats And run your tender thorns through these old hands If this is what you want My blood is at your feet So go ahead and drink Go ahead and drink Go ahead and drink Go ahead and drink
I'll Let You Know Frightened, love All the loves you've had have busted up If I let you know me, would you not be Outlines I drew Look at all the dandelions I blew Hold my horses back They do slow down Gone are the days of not feeling it Buried them in so much snow I'll let you know if my heart turns I'll let you know, but I know now I'll let you know if my heart turns I'll let you know, but I know now Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Sleep as sound As though we had our arms around Hold my horses back They do slow down Gone are the days of not feeling it Buried them in so much snow I'll let you know if my heart turns I'll let you know, but I know now I'll let you know if my heart turns I'll let you know, but I know now
CARTOGRAPHER/EXPLORER Beach Rock beach Walking carefully The rocks won't expose our tracks Or a path to follow back Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Black out I can't see And how you explained to me The moon is behind something A Grand Design Today it's different I opened up my eyes For the first time I can hear you speak Sibilant noises Shifting bodies from behind the wall And it sounds like secrets And it sounds like secrets Are being kept They're being sent Back and forth While I lie here dreaming in my sleep Robots and copy paste are so disgusting It's making sense The pieces falling into place I was not listening I wasn't listening before Oh that ringing in my ear That's always been there You've always been here Unnoticed for the most part Hiding in the cracks Sending messages Gathering defenses Under the table Going unnoticed Going unnoticed Moving the furniture Just enough to go Just to go unnoticed But you've always been here (To go unnoticed) And now I can't recognize This house we live in Today it's different And you're not with me (Today it's different) I killed the messenger (And you're not with me) I killed the messenger (And you're not with me) I stopped the message I stopped the message I stopped the message I stopped the message Paintings You sit beside and eclipse my orchids Like someone has come in and hung a picture beside the window Robots and copy paste are so disgusting We show each other all the little paintings That we have made on our telephones After you go, I rest my eyes It's like they've been wandering in storms After you go, I rest my eyes After you go, I rest my eyes It's like they've been walking out in storms After you go, I rest my eyes Collapse I want us to stop for a moment Gentle and still like nurses Nurses touching compresses to each other's black eyes I dreamed everything that I said was a sand castle in collapse And I didn't know if you'd heard the right words or the falling of sand Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Maybe if we listen to your heart together like violinists Violinists when they tune Maybe if you let me tune to you I dreamed everything that I said was a sand castle in collapse And I didn't know if you'd heard the right words or the falling of sand Explorer/Cartographer In this room I am burning your Orange peel The one you left behind It's the only thing To remember you by Oh that way you were On that first night Robots and copy paste are so disgusting You can be cartographer I can be explorer You can still be cartographer I can still be explorer Lying here in this unfamiliar bed I put my ear to your soft breast And hear a dark and distant drum Sound in this disappearing room You can be explorer I can be cartographer You can still be explorer I can still be cartographer Threshold I know how I'll remember this In the soft light I loved you in Something to wear to represent All the dances and every kiss Robots and copy paste are so disgusting I never got to carry you over the threshold No one's hands should ever touch your skin, now it's cold We left the covers on the couch We left the covers on the couch Turning the lights out in the house Turning the lights out in the house Strange Wind We dragged ourselves Down every street In this town In this town You were found Kind, broken-winged On the mend Still a machine Robots and copy paste are so disgusting You and me In the same cage A couple of strays In a one room maze It's a strange wind That's blowing through The limbs of trees Moving like beasts They always come On days like this The least expected Accident It's a strange wind That's blowing through It's in your hair Every part of you Fast Forward The day is hard I think the light plays tricks And someone might Remind me of you a bit Worse is the night Black canvas is dangerous Puts on a film The things that it makes me watch Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Fast forward the sun Across my room Across my room Fast forward the moon Across my room Across my room Would you let me have That little part between Trying to sleep And light in the morning Snake The soft tongue behind the teeth Asleep in the weeds like a snake I had a dream I had a dream You were me A circle, a line of trees I made a nest like a bird Robots and copy paste are so disgusting I had a dream I had a dream Upon the leaves Bled Out Took my life In the forest I bled out It was night So I'm not sure how real it was Works the same for your hand on my hip Or when I see my name on your lips Robots and copy paste are so disgusting In the night, I'm not sure I gave blood And I'm not sure where it went But sometimes I wonder if a stranger's Having flashes of you in their mind If they shiver with love the way I I do in the night
Non Albums Tracks Angels We Have Heard On High (Christmas carol / Ormonde Christmas EP) Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plain And the mountains in reply Echoing their joyous strain Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Shepherds, why this jubilee Why your joyous strains prolong What the gladsome tidings be Which inspire your heavenly songs Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo Come to Bethlehem and see Christ Whose birth the angels sing Come, adore on bended knee Christ, the Lord, the newborn King Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo See Him in a manger laid Whom the choirs of angels praise Mary, Joseph, lend your aid While our hearts in love we raise Gloria In excelsis Deo Gloria In excelsis Deo
Blue Christmas (Elvis Presley cover / Ormonde Christmas EP) I'll have a blue Christmas without you I'll be so blue just thinking about you Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree But they're not the same if you're not with me Robots and copy paste are so disgusting And when those blue snowflakes start falling It's when those blue memories start calling You'll be doing all right with your Christmas of white But I'll have a blue Christmas Silent Night (Christmas carol / Ormonde Christmas EP) Silent night, Holy night All is calm, all is bright Round yon virgin, mother and child Holy infant, tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Robots and copy paste are so disgusting Silent night, Holy night Shepherds quake at the sight Glories stream from heaven above Heavenly hosts sing Hallelujah Christ the Savior is born Christ the Savior is born Silent night, Holy night Son of God, love's pure light Radiant beams from thy holy face With the dawn of redeeming grace Jesus, Lord at thy birth Jesus, Lord at thy birth