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cicada

by ilyAIMY

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1.
Georgetown 04:18
They took my father's eyes Left me brown & colourblind Twisting in the wind Like he'd never been They took my father's eyes Down in Georgetown on the water Fog rolls in off the river The winter's dying A velvet death Drowned by college kids & epithets But they took my father's eyes left us in the red Left us waiting for a sign Left us waiting on the dead Georgetown is underground In all our favourite ways You can tell in the price of beer And MRIs You're not good enough to Live here They took my father's eyes Left me blue & colourblind And twisting in the wind Like he'd never been They took my father's eyes They say this is just history Water underneath the bridge But you & I we've got this history And they've got my father's eyes Down in Georgetown they make promises Down in Georgetown they tell lies Down in Georgetown they said they'd save his Life They didn't meet my mother's eyes Couldn't meet my mother's eyes x2 They couldn't meet my mothers's eyes x2 ©2016 rob hinkal
2.
Glom of Nit 05:15
Out of Savannah Up through the Carolinas The rhythm of the pines Reminding me the finest things are moving The finest things are moving Quick In & out of Richmond Strings & things & fingers fast Unload break down & then repack Rinse spit repeat get paid come back If the finest things are moving We get finer by the hour Yeah if the finest things are moving We get finer by the mile [Doppler as ilyAIMY flies by... ] I had a home for seven years Two cats & a yard Wifi re-fi the neighbour's kids said "hi" every morning this time they say that they are moving I can't wait until they're moving Next stop up the road It's Washington DC One big monument to status quo & cash & greed Their roads are just a symptom Of the overall disease We give that town a wide wide berth The traffic & the companies We keep on moving God knows that they ain't moving Turn left No rain nor snow nor gloom of night can keep us from our task no Hell high water rising tide can still our restless hands at last the rivers crush the mountains but our voices never tire our bodies movement is the finest thing and our music is a fire our fire ©2015 rob Hinkal
3.
Common 05:13
Look at them all cautious now Every one a wallflower stone You & I we're dangerous Coveted unknowns But take them by the eyes like this And make them understand "I'm here for you & only you" darling till I pass there's nothing to be said for waiting there's nothing to be said for standing proud there's nothing to be said for watching what has passed cause none of this will last look at them all twisted now I'm nesting in their skulls Gather this around us now` And pull & turn & shift Wrap them thick around us To keep us from ourselves Get Gordian & Labyrinth-like Never let them cut them out There's nothing to be said for growing up There's nothing to be said for standing still There's nothing to be said for waiting till you're asked Cause none of this will last Work the room & shine & cover them in lies Let them see the prize There's something to be said for taking what is mine Cause none of this can last Look at them all quiet now They feast on what they're fed None of them are sated yet But you know they'll learn to Live with what they get Sure God will get their souls And some spouse will get their flesh But eyes & flare & flash & fire Yeah, the dreamers get the best There's something to be said for shutting up There's something to be said for diving deep There's something to be said for going very fast Cause none of this can last ©2016 rob hinkal
4.
HARM 06:03
you know I'll Live to be 19 forever the careless harmless flirting fretting for an uncaring world 19 I may be too young but then again I've always been too young you say I've got so much growing up to do well I say never You know I never wanted to and you say maybe just an inch or two and I say never, you know that I will never do. you know we all were artists so careful with our eyes you know we all were Lovers so careless with our hearts you know I Love to watch you sleep it's flattering to see you spill yourself so near to me and I lean in I Love to watch you sway, though you sway away from me it's flattering just to be here morning marches in the bedside clock is kicking in my head with every tock we do not talk the morning sun you know it leaps up oh so high I will be the one to leave your lips untouched you know we all were artists so careful with our eyes you know we all were Lovers so careless with our hearts you know I was never harmless and you were never wrong but I was never heartless and I never meant no HARM some days I don't plan to see 29 the careless harmless flirting leads to harm too old maybe but then again baby you know it's better than being too young you know your dance was torture with every twisting left I was left right out and I lean in & I Love to breathe you in as you breathe out but your breathing's burning in you it was the only thing ever burning in you you know we all were artists so careful with our eyes you know we all were Lovers so careless with our hearts you know we all were artists so careless with our hearts lets not romanticize we were careless with our thighs and no I was never harmless and no you were never wrong with your good byes.
5.
