Non-Verbal III [In Progress] (Dec 2011; Dorset)

Definitely going to do things to this in future, but for now... HAPPY CHRISTMAS/HANUKKAH/KWANZAA.


Non-Verbal III by NCMiles

Non-Verbal I (Dec 2011; London)

Best through headphones...

Non verbal I by NCMiles

Non-Verbal I

I do not want to talk to you

I want to feel and feel straight through

Your cold hands on all saints' days

and hide away on turnpike lane

Far away from fields & southern coasters

I would take what I wanted if I knew what it was…

And when it's clear

It's not for sex

But to put our ears to the necks of strangers

On the day something changed and I started shedding skin

And I've been afraid to let the right one in

I think I stopped losing the day that we met

By the time it happened I had no skin left

Stole from the cold I didn't get old I never knew what I wanted

Turn away from turnpike lane

make a way to those old coasts for winter

Would you believe that your bed is an ocean,

That I would choose it over any other woman’s?

Untitled, Unfinished[?] (November 2011; London)

I talk too much.

I know that you've got dreams now darlin I have got some too

There was a time when yours included me and mine did you

We've lived just like the chickens in the yard scratching the ground

But we don't have any money honey and there's not much around

I know that you've got dreams now darlin and I've got my own too

There's a man down on the street he says he's got his eye on you

You know well where the door is I can't stop you going down

You say you only need enough to get us out of town.

I waited on the corner for you, I felt the cold you feel

I couldn't see you coming, here it's hard to know what's real

I hope you didn't lose too much in finding what you found

I'll wish a happy end for you my friend but there aren't much around.

and Childish (November 2011; London)

For the last month or so loads of people have been trying to get me to make demos, for various reasons. The thing is, I'm not sure I like recording things properly, I'm not really very good at it, and because of that I can never really get things to sound how they do in my head, so I spend hours and hours getting frustrated over it... this is why I usually just make youtube videos, it means I have no control over the sound besides the way I play, and that's comforting.

Anyway, I have just finished a demo, I did most of it about a month ago, then got bored and forgot about it, then today I finished all my work and I couldn't find anybody to play with so now it is a proper-ish thing. It's a song I've actually been playing live for quite a few months but never got round to making a video or anything of... I can't really decide on a title for it.

I really don't know how it'll sound on other peoples machines, but I imagine your best bet is bit speakers or headphones...

and Childish (2nd Mix) by NCMiles

Don't go away from you
we pass like ships in the night always looking for some great truth
I don't know what I've been doing here waiting for you
there's an abundance of youth in the days as they move

say hey
I think I'm glad to know you are out there too

Soon I will jump into time I will leave for some strange city
I will love nobody, no, and have nobody else love me
the days will be talking, be working, be living, be void and sweet
until the time when a thing is because it must be

hey
I think I'm glad to know you are out there too

Don't go away from you
your eyes they shine through the night and they say what you say is true
I know that when I will know that will know that I will know it's you
I can say, finally,

hey
I don't know what I'd do without you.

How? Which? When? Where? Why? (Nov 2011; London)

Am I as I am because I am the way I am or as I am because I am the way that you left me?
Am I as I am or just a poorly put together hybrid fictional character from my favourite movies?
Sometimes when I think of yesterday I can't remember what i did I get confused it feels a lot like vertigo...


But I don't know what I don't know, if I don't know that I don't know it.


People on tv never just sit and watch tv, and 'no you cannot sell reality cause real life is boring'
I believe that if you looked around you'd be amazed but they say someone else's life is always far more alluring
The purpose and the destiny, excuses and the light relief, the things we used to hide inside are empty, false and in decline


But I don't think that we're anything by design
and yes it's scary that we don't know where we're going
yes, I think it's scary that we don't know where we're going
but I don't think think that we're anything by design.


How? Which? When? Where? Why?

Nothing Inbetween (Oct 2011; London)

This is one of those songs I don't really ever think about, they just sort of ripen in the background, occasionally when I'm messing around I'll sing what I've got of them, and slowly they become full songs. "I'd like a songwriter who writes songs like a pumpkin vine makes pumpkins" - to totally misquote Calvino. Because no real effort gets put into them, I tend to undervalue them a bit, there are quite a few of them I've never even played live or recorded, but I'm starting to think that's a little wrong of me.
Anyway, Ed's in Scotland at the moment, writing books and tending moors, so I went to his house and nicked his ebow, I've put up two versions of the song, one is kind of an early ebow experiment (I'm sort of considering buying one, but they're way expensive), and one is a pretty standard version... so see what you think, I guess.

EBOW


NO EBOW


I see an animal
he's in your backyard
sometimes he fights with other animals
'cause life's so hard
he needs to eat, he needs to sleep, he's got to fuck, he needs somewhere to lay his head
he's just an animal,
he's alive or he is dead.
But nothing in between.

I heard you had an accident
I heard you fell out
now something's changed within your bones
these days you don't get out the house
you never talk you are a stranger unto me
you are a stranger to the world
you refuse to choose a life below the life you lived
this is what I've heard
We're nothing in between.

Thanks for this,
the sweet and dour(!)
your crippled legs
should mark the hours
should hang from a bell
and kick like hell at the sides
and tell us when it's time to wake up
tell us when it's time to go to work again
to church again
and hear about how no one really...

we're nothing in between.

AHMAHGAWD. (Oct 2011; London)

I have the internet! I'm not even going to think about uploading proper songs yet, because I'm a bit busy but, to relax a bit this evening I started playing around with a song I've been working on, then I messed a little with a loop pedal, then an e-bow, then a piano, and ended up having one of the most fun lone-jams I've ever had... unfortunately I didn't record the process leading up to the loop, or the tons of piano/ebow/guitar twiddling that went on, but here's a little sample of the loop on its own and a little messing around... mainly so I can remember it when I come to finish the song... bit tricky, I promised myself ages ago I wouldn't get involved with pedals and things again, but this was so much fun!