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Angels' Abacus

by Emily Bezar

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Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
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Sven B. Schreiber (sbs) Just can't stop purchasing still more albums from Emily Bezar. Each of them has its own distinct quality, and therefore it's utmost hard to compare them to each other. It's great to discover a different side of Emily Bezar in each of her works - be it the sound, the songwriting, the orchestration, or the feeling inside the music. However, at the core, there's always a noticable constant, and that's Emily Bezar's personality as an artist. Providing change and an ever surprising variety throughout the long-term creative process, while retaining an immutable red thread at the same time - this is what makes up an exceptional artist. Favorite track: Suncrash.
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1.
Latitude 04:08
I gave my suitcase to the baggage man whose leather hands remind me that the last one is the longest mile I said "take me anywhere the ferry blows" and I pulled out a smile I was a lucky traveller never missed the final plane always searching for the point where mountains meet the sea never thought you'd show me how broad the variation could be you wind your latitude about me sunshine 'round the corner of my gloom could find pretty boys to pout me but I rather would rather would find you but for all the deepening lines and necessary changes that brought you to the deck to smoke that last cigar I would have wasted all my bold, late-night exchanges on falling stars you wind your latitude about me sunshine 'round the corner of my gloom could find pretty boys to pout me but I rather would rather would find you holy leavening, holy leavening take away, take away all this floor four and fiving and six and sevening never no never no, no, no more oh oh been out of the sun into the moon but there's something so right in this cocoon you and I float the highest balloon you wind your latitude about me sunshine 'round the corner of my gloom could find pretty boys to pout me but I rather would rather would find you
2.
there's too much fog on this road guess I should pull over behind the steering wheel stowed and I look you over remember when, not long ago I would stare at you so slow now you and your memory throw these eyes right back at me we trained in the rules of disguise don't know how to use them lose all our wheres and our whys if we never choose them when you think about me now do you still feel that little wow I can hardly hear the bells for the breaking of the spells you and I were so good you and I were so fine but you know I never could cross that shifting borderline any how, any way I'd give it all up to stay never never far away from you I throw a ball in the wind and it goes right past you is this how we rebegin? would you let me ask you?
3.
stay right there there is an angle that I want of you in that little chair you break me wide and I never thought I'd make it back here to the other side when I'm losing the middle in the grey light and all of my colors blur the view oh pretty baby don't move hold tight cause something's coming into focus 'round the edge 'round the edge of you we framed this well you walked into my range of view and needed someone with something to tell and I've been here so many times before if love like this is gentle rain let it wash me off the floor when I'm losing the middle in the grey light and all of my colors blur the view oh pretty baby don't move hold tight cause something's coming into focus 'round the edge 'round the edge of you how can I love you the way she used you you take me over and I like the way that this is wrong I can still move through the motions you do I'll trace your outline so you'll always stay where you belong when I'm losing the middle in the grey light and all of my colors blur the view oh pretty baby don't move hold tight cause something's coming into focus 'round the edge 'round the edge of you stay right there
4.
there's snow on the roof and blood in my wine been a year since one truth erased every line and I was gone oh but never away I carried on oh with heaven to pay the longer you ran, the louder I fell now I've done all I can I know you too well and I was gone oh but never away I carried on like this with heaven to pay now I'm flowers 'round the room don't go cutting at the bloom oh my time and your space and colliding with you in this unbroken place... again I channelled way down way down in your ear but all that I found was silence, my dear
5.
In Delay 05:23
I found the copper and the gold medallions, parquet battlefields, their gloved battalions but I saw everything I loved float away swimming circles 'round my Lusitania I see the beach but where's my cool cabana oh will everything I love float back my way? I don't want to stay, I don't want to stay in delay for another day are we gonna go, are we gonna go out and play or tuck the world away, tuck the world away in delay, in delay, in delay, in delay for all my stall-outs and my false beginnings I drove the bus right through our precious winnings oh, and sifting through the dust, I let it blow between the desert and the violent mountains lies the plain where I shall build my fountains save your bottles for the grand water show I don't want to stay, I don't want to stay in delay for another day are we gonna go, are we gonna go out and play or tuck the world away, tuck the world away in delay, in delay, in delay, in delay throw down those clouds and rainbows we're going to find some rain no matter how deep this spring flows it's going my way going my way Oh I don't want to stay, I don't want to stay in delay for another day are we gonna go, are we gonna go out and play or tuck the world away, tuck the world away in delay, in delay, in delay, in delay
6.
(English translation) Oh come climb these stairs, let’s climb these stairs....
7.
down here in the mud again grey sludge, every acorn we gather by morning will be frozen with dew again your blue Mars, with his feathers came bruising through and the mountains all recharged giant battery, burnt out on me and you and oh they're talking 'bout talking 'bout us and oh what did we do to deserve all this fuss and oh let's give them more something more to count and discuss on the angels' abacus (English translation) the light here is your candles in full color I put them out and the smoke disappears like the traces of my heart you will enjoy a puppet in the fog and me, I will sing with the melodies of my noisy skies oh we will talk with these angels oh one beautiful day you will take away all my lies oh my love, climb with me on these steps climb with me......
8.
Scirocco 04:28
boys with their bubbles, a llama the hillside shudders with each plane that batters the sky trees bear no fruit here the fragrant primeval passed by ladders hung out on the hazy horizon floating like Corsica somewhere in time sail me away from this grey pantomime blue the afternoon the straw in the breezes the shapely, elegant and crazy wives drain back to white when all the color freezes someone smoke the bees out of their hives he said "no one will wait if you stop your believing, they'll leave you to soak in your salt and your brine" well I gave him the last branch but the last winter olive is mine blue the afternoon the straw in the breezes the shapely, elegant and crazy wives drain back to white when all the color freezes someone smoke the bees out of their hives and oh I feel you now and then with my shadow hand oh our hourglass waits for rain to bring new sand
9.
