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Heart Shaped Rocks

by Ben Gallagher

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wildbluegreen Sea
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wildbluegreen Sea Ben's use of live samples add depth to the songs, his heartfelt and clever lyrics, and talented fellow musicians makes this a phenomenal album. It gets better the more you listen.
lisa adeva samoy
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lisa adeva samoy Heart Shaped Rocks shares simple honesty along with clear and cleansing disentanglements. The album unfolds like photography, hipsteresque in sepia, and unveils the wisdom of autonomous interdependence. Its tender brilliance deftly dissolves any faint specters of blame or resentment. Ben’s adept multi-textured voice smoothly segues from an edging cathartic semi-serrated growl to a self-forgiving deep warm comforting lullaby croon. Revealed is an emotionally intelligent awakening soul. Favorite track: Alchemy.
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1.
Hungry Ghost 04:33
Should I plan my escape or plot my revenge or plant all my rage in the garden? Swallow my pride or dig into this trench and finish this game that I started? Follow the path, stay on the trail, stick to these guns though they’re bound to fail, climb up out of this rabbit hole pull my anchor up and set sail, ‘Cause I hear the hungry ghost but i’m a lazy host Go out in the world and find you a girl and build up a life and home get a good job and then climb to the top and cash in your time and your soul Everybody’s a pawn in somebody else’s game we can vie for what we want all the way to the bank “Yes we can”. But if you wake me up, I could wake you up. If I wake you up will you wake me up? Or I can stand guard and you can just sleep We’re nothing without the company we keep And then you can stand guard and maybe I can sleep too Cause I hear the hungry ghost but i’m a lazy host
2.
Alchemy 05:01
All these little crabs got their world on their backs they just sink inside when the world outside attacks And I sink inside, too, and my face turns blue, I can pull my own weight but I don’t want to pay the tax. All of these people are walking on water, I’m gonna sink like a stone or walk along like I oughta like the machismo rooster that keeps cocking all night and perpetrating his myth on us all. I’m trying to read the tides but I can’t quite time ‘em and I’m looking for an omen but it feels like it’s slowing me down down down down and then I tune it all out and I’m thinking out loud and I’m speaking in tongues to each and everyone who will listen. I’m just going back and forth between feeling annihilated and reborn I’m just getting off my horse and heading straight for the source and I’ll be right on course in the morning. The Wind is showing off, playing an open chord on the guitar with the curtain, and all the dogs in the barrio are a-howling. It’s hard to hear my heart with all this noise, but I’m poised to listen, though the sound may be hidden In the stars it is written. I’m waxing and I’m waning and I’m sick of complaining, but it feels like I’m always waiting around. And I’m lonely and I’m bored and I’m tired and confused without you, for to act like a clown. I’m just going back and forth between feeling annihilated and reborn I’m just getting off my horse and heading straight for the source and I’ll be right on course in the morning. All of the puppies and piglets and the chickens get along because they’ve been brothers and sisters ever since they were born. It’s hard to hear their hearts with all this noise, but they’re poised to listen though the sound may be hidden in the stars it is written.
3.
Eliza 04:09
I didn’t expect to run into you now I’m wondering what the hell I should do. I looked into your eyes and I came to my senses and realized I was insane. Tell me what I should do, I’ll make it up to you. Anything that you think will make it right. Take your time, you can tell me in the morning Let’s just sleep on it tonight. Now I’ve been thinking in circles, ya know it’s hard to keep track. Gotta get this ol’ monkey off of my back. Everybody needs a little space and some time so go ahead and take yours and I will take mine. While the pain in my gut screams enough is enough, give me some water or I’m going home. The revolution in my mind has yet to take hold on the inside. Eliza Eliza I was wondering where that would go Virginia I’m sorry I left you out in the cold Janine you’re so goddamn mean where have i heard that before? (slip) Zora close your eyes, don’t watch me walk out the door. Tell me what I should do, I’ll make it up to you. Anything that you think will make it right. Take your time, you can tell me in the morning Let’s just sleep on it tonight.
4.
Beleaguered 04:30
The moon gets bigger and the moon gets smaller and the days get shorter and the days get longer and the waves roll in and the waves roll out and the wind gets quiet and the wind gets loud and the sun comes up and the sun dips down and we go years with and we go years without and then we find the space and we find the time at the cost of everything we leave behind. Something’s gotta give but I don’t know what it is. There’s got to be a way, gotta be a better way to live ‘cause this isn’t it and that wasn’t it either, but I’m a believer, although I’m beleaguered.
5.
You gotta set yourself up at the top of the heap How else ya gonna get any sleep with all these mongrels prowling around and a trail of crumbs scattered all over town? Hide your life savings in a shoe box under your bed Horde everything that you find, and call it your collection. You gotta appropriate everything that you see Dig a hole in the yard and bury the key Cap CAPital CAPITALISM My belly’s full but I pretend like it isn’t. Gimme some more and I’ll throw the scraps on the floor for the rats Its the only way to nourish the blood for us vampire bats. And I’m just doing what my father told me go out and get yourself a piece to hold on to You can’t depend on anyone else because everybody wants a bigger piece for themselves You’ve gotta keep an inventory of everything you’ve got Count every stone and broken glass on the lot And I’m just doing what my father told me go out and get yourself a piece to hold on to The panthers are chasing the pigs towards the sharks and the pigs are looking for daylight but everything's dark and the bloodhounds are patrolling the perimeter they act like they’re guarding but they’re just looking for dinner And I’m just doing what my father told me go out and get yourself a piece to hold on to You can’t depend on anyone else because everybody wants a bigger piece for themselves You’ve gotta keep an inventory of everything you’ve got Count every stone and broken glass on the lot And I’m just doing what my father told me go out and get yourself a piece to hold on to Hide your life savings in a shoe box under your bed Horde everything that you find, and call it your collection. You gotta appropriate everything that you see Dig a hole in the yard and bury the key
6.
I did a double take when I saw you You know I almost crashed my car I didn’t slam on the breaks but you know I hit ‘em pretty hard and then all the missing pieces they just fell into my lap just as I was thinking, ‘man, I got gypped on this puzzle, I’m gonna take the motherfucker back. I want you to be my lover but I do not need another mother and I’ve already got 4 sisters and homegirls galore but I want more from you but don’t worry, there ain’t nothing that you need to prove and between us, we ain’t got nothing substantial to lose ‘cause we only known each other for a couple of weeks and we ain’t got much sleep since then and we can’t be thinking about this shit with tired heads so come on baby lets just go on back to bed.
7.
College 04:37
I made $25 playing music at the college got a $20 parking ticket playing music at the college I gave ‘em ten grand and they let me go to college I lived up in a tower in a closet at the college but I didn’t like college not to say I didn’t want knowledge I just didn’t want to buy it from the college. So tired of the flatland, moved over to the mountain I made a little money playing music in the mountain My knee was feeling funny spitting mucus at the mountain but I don’t climb mountains ‘cause I’m not that strong and it takes too long. Simple is is simple does I’m doing it just because I can. Doesn’t matter anyway I’ll be scrounging ‘til the day I die So why should I even try. I’d be lying to say that I planned it this way. Got me thinking now I oughta go back to the college Get myself a degree when I go back to the college I’ll give ‘em ten grand and they’ll let me go to college I’ll live up in a tower in a closet at the college. I’ll play nice and friendly with the children at the college Get my piece of paper when I get done at the college Then I’ll have the knowledge that I bought from the college. I’ll spit shine my shoes ‘til they look polished when I go back to the college.
8.
A song 04:21
I remembered your number in a dream but I couldn’t tell if we were on the same team ‘cause I couldn’t see your eyes or remember the old times but I still heard your words cut through me So I called just to see how you were or to recover my vision left blurred or to trace back the fears that I faced through the years and remedy the pain they’ve incurred. A day or two later it’s gone, but the feeling remains in a song. Nothing else is left that can be beaten to death it’s already been beaten too long. We’ve all got people in our lives that we’ll forget about after some time but their image is burned, so they’ll all get their turn to come back to the front of our minds. I can miss you and not want you back or the years of our lives that we shared And I’m sure you don’t either, that’s why it’s hard to believe her when she promises that she’ll always come back. ‘Cause I heard it before when you walked out the door and I knew that you weren’t coming back. We’ve all got people in our lives that we’ll forget about after some time But their image is burned, so they’ll all get their turn to come back to the front of our minds.
9.
I’m not good enough for you and you’re not good enough for me and if this place ain’t big enough for the both of us then one of us has to leave. But I don’t want to go. You know I made this place my home and I know that you have, too, but I don’t know what else we can do. So let’s flip a coin for it heads I stay, tails I split It’s the only fair way to decide. and if you lose, I’ll help you move before I take over your room, but you can still come over whenever you like.
10.
Immortalized 04:37
Everybody’s going to be immortalized by the end of our many sordid lives and we will reap everything that we have sown and take nothing with us but our souls. Dust to dust, you know how this one goes We will rust and then we’ll decompose and we’ll leave it all behind and await another life to try again. There is meaning hidden in this life though it may be impossible to find and a purpose that is buried like a gem and a chance that will never come again. Dust to dust, you know how this one goes We will rust and then we’ll decompose and we’ll leave it all behind and await another life to try again. Time slips away and our years will fade ‘til the dream that we hold in our heart starts over. Like a dog that senses the eminence of death, we sit and we wait ‘til there’s nothing else left ‘til the dream that we hold in our heart starts over.

about

Heart Shaped Rocks was recorded at San Luis Sound, at my home and at the homes of others. Joe Turse engineered the sessions at San Luis Sound, and later, mixed the whole record, Ben engineered the other sessions.

Some of these songs were written in Las Salinas de Nahualapa, Nicaragua, at Equilibrio, a yoga and art retreat where Ben did work trade as a gardener from December 2012-February 2013.

credits

released January 13, 2015

All Songs by Ben Gallagher

Ben Gallagher - vocals, piano, hammond organ, pump organ accordion, acoustic guitar, glockenspiel, effects.
Brian Esau- acoustic and electric guitar, banjo, vocals
Alex Venetucci- drums
Kramer Kelling- upright and electric bass, vocals
Jamie Mitchell- lap steel guitar, electric guitar, 12-string acoustic
Heath Ellis- mandolin
Jon Mouser- drums and percussion (Alchemy, Beleaguered)
Jeb Bows- violin
Tung Pham- trumpet
Matt Cantor- upright bass (Alchemy, Beleaguered)
Stephen Angus- baritone saxophone
Arrow Zoe Amelia- vocals (Hungry Ghost)
April Hyatt- vocals (Heads or Tails)
Robin Chestnut- shaker (Immortalized)

Engineered by Joe Turse at San Luis Sound and by Ben Gallagher
Produced by Ben Gallagher
Mixed by Joe Turse
Mastered by Jon Gold at Air Show

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Ben Gallagher Boulder, Colorado

Ben writes songs about women he’s loved, damning the man and existential curiosity/dread.

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