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.

Songs from the North

by The Union Ares

/
  • Streaming + Download

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

      €7 EUR  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    12" Vinyl "Songs from the North"

    Includes unlimited streaming of Songs from the North via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      €12 EUR or more 

     

1.
Day 7 03:48
Day 7 It’s colder upstairs when the heater fails So we huddle under duvets Hot water bottle near our feet Until sleep calls Groggy morning it’s a brisk walk Through canals where the geese talk Wrinkled feet like a new born Cause we walk through puddles who’s only good is that they reflect the moon Sleep constellations The archer stands at the edge of a cliff Orion there is movement As muscles shake the arrow quavers The archers pose is left in shambles And a shot is fired into the night Far from the stage that is the night sky
2.
Deluxe House 04:03
“The Deluxe House” Is this love or is this memory? Is this reflex or is the enemy Wafting through this bar, the lips and muscles are trained for Certain skills therefore close enough to evoke these feelings Like I’ve swallowed all these pills that made me sick in the first place I grew dependent on certain thrills This grid I’m in smells like New York City so vast it nearly drowns me as I Fight for a last gasp So I move to the television there goes my intention, damned invention Tossing gizmos our direction So I date things that are worth mentioning. Thievery guides me to a nose that Ignores me. This is the most deluxe house yet, with the sky lights to look out Window inset, a fresh air vent. Hand towels, fresh water for the fresh face in the mirror Soap dispenser you’ll get that much cleaner I need sleep too much, worn through by days untouched cycled on glass pressed tight An impenetrable mass Smears where the smiles showed through and dust where tears flowed Hand prints form letters This exercise keeps me warm like the holes in sweaters, your puzzled gestures, These backward letters Only read to me even when our eyes trace the same lines – it’s evident that we each find Solely what we find While you were restless, while you were resting I was there Growing contentious, trying to seem like I’ve had it Analyzing habits my worst habit playing favorites Trying on jackets, checking pockets – I thought I had this figured This is the most deluxe house yet, with the sky lights to look out Window inset, a fresh air vent. Hand towels, fresh water for the fresh face in the mirror Soap dispenser you’ll get that much cleaner Welcome mat, a magazine rack Cushioned seat and a hi-tech flusher This is the most deluxe house yet – with a skylight to look out
3.
Crescent 04:26
“Crescent” Woven is silk and worn is rag I’ve got the clothes still on my back Farming holes from the closets sown on the second-floor bedroom my grandfather owned Grease in the garage filled in old milk gallons traps the flying beasts as tiny fossils Condensation rusts out the freezer it’s August now and humidity breathes here Dodging swipes from the broom Through the holes in the fence A wet dog of a ghost Escapes down the street A flagless pole with a swinging rope, an aluminum call ringing hollow notes It’s August here when the heatwave breaks like the brittle straws that no barefoot could take Pound the stakes in through a dusty earth when the hammer falls ring hollow notes Pound the stakes in this was once lush lawn but it’s for sale now and it all must go Steal of into the woods and find yourself a pine needle bed and pound the stakes in Woven is silk and worn is rag let the flag fly high tonight Dodging swipes from the broom Through the holes in the fence A wet dog of a ghost Escapes down the street!
4.
Desert 04:46
“Desert” I was dead when I moved to LA But I survived when I moved far away When I was dead I moved to West Los Angeles But I survived when I moved to the desert Within a swath of billboards Blurred as they fall away from the fields of vision like shingles On a roof are the letters in brail Moving under the tips of my fingers as my body sets sail It’s been some time since I have had fortune Of time to play the hands of Oedipus in the acts of delay Poems appear on the ceiling While lying flat the sensation Of someone kneeling reminds you of you So you continue reading The languages of the night Are insentiently talking Understanding sleep hovering cloudlike – in anticipation.. Of dreams to come
5.
Oubliette 04:19
“Oubliette” The smooth tiles of my wingspan remain moist with breath No cycles just one full moon, so round and corrupt Is it spinning or maintaining its own static energy A spotlight dropped down on an ever-long evening in order to accent The subtle accents of your breathing My hands, slowly heaving – like they aim to become – part of this – alien being That is the moon At least it has become easier For me to believe that to be so Down here where the poles of reality touch on the opposite ends Down here where the poles of reality touch on the opposite ends The smooth tiles of my wingspan remain moist with breath No cycles just one full moon so round and corrupt. That is the moon At least it has become easier For me to believe that to be so
6.
Untitled 02:33
“Untitled” With art in one hand and revenge on the brain let's bury this tree the one with our name tangled in the branches it is yet to be determined what will grow when this dead seed underground coral reef this sapling feels ready feels ready to show -- oh muse I can't begin thank you I cant expect to shear you my fingers from my nails or the image that survives you teeming with ants now above where grass has grown back someone has left flowers oh fuse I can't resist the heat or the sight of those that heat you in my body what I think slowly becomes less of an instinct like first light and then prolonged blindness cigarettes can crawl across my skin lit to map the spot where fingers might have once been we are not scientific - but cycles are the science of one's self