the red road dust slowly floats away I can still see your metallic grey oh God, don't let me forget this day like steady free agents and sticky bees we plan our revival with chains and thieves some of us grow here on our knees like weeds we're two lines, broken in the tracks up to Rotterdam we're old vines and I'm the wood you cut away you may find someone new to love you for these ending times but no matter how far this continent slides nothing can swallow what it divides we are in for a long long long ride I remember summer turning into fall but what you said before you left, I can't recall strange how the radio static played through it all of all the things you are you are in way too deep and I am like a broker trading dreams for cheap they say we are made of the give-away not the keep we're two lines, broken in the tracks up to Rotterdam we're old vines and I'm the wood you cut away you may find someone new to love you for these ending times but no matter how far this continent slides nothing can swallow what it divides we are in for a long long long ride
10.
Bruno 04:33
Bruno, won't you make a coin from the copper mines in your head Bruno, won't you throw a stone o'er the barricade 'round your bed never no, never never no never, no no never no, never never no, never let me go Bruno, there was a time when he heard every word I said Bruno, what do I do now? doesn't say in these books I've read never no, never never no never, no no never no, never never no, never let me go oh you're running too fast are you running away? oh say that you'll only go half way today oh I want you to stay yeah I want you to go I want you to love me I want you to know what if we don't like the changes and everything they say comes true? whatever it rearranges... I could not take, I could not take I could not take my eyes off you Bruno, yeah talk is cheap still they're cutting rates every day Bruno, even bartered feet still slip into God some way
11.
In My Sky 04:58
beneath the linen and the lidocaine between the rosewater and the stain there is a little piece of frozen pain, like mine behind the rumour and the backroom shake beside the Countess and her grand mistake there is little piece of cold heartache, like mine and I am bracing for the worst and I am ball and chain you never asked me for my curse you never asked my name oh love oh love all of this shame and I don't remember why Lucy showed up in my sky will someone please tell me why she came and all the wretched games he watched me play I counted on every card to make him stay I never loved anyone quite that way, that time and I am bracing for the worst and I am ball and chain you never asked me for my curse you never asked my name oh love oh love all of this shame and I don't remember why Lucy showed up in my sky will someone please tell me why she came guarding, guarding the long afternoon they came to take me none too soon I hope every moment that we bargain for becomes an hour before that golden door I never wanted anything more than time and I am bracing for the worst and I am ball and chain you never asked me for my curse you never asked my name oh love oh love all of this shame and I don't remember why Lucy showed up in my sky will someone please tell me why she came
12.
Suncrash 04:29
every card to my right, it blazes numerology found me a friend every stone in my path, it arranges for another beguiling dead end oh my love in a matter of time I'll be gone again off running my races if you promise to put up a fight I might stay 'til then 'cause this is what grace is sun crash on my jagged horizon bullet breeze, metal metal machine share my poison but leave me the residue your sin is safe with me oh my love in a matter of time I'll be gone again off running my races if you promise to put up a fight I might stay 'til then 'cause this is what grace is and I like your chases I dreamed of a park near a mountain in China and you and I nearing the border at sunset and all of the world was a bold purple line around me these days I feel broken apart oh but I've a palm tree in my head it begins to sway I am nothing if not a believer but you for you I doubted my faith away oh my love in a matter of time I'll be gone again off running my races if you promise to put up a fight I might stay 'til then this is what grace is and I like your chases
13.
borderlines, those border days your boot-camp baby took it many ways she used to be something that you could share but then you got a count on those candle burns and revelation, how fast it turns be careful how long you stare butterfly and renegade it looks like love made a pretty fair trade but somebody overpaid you wanna make it clean you know you could but she likes you better misunderstood and the way that you walk that blade you steady come to the steady flow of the brou-ha-ha of life's wicked go-go she's watching you play by play it isn't style if it doesn't fight so you better hold on to your rudder tonight or she'll float you a long long way butterfly and renegade it looks like love made a pretty fair trade but somebody overpaid you wanna make it clean you know you could but she likes you better misunderstood and the way that you walk that blade and this time she's giving you a lucky break that's what it takes to love you just like you to come around and up the stakes again all those closings on those empty stages you could buy the house out with your bottle wages, these bottle wages butterfly and renegade it looks like love made a pretty fair trade butterfly and renegade it looks like love is made in the shade walk that blade walk that beautiful blade gonna walk that blade walk that beautiful blade
14.
Cast In Ice 03:58
daylight hours paint the forest silver white we're frozen lovers watching branches wake like melting chandeliers down you go in the new snow you may never know why she chose to freeze you so but radiant radiant radiant baby your eyes are fire your love, God shade me and I might, might, might maybe get cast in ice with you and when the Spring is here can't we just sleep another year? two more sighs suspended in one Winter day though it may be the wrong place wrong time I know that you will keep me warm this way down you go in the new snow you may never know why she chose to freeze you so but radiant radiant radiant baby your eyes are fire your love, God shade me and I might, might, might maybe get cast in ice with you
15.
Metronome 05:52
brainscan, accelerate me move the water in my head and drown the fire I've made plans to federate me I've got a deep central address and a long long wire I left him so much skin for my burning tires geothermal aesthete with a new pavilion for my carolling sceptor of a queen who lost her scream now stokes her empire smoldering mark the ground I'm going down when it's soft in spring in my tunes I always knew when to play we moved in time oh til he slipped that day this metronome is more than one beat more than one beat away keep moving, escape me if you slow one I'll speed up by ten signs on this freeway will lead you safe far from where we were then wheels and lace in fitful grace til it rips again ah you stayed you are my love yeah I was afraid of time....
16.
Night Boats 04:41
there is something wrong this old pinocchio nose has grown a league or two and the big whale's mouth is closed I was always strong could never be undersold kept my eyes, ever so high ever so cold days are shorter now my motherland is locked down across the ocean I smell a burning town now I know fear and it has no metaphor all my lines losing their rhymes as you head for the door before you go don't make me a lonely pine low water line if I shame you so remember the morning tide is long where the night boats row

about

With her 4th album, "Angels' Abacus," written while Emily was living in France from 2001-2003, she produced her most operatic work since her debut in 1993. This is music as architecture, as crystalline objects in time, with no agenda but its own sensual and complex beauty. Her voice, emotionally vivid but with a sheen of elegant reserve, glides and leaps over a landscape rich in electronic nuance and sparkling jazz-tinged piano. Her songs are kinetic and never languish, surging from delicate to intense, from open simplicity to opaque density, but always ravishingly melodic.

"Angels' Abacus" is a meditation on love and faith in all of their ecstasies and in their doubts. In the title track she imagines an angelic conference discussing the fate of her and her lover. "This isn't about renewal and redemption. It's about wondering if there's someone keeping score on you up there and you're just trying to cling to the next rung. It's about conscience and the gravity of decision in life and love....wondering does every action negate the last or does it all add up? And I've always been consumed by the inner struggle between my reason and my intuition. I think it's an intriguing paradox that an agent of faith, the angel, would be calculating our souls' destiny."

credits

released September 1, 2004

Written by Emily Bezar
Produced by Emily Bezar
except tracks 1, 3 and 15 produced by Emily Bezar and Tim Pettit
all music and lyrics ©2004, Blue Countess Music, BMI

Emily Bezar: vocals, piano, keyboards, string and horn arrangements, drum programming
Jon Evans: bass on Tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 and percussion on Track 16
Laurence Cottle: bass on Tracks 1, 3, 15
Dan Foltz: drums on Tracks 4, 5, 10, 11, 13
Ralph Salmins: drums on Tracks 1 and 15
Tim Pettit: drum programming on Tracks 1, 3, and 15
Michael Ross: guitar on Tracks 4 and 10, keyboard on Track 4
Jeff Lewis: flugelhorn on Track 4, Trumpet on Track 13
Marika Hughes: 'cello on Track 12

Recorded and Mixed by Jon Evans at San Pablo Recorders, Berkeley, assisted by Bond Bergland
www.jonevansmusic.com
except Tracks 1, 3, 15 and 16 recorded by Tim Pettit at The Bunker, Hertfordshire and at SARM East, London, England, assisted by Phill Tyreman
Tracks 1 and 3 mixed by Tim Pettit at the Bunker, Track 15 at The Chapel, Lincolnshire, assisted by Fulton Dingley.
Additional recording at Studio Marylin, Cagnes sur Mer, France, Studio Malbosquet, Vence, France and at Big Tree Studio, Oakland, CA

Mastered by Ken Lee

Portrait Photography by Christina Shook
additional photos by Emily and Eric Bezar
Art Design by Emily Bezar

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Emily Bezar

Singer, composer and keyboardist
Emily Bezar creates intricate, uncategorizable music, drawing freely from classical, jazz, rock, pop and electronic genres to create an enchanting, dynamic sound world.

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