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Out on the Borderlands, Down in the Valley

by Hallstrom

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Album comes in a hand-stamped cardboard sleeve with an insert card.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Out on the Borderlands, Down in the Valley via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Poster/Print

    Custom illustrations by Dalton Rose printed on recycled, heavy-weight, diploma-grade stock. We are creating artwork for each song on the album. So far, we have posters for tracks 1-5.
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  • T-Shirt/Apparel

    100% cotton V-neck T-shirt in slate gray (men's) or sandy heather (women's). Super-soft when it arrives and gets comfier with every wash. The image was taken from a carving made out of our parents' old fenceboards. The ones we used to climb over when sneaking out at night as kids.
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1.
Tallest Tree 04:48
You’re at my ear in the morning singing your songs to me In the evening got me feeling like the city belongs to me Tell me where you want to go, no city is too far Tell me what you want to hear me play on this guitar In the backyard green when we were kids And the boys were watching everything we did You showed me kindness and a deep sense of wonder The terror of blood and the mad joy of thunder We'd circle ‘round each other with plans or with knives I bet we keep it up for the rest of our lives Circle ‘round each other with plans or with knives I'll bet we keep it up for the rest of our lives You always saw better in the dark I couldn't see when we fell apart We share a past and we share a name I should have turned around when you called my name Show me where it grows, I’ll climb up the tallest tree I’ll sing down to you everything I can see Where reason and light meet madness and darkness Where science meets art and the lover turns heartless This is where we climb, this is where we sing This is where we tend to fall off the edge of things Where we climb and where we sing This is where we tend to fall off the edge of things You always saw better in the dark I couldn't see when we fell apart We share a past and we share a name I should have turned around when you called my name
2.
Borderlands 05:29
You’ve been living on the Borderlands Tending your own fire for your whole life You never waited for the rest of us You’ve been pressing on since you were a child You’ve got boots and you’ve got wings You can rule the world with both of those things But a lonely soul is just a lonely soul No matter the heavenly places it goes There’s a light in your eyes but it’s grown dim You're a stranger in your own skin And there’s a shield at your side but it’s grown thin It’s a deep well you’ve fallen in You’ve got your fists up in the air ready for a fight It's been the same since you were a child And if there’s two paths up to the top of the hill You’ll take the harder one every time I know you will You’ve got boots and you’ve got wings You can rule the world with both of those things Reaching for heaven just a mile out of hell You’re running out of pieces of your soul to sell I know you left the light on I know you left the light on but I’m not coming home
3.
Wild Horses 03:47
I’ve got a family band and we sing in tune Vagabond saints and an angel or two Tell all your friends Bring them back around If they ask you can tell them it’s the sound Of wild horses tearing a path From the corral to Eden and back This is the end of heartache and violence This is the end of our radio silence If melody could break the fear in your heart You know I’d sing it at the top of my lungs If I could give you strength in numbers I’d get everyone I know to come You and I we’ve got nothing more in common Than a song on the radio But if we both sing loud we can make a sound That no one’s ever heard before Here we go Here we go There’s a stranger in the city tonight People got a feeling that something ain’t right People headed for doorway, they're headed for home He’s singing about a valley of bones Coming to life, muscle and blood Reaching for angels, feet in the mud This is the end of heartache and violence This is the end of our radio silence If melody could break the fear in your heart You know I’d sing it at the top of my lungs If I could give you strength in numbers I’d get everyone I know to come You and I we’ve got so much more in common Than a song on the radio If we both sing loud we can make a sound That no one’s ever heard before Here we go Here we go
4.
My stereo has played me all your melodies And filled me up with equal parts love and jealousy I've got a feeling that no matter what I do I’ll never write a melody half as true Well I‘ve got big ideas and big plans That even I don’t understand But it’s early in the morning and the day is spoken for I don’t really know where the time goes anymore All those things that I said I want to do next year Take one step back and to the right Of what I must do tomorrow And when I’m lying underground I fear that I’ll be asked to pay back All the time I wasted here A cold front’s coming and it’s here to stay ‘Cause summer’s gone away on holiday And I’ve got every good reason to make new plans And let go of the promise that I got in my hand Well I know you but you don’t know me Someday I’ll write a song gonna set you free I’m gonna come like a fox in the field at night Gonna break your locks Gonna heal those eyes All those things that I said I want to do next year Take one step back and to the right Of what I must do tomorrow And when I’m lying underground I fear that I’ll be asked to pay back All the time I wasted here No one says what they mean anymore Truth has gone the way of semaphore And I don’t say what I mean anymore I'm breaking through windows Chasing down a doorway That won’t open for me It won't open for me Will it open for you Will it open for you All those things that I said I want to do next year Take one step back and to the right Of what I must do tomorrow And when I’m lying underground I fear that I’ll be asked to pay back All the time I wasted here
5.
