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The Oracle

from the five word album title by Ism f.c.

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Liner Notes - Our Dual Natures
There's the face that we show the world, which is often a true enough representation of who we are. And then there are the hidden parts, the pieces of our psyche that we sublimate in order to function in society, to get up and go to work every day, to have normal conversations. We all have a little bit of strange going on. Some of us more than others. We all give up on our dreams for the day to be a productive member of society. We don't risk everything to follow our muse. We hear of stories of people we know who seem so normal, but they have something surprising going on that we would not have imagined. Sound familiar? See what I mean? You've got this same thing happening inside you too.
Every now and then I let this happy little monster out. A little while ago I had two weeks off. And a goal. My goal was to engineer and build a prototype of an invention I was thinking about. I descended into the basement and went to work, lived in my head, and allowed myself to sort of get lost in the task. At the end of these sleepless two weeks I could barely carry on a conversation and I was frustrating to be around. It was a classic manic episode. But I had accomplished my goal.
I'd do things like this more often if people were not counting on me to do all the normal stuff that needs to be done.
This "guy" that I let out on occasion reveals himself in this song. I am the caretaker of the Oracle, keeping him/us fed, watered, rested, exercised, and out of jail or some other institution. He's not a true representation of my inner world. I'm not a math genius afflicted with a messianic complex. I'd just like to spend all my time creating, but I have to bury that a bit, or I get too sucked in to pay attention to daily norms. It's a balance.
I hint at this in the song and debated about revealing the story behind the story. In the chorus I double the vocal and panned each voice far left and far right to represent this duality. I begin the song with a stranger falling asleep on my shoulder in a dusty North African alleyway. That scene comes from a dream I had. It's all I remember. The song moves on from there.
It's a funky little ditty and certainly worth a listen. It's really difficult to perform as a singer/guitarist. The syncopation between the two require some work.

lyrics

Lyrics:

I had the distinct feeling we were somewhere in Marrakesh but I wasn't sure. This dude leaned up on me and instantly he fell asleep on my shoulder. Drooling and mumbling I couldn't wake him up so we left him there. He was mulatto. Minutes later I heard a phrase that blew my mind when I heard you say to “Nevermind. It's just a cobra bite. Let's soldier on to the outskirts.” The skies were ominous the air was dry. The earth was a scorched boondock. “Dude,” you said, “get up. We gotta find the beach and buy some sharpies.” You were agitated about some sort of rip in the space/time continuum. When we arrived at the beach you went to work straightaway writing notes and equations on the bloated bellies of sleeping sunbathers in all the colors of the sharpie rainbow. And mere minutes from being swallowed by a singularity you saved us all with a naked double pirouette by the water's edge.

Chorus: It was a day much like any other, starting with a dream state attack on myself and I wake up and keep the Oracle fed and safe from himself for another day.

You stood summoning the sun with the scar on your side in that falsetto voice of yours. You could make it look like a mouth by pressing either side with your fingertips. Your scar was placed off center inside the circular green tattoo with the fish scales. I mentioned it was an interesting artistic choice to make, as you laughed like a maniac. When all of a sudden the sun returned and you caught the light in your scar. It made you hungry. Then you begged me, “Please beat me about the head and neck so I can sleep.” I wouldn't do it.

Chorus

Hey man. What's next?

credits

from the five word album title, released April 26, 2016

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Ism f.c. image

Ism f.c. Lyme, New Hampshire

Imagine if you will, the bastard child of The White Stripes and Parliament Funkadelic, with lyrics as quirky as a spelling bee champion. That's us, ISM f.c. The fourth album is in the works.

Under the ISM f.c. umbrella are a few side projects. "The Clearing" is a project based on lost cassette tapes from a bygone era. "Committee on Incandescent Anomalies" is a post rock project. ... more

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