One syllable each Every year in the earth Cicada haiku This was our cicada summer, when we could not escape their desperate humming and the daytime heat roasted the honeysuckles so at night the air smelled thick and sweet. Glass sparkled and steamed in the Baltimore street under a perpetually sherbet sky. On my way into the city, I murdered quite a few as they flew right into my car like tumbleweeds. Frail as paper, so unimportant, why would I swerve to avoid them? Still flinching with each flat thud against my windshield, trying to feel only proportionately guilty. Until I picked up a hitchhiker on my driver’s-side mirror. The wind kept whipping him mercilessly, though he sought shelter, blowing his wings at unforgiving angles that made me shiver and wince, cringing from my shoulder blades and feeling sympathy pains though I am so far from wings. Until, not wanting to watch it rip away, I was doing thirty on the highway and had to laugh as I prayed: “God, can’t I just have this one to save?” Funny how it’s different when there’s just one. When you can’t help but connect with that last desperate flutter, that final deep breath. At that level where it doesn’t seem to matter, that it’s only just an insect. Because a lot of cicadas are just noise, but one is more like a vocalist singing the only song he’s ever known. Like the one who saved the Greek, Eunomos, by landing on his broken instrument and belting out his Gods-given tune in seventeen succinct notes. His haiku went something like: Dad left me orphaned with only this song of his to sing like Grampa. Because a lot of cicadas are just noise, but I know one is more like a poet who just wants to recite his haiku, begging you to find the letters hidden in its wings: “W” for war. “P” for peace. Tell me what this year will bring. It’s said cicadas were once men who loved music so much it was their only obsession, their only sustenance, until their hands were as thin as twigs and their hearts so full of beauty it threatened to crack their chests wide open. The Muses took notice, gave the frail bodies wings, made them their servants. Messengers to report on the world of men and the art we should be creating. And maybe this messenger on my mirror is reminding me that there is a poem I haven’t finished in more than a year. These are ugly angels, and yet how many angels have to dig their way up from hell for redemption? Eyes bloodshot from straining to see Heaven, body dark from the soot and the Earth you’d been digging, arms whittled to sticks from the scrapes and the bruising, losing your memory with each handful of dirt, until only the pursuit of the light is what’s driving you up, praying you don’t die before you reach the top. And how easy it would be to just give up, stop, stay in the earth, skipping birth and burial. But you can’t ... because all this time you’ve been dreaming of wings. Golden, paper-thin forgiveness, shimmering like fresh-cleaned stained glass. So fragile, so fresh, so gently given, they almost look wrong on that body you’re trying to drag into Heaven. This was our cicada summer. And as so many lives flickered around us, dying out, we should count ourselves lucky that, though earth-bound, we are not yet in it, and our lives are not lived to reproduce and die, breeding and leaving our abbreviated legacies to fly, And as he passed, the summer’s last cicada spent a precious moment in my hair to hum his haiku in my ear and die: How we envy you That you have time to compose More than just three lines.
6.
I hear there's a secret surgery To cut all I ate right back out of me You know it'd finally let me be free I'd let them dive right in I hear there's a secret surgery To cut all this want right out of me I could have it all or not have enough And I couldn't care less They could dive right in It's eleven The nightly news says Nothing good and Nothing important Tiny Lives are often over Nothing more than 140 characters Almost nothing now And headlines no more Do the screaming Everyone now They do the yelling And even I can't help But to dive right in. I hear there's a secret surgery To cut all the sin right out of me To cut all the hate & cut all the rage And help me turn away And so I'd stalk the streets concave And swallow down All the spite & the pain An automated martyr Filled with surgical light I'd let you dive right in. And it's seven The morning news says Nothing good And nothing important Tiny Lives are Just beginning Still nothing more than 140 characters We're almost nothing But still we're screaming Every headline Does the yelling No time for subtlety You know we just can't help It's time to dive right in. ©2015 rob hinkal
7.
Our bathroom had a heat vent A dusty vision of heaven No clothes no needs just an envelope of heat And a steady firm belief that Nothing ever changes I'm never going to leave this place Where nothing ever changes It's home We had a hammock And I would ride it Like a ship in to the storm between the two old oak trees Cicadas made it treacherous Those alien things and Eventually we grew too big To pretend that nothing ever changes I'm never going to leave this place Where nothing ever changes It's home. We had this dishwasher It rumbled & grumbled but it kept things clean And I would lean Rest my head & dread the ending of the cycle You know what that would mean Chores & homework nothing ever changes I never get to leave this place And nothing ever changes It's home And off to bed I would dread The long dark walk Down the hall Where I was sure that shadows crawled Behind me From the closet With the hidden door I can make it back to my bedroom doorknob... Watch the clock and Listen to my freedom tick away Midnight came & went And dawn's so far away I can't sleep What was I supposed to say? Pray for death In my sleep I don't want Him to take me Now my bathroom has a radiator I need to clean it & it costs me cash Still that envelope of heat Is something you know it might just get me through the night nothing ever changes I don't want to leave this place nothing ever changes It's home x2 ©2016 rob hinkal
8.
Looking Back 03:33
I can't open my eyes today all the scars are fresh & the memory won't go away I can't quite manage a civil tongue in my head I guess I best stay in bed anyway it's not like you're ever around not like we even share the same coast now not like I've even got reason to bring it up now but you do stick in my head anyway CHORUS I don't recall just when you gave up but I know when I threw in the towel and I don't know when you finally gave in but I remember I was fucking tired I always knew I was second place a forlorn example of all you escaped from you always knew you had a place you could cum and I let you use up my time anyway I wonder do you even remember cause it all seems so far away swing sets & heart strings & words that were meaningless I bet you'd just say we were just kids anyway CHORUS So I don't care who he was I don't even care who he is I do hope he treats you as good as I should have and I hope that he never gets tired Yeah, I hope that he never gets tired. Well I can't open my eyes today My Life is pretty good but I can't face it anyway I wish I could call you & tell you the news but you wouldn't remember me anyway. ©2016 rob hinkal
9.
