Ithaca

by Bowman

Ithaca cover art
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about

Experimental aircraft, lost civilizations, mythic quests, the Philippines, true love, utter loss, and the transience of life - the many subjects of Ithaca, the first independently released Bowman album. Scattergun in its genre and chaotically retro in its fashion, Ithaca is an eclectic mix of songs both personal and abstract. Bowman once again brings his familiar voice and ever-changing production style along with several friends from the Homestuck music project and elsewhere. Ithaca is calling.

credits

released 01 January 2012
All songs written, performed, and produced by Michael Guy Bowman except for "Ascension" written by Michael Guy Bowman and Tyler Dever.

Guest musicians include Luke Benjamins, Katie Carrell, Thomas Ferkol, Andrew Huo, Jeremy Iamurri, Tavia Morra, Mark Nabors, Clark Powell, Erik Scheele, Nick Smalley, and Peter Turner.

Produced in Austin, Texas and Plano, Texas.

iambowman.com

tags

tags: rock ambient art rock electronic experimental pop Austin

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all rights reserved

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about

Michael Guy Bowman is a musician, producer, and performer who has made music for Homestuck. His new solo album, Ithaca, is his first independent release.

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Track Name: Old Buggy Now
Riding through the night like a jaded vagabond
No one else in sight i could be the only one
Hear me radio, play the song I know
Take me where I long to go

'Cause there’s nobody nobody now
Who can hear me or stop me now
In this old buggy old buggy now
In this old buggy old buggy now

Guided by the stars burning up petroleum
Here inside my car I could be the only one
Somewhere in the sky a satellite on high
Watches with its lonely eye
Track Name: Ascension
Long before there was you and I
The ancient ones lived in the sky
A kingdom built upon the stars
A million tiny points of light
Do you ever wonder where they’ve gone?
Don’t you ever wonder why?

The ancient ones they rose and fell
For reasons that we just can’t tell
Cataclysm - maybe so
Perhaps we’re just not meant to know
Empire never lasts or so it seems
But some say they’re still with us in our dreams

Ascending off to god knows where the ancient ones took parole
Legend says they were running from a force beyond their control
And the kingdom that was left behind
Was turned to dust from which mankind
Did first emerge like cinders up from the coal

And you and I we are the ash
Of demons slain and cities smashed
The ancient ones they reached too far
And thus for now the world is ours
And though it’s just a legend so they say
Perhaps they will return again someday
Track Name: Come With Me
Your weak young heart keeps playing its part for show
And though you never say never you never say yes or no
Even if you never grow up you’ll still grow old
So why do the warmest welcomes leave you cold?

Dust in the shadows, smoke in your eyes
Heart full of anger, head full of lies

There’s no way of knowing which way you’re going
But at least you’re free, at least you're free
So when the wind is blowing and the stars aren’t showing
You can come with me, come with me

Your weak young heart is resting safe and sound
But the child you were is nowhere to be found
Well I’ve read in books that most folks feel this way
But the game cannot resume 'til you press play

No place to run to, no use pretending
Life in this moment, not in its ending
Track Name: Tacit Blue
Back in the lab I’m running the test
If you won’t fly then I won’t rest
Turbines turning in the tunnel of love
Upon that perch sits my dove

Built for stealth like a silent blade
My cobalt queen adorned in jade
Navy seal but Air Force-made
Please be true, the things you’ll do
Tacit Blue

Hear my siren sound her bell
Your heart belongs to someone else
Sapphire spy you were built for war
My best girl a government whore

I should have known that’s what you’d be
I set you up they set you free
How could you do this to me?
Like a shrew the tramp just flew
Tacit Blue

Years go by and I get no sign
Until one day by chance I find
Blackbird, Valkyrie standing in place
Between their wings - familiar face

Oblong dame - a museum piece
Eternally posed for eyes that feast
Home at last with cousin and niece
But once I knew the other you
Tacit Blue
Track Name: Rodeo Clown
I'm just a good machine
You turn me on and I’ll get by
But you’re just like gasoline
You burn right up until you’re dry, oh why?

I don’t want to have to hold your hand
But you have always been unpredictable, bless your soul
Why can’t you see?

You are a rodeo clown
Does that not get you down?
We only keep you around for a laugh
But i just can’t help but frown

Do you just like to be hurt?
You see the danger and flirt
And they laugh while you’re face down in the dirt

Does that just get you high?
Making a good friend cry
I’d stay but I’m not gonna watch you die

I sometimes envy you
There’s magic each time you arrive
But i just can’t get into you
You never live you just survive, oh why?