I had a dream last night in my sleep That you and I never had a chance to meet I didn’t know the taste of your mouth And I couldn’t find your face in a crowd I didn’t know the way your voice shakes in a fight I didn’t know the things that you crave late at night I was walking across the world But I’d never met the girl Who’d open my mouth Set it on fire And be the one I sing for You’ve got a fire in your bones It’s like a baptism of flame I’ve been building our home Since the day that I asked for your name That’s how I found you I found you I had a dream that I lived in a house built for one And the world never learned the name of our son You never walked to me dressed in white And I never gave you a ring in a glass In the rain and the moonlight I was walking across the world But I’d never met the girl Who’d open my mouth Set it on fire And be the one I sing for You’ve got a fire in your bones It’s like a baptism of flame I’ve been building our home Since the day that I asked for your name That’s how I found you I found you For a few moments when I awoke I thought it was real and I lost all hope Then I remembered everything I remembered the first time I heard you sing So I woke you up and I told you You’ve got a fire in your bones It’s like a baptism of flame I’ve been building our home Since the day that I asked for your name That’s how I found you I found you
6.
The Waltz 04:50
Have you ever seen the fire go from red to black? Gone so far you could not get back When the words upon your lips are just ammunition No spark in your touch only friction When you’re moving at the speed of light But you can’t see a thing And you’ve lost the joy of simple things When you‘re fighting with the one you were fighting for The music turned and the waltz became a war There’s a way across the river But it ain't what you think You’re not gonna drown It’s time for you to drink When “I do” becomes “I’ll try” and “I will” becomes “I might” Your love is like a bone that won’t set right Well there’s always gonna be another brighter hill But right now it’s time for you to be still When the day grows dark and you sit across the room Ever apart like the sun and moon And you go to bed at night and you don’t say a word And you wonder how your vow became your curse There’s a way across the river But it ain't what you think You’re not gonna drown It’s time for you to drink Every promised land has a river to cross And this one’s gonna take everything you’ve got
7.
Reckoning 04:24
I had a dream last night A blood red ghost on the skyline I knew the reckoning had come And the answers he’d gather would be mine I used to have all the time in the world But the world it came to an end last night I’m looking for a way to explain myself In the morning light Morning light Heavy is the head that wears the crown Heavy is the judgment coming down I’m not afraid of the things I’ve done It's the things I haven’t make me the guilty one When we were young We didn’t need a reason to believe Now there’s rust upon our bones The axe is at the tree Then you whispered in my ear Everything’s not lost Everything's not lost When I was small I believed in the secret, the mystery That history had finally come to find its end in me Now I see that I belong to the ranks of the passing on I write the songs for my son so he won’t forget when I’m gone I whisper in your ear so That you know to wake up Evening comes so quickly No time left to make up When we were young We didn’t need a reason to believe Now there’s rust upon our bones The axe is at the tree Then you whispered in my ear Everything’s not lost Everything's not lost
8.
Ebenezer 04:38
I hope you don't have to cover the same old ground And I pray you never step foot into those dark towns ‘Cause it broke my heart to hear your mother say "Tom, it wasn’t supposed to be this way" I’ve got a wife and a son And I won’t let the devil return again This is where it counts This is where it matters in the end You and I we broke the bread And we drank the wine When I’m old I won’t forget the reason why I’ve seen heaven and its archangels I’ve seen hell and its dark angels You don’t know me but I’m Ebenezer The world’s not long And I don’t want to leave her now I don’t want to leave her now Don't want to leave her now Three ghosts in a single night Forgive me for the days I've wasted Three ghosts in a single night Forgive me for the time I've wasted Three ghosts in a single night Forgive me for the days I've wasted Three ghosts in a single night Oh my God the time I've wasted
9.
Geometry 03:13
I bought some bells and some music-making toys Gonna write you a song But the sun went down and you left this town Somehow, somewhere I went wrong I become June Carter turn into Miss Monroe And all the right words come to mind But I always wait till it's too late Dear God it happens every time I'd write a hundred songs to feel Your hand upon my face I'd write a hundred more to lie down beside you And feel your shape Feel your shape Feel your shape I've got a house and that house is full of rooms With nothing on the walls Then I met you, you were dressed in blue And I wanted everything I saw I thought a long time about what you might say Softly in my ear How you'd set flame to all my shame My hesitation and my fear I'd write a hundred songs to feel Your hand upon my face I'd write a hundred more to lie down beside you And feel your shape Feel your shape I will find you wherever you may go Wherever you may go I will find you wherever you may go Wherever you may go I'd write a hundred songs to feel Your hand upon my face I'd write a hundred more to lie down beside you And feel your shape Feel your shape Feel your shape
10.
I'm headed for the hills to see who I can find I hear there's people still up on the mountainside And we need We need them in the valley You dug it in deep to stay on that hillside I don't expect to get back down without a fight You got your bed Your bed and your drum But you're so much more More than you've become So quit sweet talking me Quit door knocking me Quit sweet talking me Quit logic mocking me Let go of your will It's time to prove yourself Let go of your will It's time to prove yourself We need you in the valley We need you in the valley We need you in the valley I tell you everything Everything ain't what it seems You tell me that you have Everything you'll ever need When you're up so high You'll come to no harm Nor will you know your brothers-in-arms So I won't come around here no more And you won't hear my knock on your door 'Cause I can't change a mind that's been made And I can't get back our younger days When nothing was common or small And you were the bravest of all And the strongest thing we knew was blood And we meant all the words that we said They need me in the valley

about

This album was recorded more than once over too long a time worth defining. It was made in a cabinet shop that became a studio. The songs were written on the #435 bus, in a vocal booth with a patient engineer, on two pianos that were rescued from the dump and in a cabin near the Yakima River.

credits

released October 1, 2013

Recorded and mixed by Jay Hallstrom at Radiopoet Productions in Seattle, Washington.

Mastered by Brandon Busch at Sound Media Productions in Seattle, Washington.

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Hallstrom Mill Creek, Washington

We make songs with our family and our friends.

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