We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Narrow Valley

by Bryan John Appleby

supported by
eyewanders
eyewanders thumbnail
eyewanders His first album, a long favorite of my wife's, I've long wondered why Bryan isn't a household name outside the PNW. With this album I wonder even more. As much as I enjoyed his earlier work, this record from beginning to end is a masterpiece, a sonic sculpture the like of which you've never heard. Daresay my favorite album of the at least the past 5 years. Each time I put this on (numerous times in the past month) I can't help but sit and finish it. the highest praise I can give to a record. Favorite track: Highway 1am.
Mubla Na Thguob
Mubla Na Thguob thumbnail
Mubla Na Thguob This album is described as singer-songwriter among other things and that would have been fine if not for the choral backgrounds, classical touches and lyrics that could stand alone as a poetry book. This really sounds like a brilliantly written musical with a singer-songwriter walking through it. And I'm amazed it's not in a lot more collections. Favorite track: Costanoan Bones.
Randy Jones
Randy Jones thumbnail
Randy Jones I've been following Bryan's music for years and the immense amount of detail and craftsmanship put into this record is monumental. It's like a beautiful china doll that you marvel at until Bryan comes in to smash it, and with that your perception of what you expect him to do. Definitely Album Of The Year material right here.
more...
/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Double Vinyl Record plays at 45 RPM.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Narrow Valley via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 14 days

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    High quality digipak with additional artwork.

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Narrow Valley via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 14 days

      $12 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 6 Bryan John Appleby releases available on Bandcamp.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Underwater Easy Breathing, Domino / The Face (demo versions), Domino / The Face, The Narrow Valley, Fire on the Vine, and Shoes for Men and Beasts. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $49 USD or more

     

1.
The Fault Line cracked a long smile A hideous rock-tooth grin open wide Broke down the dark green dawn and rolled along the lawns Abaddon had come “Wake up. Do you hear that?” All the dogs along the block began to cry A broken bedside vase, then our books flew from there case And the walls began to shed their plaster hides They were trembling like images hanging high Of stones reflected on face of a mighty wave Rising black against the sky Then I stood helpless in the doorway Just staring at the room on the floor And you pulled my sleeve, said “It’s time to leave Come let’s go. It’s time to go.”
2.
3.
Buried on the valley floor Costanoan Bones Are getting pounded by our bright new roads We always kick it under the rug Digging deep the roustabouts Recklessly keep driving down Now bottlenecked with no way out I think we might have gone to far All along we had it coming Now grab a coat and get in the car There’s nothing left for us in California We gotta move on The winded eucalyptus bend And snapping in a heavy hand The bratty child too fat to fend away the wild dogs And all along we had it coming Now Abaddon is moving quick It’s coming down for good in California We finally fucked it up
4.
5.
He forgot my favorite hat at home She forgot to tie my shoes Yeah I know how worn they both got Just a couple of rags wrung dry He grips the wheel why snapping at the dial She wrings her wrinkled hands and looks outside The silent sun is high I might be sitting in the back but man, I’m gone
6.
No One Knows 03:41
Building airplanes in the basement Plates are breaking one room up Pretty soon they’ll both get tired and pass out cold And every reckless evening Slipping silent out the house Walk between the rows and alleys on your own And you might go down with the women You might get off fighting cops But right now you need the skyline Breathing fast and climbing high along the roof tops Had a dream of Santa Lucia Flying high above the coast Every roadside hawk was watching as you rose But then you woke up in a bottle And you could not reach the top But a howling in the distance Came to you right through the fog And you might grow up wearing make up You might find a town you like Maybe somewhere near the border With white dishes all unbroken in a pile Narrow glow of dawn You’re lying harrowed on the lawn Where no one knows
7.
One day you wake up High above the blue In an lawn chair on the dunes And written in the rose green glow, “You can go easy, Now you owe nothing” Look around while waiting at a light See a washed out store front sign In a window long been broke Calling Everything Must Go You think, “Most of all the thing you know” There’s a wind ‘neath the door Sounds you’ve never heard before Branches clawing at the pane Panicked animals are wailing But the moon He walks alone The boy the low black clouds can’t hold With a silver threaded light breaking in between the blinds He is drifting through the formless night Now that its over Thrown an the new light Wipe the dream that lingers in your eye
8.
Intermission 00:39
9.
The lights come up And everyone moves out to the sidewalk Smiling as the all drive home Still you wait beneath the screen alone Heavy in a coat Blown out in both of the pockets Lingering dark along the dead arcade Wasting time, stay away The page is way too thin And breaking up beneath a dried out pen There’s nobody on the roads And you have nowhere left to go It is not slowing down It won’t go swift enough, nothing moves Drag through a narrow town Landlocked and dry
10.
11.
Highway 1am 03:25
Dark fog, a lonely rag Wrapped up around the house My car is parked and running Beer rolling down my mouth Then I see him He should be sleeping Not staring at his old man on the stoop Snap my fingers Make him scatter back to bed Crack another can And lace my boots Think to myself Kid if you were me Then you would too Wind along down Highway 1 Blind in the ghosted dawn Blending the lines Barreling through the fog Red trees are calling for my car What am I doing? Little white crosses line the road Right before I pass out I see you sleeping in your room Rub my eyes and walk for miles Back to you
12.
In the twilight Linen neckline Hanging off your shoulder in the heroine light I would follow Through your window Rose curtain blowing Cut a whole in the night They caught us throwing rotten oranges From the one overpass at the edge of town Hide down in a ditch, dark hair knotted on the ground Your’e always soot-eyed and angry The sanded hiss is the wind ripping grass off the dunes No matter how hard we gnawed the ropes They would all hold on When there’s nothing When it’s over We will drift away Leave it all behind
13.
Coming from another room The shadow of a nameless tune The simple sun is sifting through the blue smoke from your mouth The bended chair, the wilted rug Your stubbled jaw, your pounded blood Your heavy-lidded eyes look up to find me hiding at the top of the stairs Your frozen face, the rigid end Your parted hair and your paper skin And furrowed lines like field rows or wakes behind a stone Collected deeply cut behind two eyes I tried to know And once again I’m looking down at something I don’t really understand
14.
What a relief No one can see There’s a heavy lidded window closing off a room I gotta leave Sun faded sign Hill Side Hotel And everyone is severed from something or another Gotta move on The twilight, a warm wind blowing down the blue-black highway Oh how it gave Below the weight The town laid waste We’re better off anyway What a relief Sweet disbelief Driving from the wreckage The rigid valley left behind High into the hills where we can see Praise the Void
15.

credits

released November 13, 2015

Words and Music by Bryan John Appleby.
Produced by Sam Anderson.
Mixed by Nathan Sabatino.
Artwork by Christopher Harrell.
Back photo by Genevieve Pierson.
Copyright 2015 Bryan John Appleby LLC | All Rights Reserved

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Bryan John Appleby Seattle, Washington

Bryan Appleby is a singer-songwriter based on the West Coast

contact / help

Contact Bryan John Appleby

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Bryan John Appleby, you may also like: