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Secret Kids

by Virgin of the Birds

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1.
I guess it's plausible apostasy You know how much you mean to me So you're proud of your mouth Sold out poems from the south You surprised me with your symmetry Your Roman rings, your tyranny You rambled back and forth 'Bout some future furies from the north Cardinal points Appear before The silver scenes That we adore They found us in a gilded bed Where we mostly drank and read We could sin, we could talk And wish away the winter hawks Beneath the blessed scenery You conjured all your warmth for me And so illuminated love Fell like fever from above Cardinal points Appear before The silver scenes That we adore
2.
She was spooky, stony, barely over 30 She decided it was time to make a run It was time to put down every revelry that she found And go back home to Wilmington "Nothing is rare anymore", she said Not the singers nor the sounds, The secret kids, the coral clouds Not the harsher angels hunting overhead Nor the pages that the Magus might've read Stop singing about the slipstream If you don't know what it means You don't have seem so hollow You don't have seem so lean Give up on Mercury now Give up the girls and Apollo You know my ghost, anyhow Untrained, but ready to follow I played bass in the Lemonheads toward the end Before the 90's devoured us and then No one remembered it was me, I played a Gibson EB3 I was 19 or 20, softly shadowed, almost free I miss the sighs of the masterpiece And the thighs of the Vicar's niece I found peace, it was lush, I found the sound I found the Crush I found the sound I found the Crush I found the sound I found the Crush I found the sound I found the Crush There are no pardons for the damned The turning road, the silver sand The hopeless sprawl, your famous friends The wintry sun that soon will end We were wasted, we were warned We were vague and poorly formed We were soft, don't rub it in Almost lost, don't rub it in Give up on Mercury now Give up the girls and Apollo You know my ghost, anyhow Untrained, but ready to follow She was spooky, stony, barely over 30 She allowed herself to dream of the crusade To lay waste to the city streets, and collapse every county seat And depart from the apartments of the easily laid
3.
I dreamt I found us both again You were sunburned brown, you were still my friend But now you are a seeker And I am older, I am a bad dreamer I was dreaming of your love, I guess You were groping me, you were getting dressed I was carnal, I was careful When you came to me and gave to me my evils And our ears returned too soon to the Foghorns and to Supermoon We were far too tense to listen We were drunk on wine when our throats began to glisten I need you to be good to me Like the sibyls of antiquity At least while we are sober If you conjure me then maybe I'll come over We had sin to see us through that Spring We gladly gave ourselves unto these things What solemn chords, what solemn sound? Could reach our ears and turn this ark around? I dreamt I found us both again You were sunburned brown, you were still my friend But now you are a seeker And I am older, I am a bad dreamer
4.
Don’t tell me that you were never in Spain Don’t tell me that you were never in Spain ‘Cause I saw you there You were standing where The sunshine scours every angry hour You were in Spain No ocean will surround me Like a patron saint, illuminati I need protection from the sun You’re not fooling anyone You walked in Spain Don’t tell me that you were never in Spain Don’t tell me that you were never in Spain We were suffering Through that bestial Spring When summer came, you forgot your pain You sailed to Spain Neither slow nor fast The wind dissolves the one And it falls apart At the point you’re having fun You were young, you were gifted But your youthful years have lifted Love it to death my dear Love it to death my dear
5.
You make drowsy magic unlike other girls You look tigerish beneath those Manichean curls You wield your wand, you lord your looks Your leave out your yellowed New Directions books A sword, a shield Minmae shall be revealed We were sad, we were tough, but we liked that stuff We could never find ourselves in bed enough You had your fill of the world at will You linger on Delancey even still And Dermond field Minmae shall be revealed We were kissing on the summer lawn And you went hissing in the winter calm You became a cat, and I loved you for that You wore ribbons in your blue Bergere hat God love John Peel Minmae shall be revealed
6.
Secret Kids 03:18
We waged secret wars with secret kids We didn't win but we know who did It was them, they wouldn't bend They sing themselves and they proclaim Their dreaming makes them preordained For art, for fame and made up names Go tell that fox Using the moon "Your queen, if caught, will hum our tune" We savored words from Saint Paul We feigned suffering before the law We were young and cruel and still in school Jennifer, take it from me Go easy on Theosophy Get drunk and dance, don't miss your chance (at) The wakeful shapes, the prayerful spans The bedrooms of Saint-Florentin Dermond is doomed It can't be true who's zoomin' who? who's zoomin' who? Stretch out your limbs I want you to Who's zoomin' who? Who's zoomin' who? We waged secret wars with secret kids We didn't win but we know who did I was stunned when you stayed With the summer maid Go tell that fox Using the moon "Your queen, if caught, will hum our tune" Dermond is doomed It can't be true Who's zoomin' who? Who's zoomin' who? Stretch out your limbs I want you to Who's zoomin' who? Who's zoomin' who?
7.
Your heart’s too full for talking The muses found me sulking in my cell They wish you well, they wish you well, they wish you well Wives of wind can’t win at all these days Every other hour levels praise Upon the verses underserved To impress me, you’d better impress her Were the world all mine From the ocean to the Rhine I’d give it all, I’d give it all I’d give it all for the Queen of Sweden The Huns set fire to the library as the left You cursed their gods under your breath Sit in your room Your room will teach your everything You held your sword like a dancer You held your sword like a dancer You held your sword like a dancer And you fought like the girl I loved Were the world all mine From the ocean to the Rhine I’d give it all, I’d give it all I’d give it all, I’d give it all I’d give it all for the Queen of Sweden
8.
“We haven't lost a thing,” you said The uncovering is up ahead Still, we happened to miss Massey Hall and Victor Bockris The blessed and the blackest rose In the aisles of the softer snow Celebrated and grew When 1998 fell through Hardly had the day seen dawn When you were feeling put upon Disillusioned and gold You left before the lights went cold You said something about mystery And decided what it meant to me I invested in this, Nabokov and Victor Bockris But these beasts, with their wings Won’t awaken anything One red horse is on the way No slender grace could make me stay Daphne had begun, with ease To demonstrate her expertise I bothered with your minor works I wasn’t too proud to assert That they should have been hits Like Blackout Beach and Victor Bockris
9.
We walked in song We were wanting all along To yield to the hum And the hissing in the heart of everyone Or maybe just some of us A summer in the palace A place where we can rest our golden heads And the yard goes on forever overhead You cheated, then confessed You wore that smile I detest And I hate your friends I've been to your parties The only truth at your parties Is when the party ends Like two arms reaching out to pull us in Where the wolves of the winter’s breath blows thin Through a modern gaze we sat and watched the fall And you were still left wanting after all Since the summer palace sings so silvery You lifted then abandoned me Kiss your mistress, kiss your mistress I broke up the band, with God as my witness It's horrific how we feed All our numberless needs Just to watch them grow If the lords are alive Sound the bells, wake their wives They ought to know You’re not sick, you’re just in love
10.
We are widows to the world we knew We brace ourselves, we carry ourselves through Past the pale thrones and the reckoning And the shade of the ever-mounting evening We saw you slip away The flower burning in the day Your sketches and the books you read Your beauty and the hospital beds Just carry yourself back to me From across that lonesome ocean "Rejoice, O Jerusalem And come together all of you that love her" "Rejoice, O Jerusalem And come together all of you that love her" I thought you might want something small A reminder of what I saw Either from the mountains of Madrid Or the coast of Barcelona Either from the mountains of Madrid Or the coast of Barcelona

about

9 out of 10 - "This is a marvellous record from beginning to end. There’s not a moment of ennui, not a single passage that you want to skip even after repeated listens. All this and a great Lemonheads reference too. This is one that is destined for my end of year lists." - AmericanaUK

9 out of 10 - "The late, great Vic Chesnutt once said that he liked the idea of using words in songs that no-one had used before. I'm guessing that Jon Rooney from Seattle feels the same way. ...On 'I Am A Bad Dreamer' he recalls 'I was carnal, I was careful' and makes you think all love songs should contain details like these. ...In short, these are songs that invite reverie and revelry; tunes to be devoured whole then savoured individually." - Whisperin' & Hollerin'

**** - "deft lyrics coming on like the product of a latter-day Lawrence from Felt ...beguiling, hypnotic and, yes, literate" - Shindig Magazine

"The music is a wide open expanse, but that expanse is wonderfully melodic. ...Secret Kids is a lot like watching time lapse photography of a zygote growing into a human being and it'll keep the most ADD listeners staring at their speakers and staying up all night." - Glacially Musical

"Equal parts melancholic and hopeful, songwriter Jon Rooney’s brand of lo-fi folk is essential listening for fans of Mac Demarco, Sunset Rubdown, and Lilys" - Killing Moon

"All of the songs have some hook to – sometimes in a very subtle way – grab your attention, but the album only reveals its true beauty upon repeated listening. There is always something new to discover, be it in the music or, maybe even more often, in the lyrics." - Find A Song Blog

"This album is a treasure not to be missed" - When You Motor Away

Secret Kids, the second LP from Seattle-based Virgin of the Birds, is set for release on vinyl and digital in October 2016 by Song, By Toad Records in the UK/Europe and Abandoned Love Records in the US. Named after a poor English translation of a Salvador Dali painting, Virgin of the Birds treads a line between intimate, lo-fi pop and the occasional grandeur of early art rock.

Songwriter Jon Rooney started Virgin of the Birds as a solo project in San Francisco in the mid-00’s then built an ace band while living in Austin, TX for a couple of years before settling in Seattle. After releasing a series of free, home-recorded EPs on Rooney’s own Abandoned Love Records, Virgin of the Birds caught the attention of Edinburgh-based blog and label Song, By Toad, leading to several solo shows in Edinburgh, the inclusion of a disc full of songs on the label’s limited edition Five-Year Anniversary Box Set and the release of Winter Seeds, their 2014 debut full-length album that The Herald Scotland described as “essential.” Three songs Virgin of the Birds recorded in Edinburgh appear on the Song, By Toad Split 12” ‘Volume 4’ released in July 2016 alongside tracks by Baltimore-based troubadour Viking Moses and Scottish artists Supermoon and digitalanalogue.

credits

released October 14, 2016

Virgin of the Birds is Jon Rooney and Colin J Nelson

Bass on "Spooky, Stony, Barely Over Thirty" and "Secret Kids" by Paul Beaudry
Lead guitar and background vocals on "The Queen of Sweden" by Bart Cameron
Bass on "Summer Palace" by Kira Wilson
Lead guitar on "Summer Palace" by Jacob Thiede
Other lead guitar on "Summer Palace" by Daniel Cutting

All songs by Jon Rooney, published by Pilgrim Fear Music (ASCAP)
Produced by Colin J Nelson
Recorded and mixed by Colin J Nelson at Her Car, Seattle, WA USA
Mastered by Carl Saff, Saff Mastering
Illustration and design by Jon Rooney

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Virgin of the Birds San Francisco, California

Named after a poor English translation of a Salvador Dali painting, Virgin of the Birds treads a line between intimate, lo fi folk and the occasional grandeur of early art rock.

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