Lioness
Lioness, I’ve been trying not to miss
The days, precious and limited
In the night, I slumber while you hunt
Rise when you rest
Begin where you end
While the moon and sun are chasing above my body and in your mind
When you’re feeling crescent, I will be gibbous
And witness our circadian tides
When you’re by my side
In my dream, you are a mountain that I climb
And I scale every disk of your spine
To dig into the summit
To look inside the back of your mind
Talking in my sleep, you were hearing everything
Replacing each terror with a merciful reprieve
By daylight, I study your stasis
Are we living the dream?
Do we know what that means?
With the sun and moon still racing through the marrow of your mind
I’m deflecting your demons, rechecking your pulse
As I watch, in wait, with a weather eye
And I’m by your side
As you dream, I watch your breathing fall and rise
And I log any dance of your eyes
For clues beyond the surface
To see inside the back of your mind
To look inside the back of your mind
Lioness, I’m trying not to miss
The days, precious and limited
"Lioness" is a dreamlike sequence through the speaker’s diminishing sense of connection with the person they love—their livelihoods requiring periodically inverse sleep schedules. As they watch over each other in shifts, the speaker strives to maintain balance in their relationship, but is increasingly unable to decipher perceived changes in the mind and heart of their partner.
This song has, I think, a unique tone among its siblings, as well as one of my favorite implementations of the found-percussion sample library I built throughout the recording of the album (The future isn't what it used to be.). The deep, thunderous booms and tom-like drums are literally varied combinations of a washing machine (struck with a rubber mallet) and an empty coffee-sweetener bottle, pitched down, blended together, and processed in a few other ways.
Music & Lyrics by Tyler Jameson Newton
Performed & Recorded by Tye Newton
Produced & Mixed by Tye Newton
Consultation & Mastering by Justin Newton
Art direction by Tye Newton
Cover art design by Tye Newton
Photography by Tye Newton
Videos for
Lioness
Lioness
Lioness
Lioness, I’ve been trying not to miss
The days, precious and limited
In the night, I slumber while you hunt
Rise when you rest
Begin where you end
While the moon and sun are chasing above my body and in your mind
When you’re feeling crescent, I will be gibbous
And witness our circadian tides
When you’re by my side
In my dream, you are a mountain that I climb
And I scale every disk of your spine
To dig into the summit
To look inside the back of your mind
Talking in my sleep, you were hearing everything
Replacing each terror with a merciful reprieve
By daylight, I study your stasis
Are we living the dream?
Do we know what that means?
With the sun and moon still racing through the marrow of your mind
I’m deflecting your demons, rechecking your pulse
As I watch, in wait, with a weather eye
And I’m by your side
As you dream, I watch your breathing fall and rise
And I log any dance of your eyes
For clues beyond the surface
To see inside the back of your mind
To look inside the back of your mind
Lioness, I’m trying not to miss
The days, precious and limited
Music & Lyrics by Tyler Jameson Newton
Performed & Recorded by Tye Newton
Produced & Mixed by Tye Newton
Consultation & Mastering by Justin Newton
Art direction by Tye Newton
Cover art design by Tye Newton
Photography by Tye Newton
Lovelorn Lullaby
This is home, warmth, love, happiness
Time, gratitude
It’s my home with you
And I see you when I look around
In every inch of my life
I see the way I’ve felt with you
Glowing in this light
I can see, hear, feel us laughing and
Loving, singing, planning, dancing
It’s a dream
Falling asleep here with you missing
In our empty apartment
Feels like giving up
I’m so tired but I’m not ready
I’m not ready
It was "no more nightmares
Sleep easier, now we're home"
"We’re really living the dream, aren’t we?"
And now it’s "goodbye sweet dreams"
Our foundation crumbles as I sleep
The nightmare is awake, not me
Not me
Here is our home, new again; bare walls, patient with potential
The gold hardwood floor still waiting for the shadow of our black faux leather sofa
The forsaken guest room door ajar, beyond the dark, unwanted television
The bright, open kitchen wishing for the soundtrack of Elbow and Damien
Rising through the stairway landing where we’ll integrate our friends’ art on display
The old brick and space left naked for the photographs we’ll take but never frame
The hollow of the walk-in closet where we’ll laugh at how even your jeans fit me
In the nook with the red Japanese chair, the deluge will lull us both to sleep
The skylight in the vacant corner of the loft will cast our bed like a cathedral
Where I will sneak snapshots of you dreaming blissfully in that summer sun cascade
Nearby, the gas stove—sitting cold—will drive the winter from our bones
Beside the gap for the piano and the strings we’ll tune to summon the spring
And we will choose our favorite sad songs, substituting words to make them happy
Recorded evidence of our love, compellingly performed but incomplete
And we will learn to synchronize our walk and let the music move us in time
And I will try to lead you, hand in hand, cheek to cheek, your chest pressed to mine
We’ll embrace until the dance is over, then we will leave no trace of it behind
Only the bats in the ceiling will remember that vinyl record skipping in my mind
But I’ve already carved the shape of you into the songs and rhythms of my life
It’s too late to separate the future from the dream
Releases