7.
“where I come from” Every pronoun I heard that day was you but when I'm underneath you're umbrella I soak through Beneath the paint of culture as it cakes through my hands everything becomes clear - every hour of sand Where I come from the lines are long and everyone leaves early the radar works in reverse so you can't keep close the obsession without hesitation never mind the tension I go to bed early this exercise examine the coils as they start to unwind March flows into November like torrents of Identities crashing on the rocks into fragments That, that are swept away in the currents and united in the pools to begin - to begin again how do we get… to the end how do we get… to the end I need press reset and coast without the weight of each word like betrayal against myself it's all poetry anyway when it carefree and thoughtless pure movement like quivering Face reality the fires of illusion throw yourself in the disillusioned get burnt and only look outward through opened doors cut the toes off and try to walk in these shoes forget everything - and not destroy the body to quell this heartache with large amounts of walking and noises from nature like cars fighting neighbors our ocean is tonight and only sharks survive the light I need press reset and coast without the weight of each word like betrayal against myself it's all poetry anyway when it's carefree and thoughtless pure movement like I could be ashamed of disgust of the weakness of others or a judgment of myself that burrows inward it’s all poetry anyway when it's carefree and thoughtless pure movement like quivering
8.
“First Divorce” I was as melancholy as the early Beatles when the two chief song writers had not yet divorced Creates paradise in word play, illusions of candor of the way he wrote songs that examined her movements that would have otherwise gone unnoticed Became poems and scratches in a notebook filled with dried flowers and anger the perfume of life that we savor Hidden beneath a sweetness, combines the dead serious. Embodies the process of freehand analysis Sit back and let the bones of conversation keep you up – the legs in your brain walk miles in the same old sand But as the mail crests in. Invitations tell you when to show up. I lose my focus when your eyes light up. You know those patterns I fall back on. I could listen to you tell stories… All night long, the waving light. The radio delights you. The path which you seek is like a map electricity used to find you I’m cut by your peripheral Though I keep my effort minimal I’m only staring through reaching for this cargo – That you could not lead me to I’m cut by your peripheral Though I keep my effort minimal I’m only staring through reaching for this cargo – That you could not lead me to
9.
Ocean 03:47
With all the time in the world and the world flat hills of ice screws turn wave chop from thread to thread mist in the low foamy clouds cover the violence submerged a testament to ages of momentum dark nights and grey mornings twilights and tornadoes sun-drenched skies walk on uneven aquatic thighs Hurricanes rival independent nations these are Olympics without tacticians running so fast the motion freezes there’s no scenery to draw comparison to. In the ocean 90 degree turns are matters of playful opinion strength through repetition lungs of kite fly high in your breath the wings that carve Cape Cod brush their talons over rock In movement everything is liquid intrinsic in liquid everything mixes In movement everything is liquid intrinsic in liquid everything mixes In the ocean 90 degree turns are matters of playful opinion strength through repetition lungs of kite fly high in your breath the winds that carved Cape Cod In the ocean...
10.
“The Great Collective” You look at me and then you look at the money. Never mind that the uninterrupted complex sense of melody That you - that you pushed me into, into creating is starting, starting to sound like you the great collective churning Starting to sound like water, the great collective burning when I should be thinking of a new name for wind that begins with The letter “L” I’m found rehearsing the currents so that they rise and fall. Oh so convincingly they all – They rise and fall so convincingly so convincingly they fall they rise and fall so convincingly so convincingly they fall And made to order at least reminiscent of some kind of order as it’s not so much the originality as it is The fish wrap of geometry that it gets delivered to you in and there are only so many shapes of things that magnify all derivatives so it’s an easy thing to pay attention – If you don’t mind That sinking feeling That is there to remind you That we are all just floating Floating right by you “Coda” Don’t you know That you are Emptiness Without art

about

"Songs from the north" is the debut album from The Union Ares. The Union Ares is a collaboration that equals two bands. A Northern team with Todd, Huw and Iain - Todd based in The Hague NL and Iain and Huw in Glasgow and Edinburgh - and a southern team with Todd, Mike and Gabry all based in The Hague. In "Songs from the North" the first message is sent. North to South. Stay tuned for the reply... in 2021
XO
Todd

credits

released April 1, 2020

Todd Giles: Guitars, Vocals
Iain Dallas: Drums, backing vocals
Huw Gurden: Bass, backing vocals

Basic tracks recorded by Ross McGowan at Chime Studio Glasgow May 31 - June 2 2019

Overdubs, Mixed and Mastered by Chris Muller at Holland Spoor Studios The Hague

LP Cover art by Owen McLaughlin - Gone Wishing Art

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Union Ares

The Union Ares is Todd Giles, Iain Dallas and Huw Gurden. and Todd Giles, Mike Bailey and Gabry de Waaij

Todd used to play in Kolya. Huw and Iain Play in Carson Wells. we are Scotland based.
Todd, Mike and Gabry are plying our trade based out of The Hague.
... more

contact / help

Contact The Union Ares

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like The Union Ares, you may also like: