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Modem Operandi

by The Stanfields

/
1.
White Juan 01:30
Blow I’m not ready for this I’m not ready… I’m a nihilist on the payroll And I’m blundering through the whiteout I’m so modern and insanely so But I’m out of calibration I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready…
2.
Upon St Crispin’s Day we made for a distant shore From the harbor mouth of Montego We were packed to the deck with a rash of Nelson’s Blood On a northern course where the trade winds blow Forty nights on the deck of an old West Indiaman Shed little light on what I know One day this will be over This I know. I remember you as the girl I loved so well And the lady of my hearth and home So I must be the man with a horde of tales to tell And a bigger horde of silks and gold Do you resent me for my roving ways? Are you still the lady that I know? One day this will be over This I know. N’ere a sabre have I drawn in anger Nor a flintlock have I fired at all Though the midnight watch has tried to wear me down I grow weary of the heaven’s thrall I vowed to return one day a different man Not the green and witless boy you know One day this will be over This I know Relief, praise the gods for the still and moment of respite The thrill of sleeping through the night is lost on a drone such as I. The taste of victory calls yet a shadow of a feeling lingers on The blow of whores and devil spawn didn’t break my confidence at all. I think these things too loud I’m nothing if not proud I seek the means to thrive Not scourings to merely survive Did you find your fate and make your mark on the seas, imbecile? Someone waits at home for you to come over the horizon. She’ll be waiting for a long time.
3.
Fight Song 02:47
They're rattling their rapiers And prancing in their livery They're howling at the gates again Hot time in the olde town tonight Get yourself together And meet me at the magazine We're gonna have a reckoning Hot time in the olde town tonight Tonight, Tonight We're gonna make it our own But we're gonna do it right Rally round the banner man Fire up the forge And muster at the cannery Hot time in the old town tonight Keep your wits about ya when We turn it up and fall upon The auld-sworn enemy Hot time in the old town tonight This is our house Are you ready for the fisticuffs The fuss, the muss, the row, the fray? Hot time in the old town tonight This is our house Take your medicine And fly the fiddlin' fuck away From whence you came Hot time in the old town tonight
4.
This old city looks dead in the morning light I wonder where my saviour was last night When my ship comes in to call I will throw this knife in the river I will give my best to love On the day my ship comes in to call I know my ways are cruel and unrefined But I honed my game on fools and drunken minds For ten long years I preyed on the rabble I know But I gave myself to the well-known devil I don’t When my ship comes in to call I will throw this knife in the river I will give my best to love On the day my ship comes in to call I gave myself to a play that wasn’t mine I played my part like a well-heeled concubine When my ship comes in to call I will throw this knife in the river I will give my best to love On the day my ship comes in to call
5.
Mainline 03:21
With no one as my witness I solemnly declare I'm drunk with paranoia And rendered unaware The engines of the universe Conspire to grind my bones Sell my pound of flesh And give up the Ghost Give up the ghost Down on the main line Too bad the sun doesn't shine On the road you take Nor the ground you tread Take a couple of these Go back to bed And live your life another day I have dreams where I am living In solitary bliss And I have dreams where I'm about to die In a watery abyss I spend my waking hours Pixelated and engrossed In mixed up signals Pick up the phone Give up the Ghost Give up the Ghost Down on the mainline Too bad the sun doesn't shine In the cave of your heart. Or the back of your mind Take a couple of these Leave it all behind And live your life another day I lost the pulse of your rhythm When I put my faith in chemicals Now I find the sound of laughter unnerving As for the dreams They come and go
6.
Hey you with the world on your shoulders Do you find it hard to deal With growing expectations And a vision that isn’t real? Are you tired of looking in the mirror To only see a ghost For a day in the sun the person you’ve come Is the person you hate the most You walk the streets of gold But the living bleeds you dry It casts you in a hole Where dreams go to die Hey you with the stars in your eyes Do you find it hard to sleep When your plans aren’t coming together ‘Cause of promises you can’t keep The promise of another revolution The pride before the fall You stuck up for the masses; you stood up for your friends But now you hate them all. And you walk the streets of gold But the living bleeds you dry It casts you in a hole Where dreams go to die “Don’t let your doubts pull your strings.” “Nothing lasts forever”, Said the victim in denial. “Sure as the thought of failure stings”, “Nothing lasts forever when you’re dead upon arrival”
7.
Lady Argyle 02:56
The yoke of pride, so many times Has fallen on the best of us The yoke of pride, so many times Has burdened us who dwell in charity Why, you ask, not break the chains? T'is hard enough contending with The downward eyes of passer-bys No hearth, no home, no love, no dignity Lo, yet one more decry From an infamous throne such as mine Vile and stable In a wondrous and slow decline The rain still must fall On a wanderer of such likeness. Fortune is a beggar’s bane Yet the stain blights us all More so who thus deny it. Fortune is a beggar’s bane Now I'm a rogue in your eyes But I once was a yeoman who shined With a place at the table With laymen and lords alike Now I find myself in the mire Of a world still unfolding itself Vile and stable In a wondrous and slow decline
8.
Will the circuit be unbroken? When your dues are called upon? When the gravy train is off the rails And the novelty is gone? Somewhere behind The firewall are blinded eyes Will the circuit be unbroken? Buy and buy low, buy and buy Will the circuit be unbroken? When the drones are in the air When the satellites are casting off A condescending glare When the boots on the ground Are categorically denied Will the circuit be unbroken? Buy and buy low, buy and buy I wasn’t asking for Time on the killing floor I’m losing the appetite To go through another night Of panic and cigarettes New plans and old regrets. Wound up good and tight Just to make it through a night Lately I've tried To put down the reins And give not a doubt or a care in the world I wasn't made To be left in the cold I'm a long gone believer stuck in the mould At the first sight of blood, man up Down tools and take on the trolls I'm a long gone believer out in the cold How did you put up with such a fleeting mind? Lost in illusions and grand designs? I’m a complicated mess with a husk of soul And little more than A long gone believer out in the cold

about

This is our fourth record. We tried to blow up the studio. Enjoy the saxophone.

credits

released April 8, 2016

Produced by Jon Landry
Engineered and Mixed by Darren Van Niekerk
Assistant Engineer Jason Jenkyns
Mastered by J.Lapointe at Archive Mastering
Art Design and Layout by Megan Green at Abracazebra
Executive Producer Ian McKinnon, GroundSwell Music

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The Stanfields Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Stanfields are a Canadian rock music group, based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

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