“<3” is a psychedelic multi-media album - musically in the realm of folktronica / folk-hop & visually a kaleidoscopic mix of the recording process, original choreographed dance by WISTY, home videos shot by my dad, and manipulated found footage.
VISUAL ALBUM:
ABOUT:
I started writing this material a decade ago, started recording it four years ago, & finished producing it during the spring & summer of 2020.
The album is a loop - where in the end it begins again - so feel free to hit the repeat function if that is how you want to experience it.
It’s also the first in a series of four visual albums.
Each of which correlates with a season, is a self contained loop, & is a part of the larger four part strange loop.
Taken as a whole, the song-cycle is largely a story of death & rebirth, love, & the psychedelic experience.
“<3” correlates with the season of summer
LYRICS:
Kaleidocycle
the circle begins again
seeking & hiding
light follows darkness
hold on let go
hold on let go
it’s just a tone for the drone get in tune with the om
a sound for the shaman to get in the zone
tell me where it’s at & i’ll tell you where it is
like that is that and this is this
(like a ship in bottled sand it all makes sense
like a clock with no hands it’s the present tense)
ain't got no direction home
all we are is all alone
so tell me where it is and i’ll tell you where it’s at
like this is this and that is that
like a clock in bottled hands all trying to grip the moment
like a sea without sands our ship it went
and in this land of water & wood
all’s not well but it’s all good
a mediation is a dot in time
ain't no reason for a rhyme
the tree of life you try to climb
but if you're looking you'll never find it
a mediation is a dot in time
ain't no reason for a rhyme
the tree of life you try to climb
but if you're looking you'll never find it
a mediation is a dot in time
ain't no reason for a rhyme
the tree of life you try to climb
but if you're looking you'll never find it
the circle begins again
light follows darkness
seeking & hiding
hold on let go
hold on let go
i'm becoming all that i am
all that i am i am becoming
time's grain's of sands
they're a long time running
i'm that song, that sound
i have no bounds
what was lost is found
i am this ground upon
which i walk
the words i talk
the thoughts i believe
the consciousness stream
i'm becoming everything
& everything is becoming me
i'm becoming everything
& everything is becoming me
:::now::::
Fixing a Clock
there ain't nothin wrong with love
& yes it'll tear holes out of your heart
but you better fill it up
cuz it's gonna stop beating
one of these days
& that's why i wish i knew how
to take the time back
rewind somehow
but time travel is dangerous
that shit ain't real
still i will dream
yet we're too young to feel used up
too old to be naive
we held the hands of clock for so long
but time kept on moving on
& now we're too old to be afraid
but too young to feel at ease
yet we knew we had to hold up the sun
& in that fire we were one
Amen
this is the blood i want to shed
of childhood scars & past regrets
here's a cheers to every tear that we've shed
to every bedtime story & every lullaby sang
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
to every sandcastle & every snowman that melt
to every heartbreak every hearts ever felt
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
to every crab caught in a pail & every firefly caught in a jar
to every wish wished on every star
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
lord,
stretch my heart's capacities
give me drama
& please give me comedy
AMEN
let me paint with color & sound
give me strings on my fingers
& a song on my tongue
AMEN
let me find all your mysteries until i expire
& become the you that's within me
AMEN
COME NOW - BEAR WITNESS
COME NOW - SO YOU CAN HEAR THIS SOUND
FEEL THE MYSTIC
TIME & TONE & FLESH & BONE
ALL TWO SIDES OF THE SAME COIN
SCIENCE & THAT NEW AGE VOID
STRENGTH & REASON PLEASE LET ME SEE
AND FAITH & PASSION PLEASE MAKE ME BLIND
AMEN
the alter may be wooden
but the need to be reverent is real
god might be dead
but i still need some kind of focal point to feel
so even if it's just a focal point to feel
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
this is the blood i want to shed
of childhood scars & past regrets
here's a cheers to every tear that we've shed
to every bedtime story & every lullaby sang
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
AMEN
Why
if you ask me why
if you ask me why
cuz there's a reason you're loosing your keys in the morning
& there's a reason for a broken heart
& there's a reason for every question
& there's a reason for every regret
but you gotta forgive to heal
& you gotta heal to forgive
you gotta live to die
& you gotta die to live
you gotta get to grow
& you gotta know to forget
& yet & yet
you'll forget it in people
but it's hiding in the crevices of every mind
you'll forget it in your routines
but it's waiting to be
shattered & untied
it's hiding where you left it
& it's selfless
& if you ask me why
if you ask me why
cuz there's a reason the sun comes up in the morning
& there's a reason to sing a song
& there's a reason for every coincidence
& i'd like to think there's a reason we can make sense of anything at all
but you gotta begin to end
you gotta end to begin
cuz everything is expanding
just to come back in
& if it goes in & out
then there ain't no out without oscillation
& yet & yet you'll find it in people
even if you're lost playing those games with stones
you'll find it in that moment
& it might shatter you
until all is one
it's hiding where you left it
& it's selfless
& if you ask me why
if you ask me why
A Story About Love
SECTION I:
i'd like to write
a beautiful story about love
sometimes
even more than
i'd like to live one
how do you find it?
can you keep it?
how's it feel when it's not there?
does it follow rhyme or reason?
how's it end?
how's it end?
how's it end?
how's it end?
SECTION II
when i make this sound
"love"
is anything understood?
as in your mind
you go back in time
through your memories
of love or lack thereof
in your mind
hit rewind
back in time
*it's alright*
memories are your guide
pick up what you left behind
your's aren't the same as mine
as we move to define
"love"
SECTIONS III & IV
when i make this sound "love"
that sound hit's your ears
& the hairs in your ear vibrate
& you hear a word
& in your mind you hit rewind
& go back in time
through your memories of love
or maybe lack there of
but as memories are the guide
that we use to define
& i know yours aren't the same as mine
well that's why i'd rather not say anything at all...
but love is realizing all is none
& none is all
winter, spring, summer, fall
days, seasons, years
only appear to be here to me
cuz i got a spark in my ear
& hear through my ears
& when i see that spark in your eyes
those lies i live become meaningless
hypnotize me till ain't nothing real but this
till i confuse my heartbreak with apocalypse
& apocalypse with heartbreak
till i want to take all i can throw
& throw it all away
we're all pushing up the daisies
& this our passion play
so come on, let's say
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
to death depart
those words
my heart
don't start
it never began
& the older i get
the more i forget
to start my heart
& it never ends
a lie it spread
inside my head
i thought i was dead
but now i know i am living
so i've come to find
what was left behind
in the wake of my mistakes
that are too late to correct
& when i hate i forget about
that force above the trees that reminds me
now's an eternity
now's an eternity
to sleep
to wake
to work
to play
to think
to say
to do
to be
to want
to need
to kiss
to suck
to love
to fuck
to text
to call
i love you all
but i forget
i forget
life's not a check list
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
"& when we break as we wait for our miracles
remember god is just a place where you'll wait & wait for the rest of your life
& when we break as we wait & wait for our miracles
remember god is just a place where some holy spectacle lies"
"well i'd like to find it, but i guess it's something you just feel
& i'd like to feel it, but I'm afraid that it just isn't real
& god is whoever you perform for
& god is whoever you perform for
& god is whoever you perform for
& god is whoever you perform for"
it's you:
the universe in my head
the water that i tread
a dancer wild as a flame set
an endless pain that ain't quite healed yet
you're the hands i have to let go of
when my clock runs out
& i might never even know you
i might never even know you
but i know we all break
"& when we break as we wait for our miracles
remember god is just a place where some holy spectacle lies"
& when we break as we wait & wait for our miracles
remember god is just a place where you'll wait & wait for the rest of your life"
i'll wait for it for the rest of my life
for the rest of my life...
for the rest of my life...
for the rest of my life...
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
away go ego, away go ego, let go
how do you find it?
can you keep it?
how's it feel when it's not there?
does it follow rhyme or reason?
how's it end?
how's it end?
how's it end?
how's it end?
CREDITS
written, performed & recorded by Mike Sim
mixing & mastering by Brady Custis
Logo by Adam Blake
dancing by WISTY (Kaleidocycle, Amen, & A Story About Love)
additional filming by Ariel Rejman (Amen & A Story About Love), Hannah Jay (Kaleidocycle, Why, & A Story About Love), Adam Blake (Fixing a Clock) & Wisty (Fixing a Clock, Kaleidocycle, & A Story About Love)
On “Fixing a Clock”: doumbek by Sound Shaman, choreography by Wisty, & dancing Amy Jill & Michelle Turner Young
Much love,
<3
Mike Sim
MikeSimMusic.com
