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The Awful Rowing EP

by Hardworker

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Phil in the Kitchen
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Phil in the Kitchen Song writing as it should be and usually isn't. Favorite track: The Apathy Hymn.
Brian C Striggow
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Brian C Striggow Saw you guys at the Wild Goose Festival and was awed. And this is a word I do not use lightly. Bought and downloaded album at earliest opportunity. Listened while making breakfast and headed to work with 'Homesick' rolling around in my head. Several people at work noted 'you look relaxed today', something people never say about me. Music changes lives. Please write more.
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1.
We were not born in sin, we were born homesick With a gun in one hand, and a noose around our necks Choking on our own discontent (well, what did you expect?) How can I find anything here, As good as where my soul knows we will go? What good is the “kingdom coming” When we’re waiting blind and broken down below? Oh, Holy Ghost-- Holy Ghost, I’m full of holes, Let me be found. Take this waste, make this wasteland A holy ghost town. We were not born in sin, we were born gut-shot Bleeding out through that hole, where a maker would go We’re in pain, and we know it. How can I find anything here As good as where my soul knows we will go? What good is the kingdom, if it’s coming When we’re waiting blind and broken down below? Oh, Holy Ghost--
2.
Moriah 03:49
When daddy says carry the wood, You carry the wood. Threw out your back To do what you could. And I know, you hate that you swore to be good, Carrying son. When daddy says get in the car You get in the car. Follow him anywhere No matter how far. He tells you who are. In Moriah There’s a mythic destination Where your father’s approval Flows like gasoline. And you’ll carry The flame for your own execution And the only thing that can save you now Is if judgment comes like rain. When daddy says carry the wood You carry the wood. You mother married him She must have understood That one day he’d take you away One day he’d make you carry--
3.
I’ve gotten used to not knowing where I am I’ve made my peace with the riptide I’ve been alive in the places I’d have died And I’m asking: “What if these have been the dark times?” I’ve made changes just to watch the knob turn in my hand Torched fields to feel the power to set aflame. I’ve run circles in the crowd, cursed the ground when I’m alone And I’m asking: “When will I be taken home?” Because I am set adrift, Cruising the narrow channel of nothing. And I don’t know, oh, I don’t know yet Who will steer me home. There was a man, held me tight if I could ask him to There was a shore before I lost him. This is the wait, desperation in a quiet place Fell in love with the haunt in my own face. I don’t care to find the things that I lost. I don’t care to find the things that I lost. I don’t care to find the things that I lost. I don’t care to find him. There was a man, held me tight if I could ask him to There was a shore before I lost him. This is the wait, desperation in a quiet place Fell in love with the haunt in my own face. Now I am set adrift, Cruising the narrow channel of nothing. And I don’t know, oh, I don’t know yet Who will steer me home. Oh, he's come to steer me home.
4.
I fell in love in a darkroom And mistook a red glow for the sun. We hung slippery pages of memory From the clothesline our fingers had strung. I traded my truths like stocks And bonds tightened ‘round my wrists. Poison lips you placed on my lips, But that's not true, we never kissed. I fell in love in a darkroom Content to inhale all your chemicals Conceited to choose something radical You tears sting so sterile, it's medical. I gave up life for a snapshot Forgot about that last dimension, Retained all your pain in a picture frame, Confused terror with sexual tension. I fell in love in a darkroom, But believed I had mined to the source, Forced myself to the earth's very core, Cut my skin on the earth's jagged ore. I lost the thread to the surface, Replaced breathing with feeding the furnace. Put my face to your face for a portrait, Told you smile and said "Hold it." I fell in love in a darkroom-- With the feeling of shoulder-to-shoulder-- With the promise of "When you get older"-- With the stoic despair of a soldier. I fell in love in a dark place And believed that my love was a shade plant. I would swallow the sun just to change that. I have swallowed the sun, I have swallowed the sun, I have swallowed the sun just to change.
5.
Anne took a long slog Across that wide, grey gulf. The awful rowing toward God On the faraway shore Left everybody else Took bread and wine And no one to bless Took no photographs So there’s no one to miss. Forgive me daughter For I have sinned. The awful rowing toward God. Got myself lost Got myself up a creek Got into the woods Got to get myself free. Can’t worry about you When I’m worried about me. She’s sweating blood, but won’t call out for help Your arms will get tired just from carrying yourself. Sun in your eyes and the ache in your throat. There’s nowhere to hide in an open boat. And for all your precious knowing, There’s no other life but the awful rowing. They buried me And the baby together The awful rowing toward God. I grew and I strained At the choke of the tether, Made lists and meals And a show of my best Found no sleep in the bed Where they laid me to rest. She’s sweating blood, but won’t call out for help Your arms will get tired just from carrying yourself. Sun in your eyes and the ache in your throat. There’s nowhere to hide in an open boat. And for all your precious knowing, There’s no other life but the awful rowing. I took a long slog But my arms are tired The awful rowing toward God. The worst part is knowing I’ll never arrive. The awful rowing.

credits

released September 11, 2015

All songs written by Susannah Long
Published by Deer Hill Music - BMI - Copyright 2015
Recorded at Glenwood Studios in Greensboro, NC
Produced and Engineered by David Wimbish
Mastered by Ryan Cecil at Golden Gnome Studios in Spring, TX
Cover Art by Jon Stich

Susannah Long - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals
Michael Conner - Bass, Banjo
Alex Treyz - Vocals
with David Wimbish on Piano, Trumpet, Baritone Horn,
Violin, Cello, Guitars, Fender Rhodes, and Percussion

Special thanks to Chris Long, Sandy Long, Ian James Walters, Nathan Fox-Helser, Daniel Nowell, David Berka, Thomas Irby, Leah Irby, Mike Williams, David Marshall, Jeremy Begbie, The Poetry Night Family, and our friends at The Safe Sanctuary.

This is the first EP from Sus Long and Hardworker. It's got a lot of words and notes, but it turns out that an album is mostly made out of dazzling goodwill and cheering friends and courageous bandmates and the kindness of strange, strange, strangers.

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Hardworker Durham, North Carolina

Hardworker is a rock band from Durham, North Carolina. The band took its present shape in 2015 when Sus Long and Mike Conner traded in their acoustic folk duo for something a bit louder with guitarist Danny Nowell. Their 2017 release, Go Alone was produced by Alex Bingham and engineered by Mitch Easter at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville, NC. ... more

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