I just want to walk by your side
But you have always walked on the tightest rope
Is there no hope?
Why can’t you see?
Track Name: Cerulean Skies
I never had the best of health
Just a lot of time and a little wealth
I never failed, I only tried
Just a moment too late, the dream had died

I never saw cerulean skies
Or the light of the truth behind the lies
I never received, I only took
From the few pages left of every un-burned book

I never once saw time well-spent
Or a wise man who was not hell-bent
I never spoke, I only screamed
As the men upstairs shot down my dreams

Come on (come right on)
Come on (sit down with sin)
Come on (no way to win)
'Cause if you can’t kiss ass then you can’t begin

Come on (no chance in hell)
Come on (think for yourself)
Come on (you might as well)
'Cause a good student has nothing on a good sell

Come on (write your own role)
Come on (no lump of coal)
Come on (just rock and roll)
'Cause if you’re not damned yet then you’ve sold your soul

At first I tried to fight the law
But I never pulled the very first straw
I could not fight my mom and dad
When the sins of the parents were the ones I had

I fought for all the underdogs
Who turned out to be hive-mind cogs
I fought for love - of course I lost
But I was the one who named that cost

I tried to fight the last of my friends
But all i found were long-dead-ends
I’d lost my time, I’d lost my wealth,
And I’d never once tried to fight for myself
Track Name: Noun
Somewhere in a jungle grove a candle burns denoting Saint Therese
A prayer that those we’ve left behind are troubled not with heart and mind at peace
Nurse attending close at hand with wine to cast its old familiar spell
An elder soul looks into you but cannot speak in things the tongue can tell

I’m sorry I forgot your name
I only have myself to blame
If you were me you’d do the same

Somewhere in this downward race
A person, name, a thing, or place
Solution to my endless chase
I’m sure I’d recognize its face

Though I forget myself
I’m sure there’s something else
I’ll come around
I'll make the sound
The noun

In my car I’m on my way from where I live to where you are right now
And though I’ve been here many times it seems as though it all has changed somehow
I’m sure I’ve seen this busy road a million times or was it in my sleep?
My minivan was in the sky, but never mind - I’m thinking far too deep

Familiar signs have gone away
I’m sure if it was not today
I’d be there now - I'd find my way
Track Name: Ithaca
I spent the best years of my life waiting
for this moment
A time to call my own, a place to call my homeland

It’s come here far too soon
I sit around my room
Hatching my plans and schemes I mostly leave forgotten

I spent my longest nights awake wondering through the outside
Amused but still deranged, divided on the inside

Returning to the core
The place i can’t ignore
The wonder behind the fear I just can’t seem to shake off

Oo-ee-oo
To dream or do
To do or die
To sink or fly

Oo-ee-oo
To get a clue
To run and hide
To laugh and cry

I turned my back on battles won and sailed to new adventure
The journey made by all, a lonely mortal tenure

To Ithaca I sailed
And though I have not failed
My home is a fleeting camp, the journey’s just beginning

I spent the morning hours awake writing down the lyrics
Resolved to get it right - to capture the true spirit

Although I sing along
That moment now has gone
My heart still a restless sea where Ithaca is calling
Track Name: Underneath It All
Moving on is hard
The more I fight the more I have to lose
From the very start
I should have known there would not be a use

Underneath it all
I’m sure it’s no one’s fault (feels like it’s my fault)
Why bother to explain?
There’s nothing left to gain (I need someone to blame)

No time for regrets
Repenting leaves you stranded in the past
And though I've lost my bets
I should have known the good times never last

Underneath it all
I was always bound to fall (I’m just so scared to fall)
Behind the blood and tears
I’ve been running dry for years (running from my fears)

If you only could have seen
All the things we could have been
If I could have only shown you
I would have known that you know what I really mean
Track Name: The Roamin' Bowman
Tangled in the ropes that have strangled
All the hopes that were dangled in front of my eyes
But when I'm near you, I have nothing to fear
You make life oh-so-clear, you cut right through the lies

Somwhere, from the crack of the sun there
I'd be working for one share bemused and alone
But your love is the fast and the sure love
Which keeps me feeling pure, love, each time I come home

'Cause if my kind of home is really your kind of home
Then what reason have I to roam?

Lonely days, humid nights
When I go to turn out all the lights
I only know you, love, will still be my true love
To have and to hold all my own
For without you I guess I'd just roam

My life is a head-in-the-sky life
And I still wonder why life seems strange and unknown
But when we're together, no matter the weather
I feel that much better, like I've just come home

'Cause if my kind of home is really your kind of home
Then what reason have I to roam?