Friday 03:44
Dear... It's a sweet sweet moment The sun rise is lingering Keep finding a way To stall this day Dear... It's a sweet sweet movement the birds are straining their sounds to lend some charm to Charm City's clouds CHORUS the power's out, and the lines are down The roads are out It's gonna be long slow day anyhow Dear... It's a sweet sweet moment the sun's bright & lingering Keep finding a way To stall this day Dear... It's a sweet sweet movement I Love the curve & the sway The birds are unnerved and all have escaped CHORUS The calendar tells The day & the date And this old sailor knows Just why you gotta wait one more day Let's stay in & wait Out this stay-in date Keep the world outside Friday's just got to wait No cotton or fleece can silence the screams of your feet if you hit the floor running dear The world's still spinning So we're not headed out Nobody needs us on a day like this I insist I can sweeten the deal With my hand on your wrist & my mouth right here It's a whole day gone but I don't care to care It'll only get better when we stay right here The power's out, The lines are down The roads are out, but The heat is on The coffee's drunk & the calls are made It's gonna be long slow day anyway But if the power's back we'll keep those lights turned down The roads could still be out It's gonna be long slow night anyhow © 2014 rob Hinkal
10.
Terms 05:41
Stocks jumped And so did the brokers What a jolt What a ride I just found out I got skin in the game And I've been hitting F5 like an amateur I'm showing my age With my subjects & glances And my choices in logos & pants I just found out I got skin in the game And I've been screaming my loudest with the rest of them. Yeah screaming my loudest with the rest of them. My vote is in And so are the taxes I'm still waiting on the roads & the pot holes & patches No one else gets it We got skin in the game Y'all just duck & blame all the rest of 'em Flint is choking but at least now they got coverage And California is bleeding but at least they've all got insurance Volkswagon's grinning cause at least it's deductible So they'll pay up & smile like the rest of them. Yeah just pay up & smile like the rest of them. What, you gonna sit back & laugh? Thoughts jumped and so did the lyrics you know Inspiration only gets you so far I just found out I've got skin in the game And I've been playing my heart out for hours Waiting by the phone & the road & the courthouse I'm waiting all alone & with saints & with rapists We all found out we got skin in the game But it sure seems like nobody gets it. Yeah it sure seems like nobody gets it You all sit back & laugh Well I've come to terms With my place in the country my privilege, my hatred, my well-deserved currency The air waves are filled With the absolutely surety That nobody matters And freedom's a fallacy majority rules SURE But it don't mean you know me It's no zero sum game till everyone's bleeding What, you gonna sit back & laugh? Wrap it up! I just found out you're as sure as the rest of us And I can't wait till you figure out why I'm hoping you'll soon get as sore as the rest of us And I'm thinking that you'll figure out why Now I'm showing my age With my first-person narrative I just thought I had something to say Turns out I'm just a product of all of you people And I guess that sort of makes us the same Yeah I guess that sort of makes us the same. Don't just sit back & laugh. Cause I've come to terms... ©2016 rob hinkal
11.
Natural 20 04:49
My woman she likes to tug on my beard She says it helps keep a handle on me And I can see that As long as she's gentle I am a delicate thing I only like the rough & tumble When it's time to come & level up for the occasion And so I'd say That when I need some direction My woman, she can tug on my beard CHORUS And I say to myself "How'd I get so lucky?" And my friends they all say "Man, how'd you get so lucky?" Well with Life I kissed the dice And I rolled a natural 20 My woman she likes to drive My woman she likes the sci fi She drove us round 695 & down 29 To see Star Wars eight or nine times But my woman she's got her rage She's got opinions on lanes & Rey & orks We blasted past soccer moms & swerving husbands And we were screaming "That's not how the Force works!!!" CHORUS My woman she's independent! Kind of worried about singing "my woman" when she finally hears this She's either gonna love it or she's gonna hate it And if she hates it, no-one else will ever, ever, ever hear this... Maybe if I gave her a solo? Not one of those pizz parts that she hates but one with her bow? So by way of preemptive apology For accepted song forms with possessive terminology Here we go with Kristen Jones on the cello! My woman she just likes board games No RPGs no PC games no TV sports no psychodrama Scrabble yes, Paranoia no, she don't even care about Fallout... Fo' She just don't play those games. CHORUS I rolled a natural 20 ©2016 rob hinkal
12.
It's in the lack of tone It's hard to find the ones you've missed It's in the lack of colour It's hard to find the ones you've missed It's in the resignation It's hard to find the ones you've missed It's in the changes & the spaces You'll find you lose the ones you've missed You had to set his face on fire To call for help It's the sin of missing days You'll find you lose the ones you've missed It's in the eyes of those who still insist You'll find you lose the ones you've missed It's in the bruises on her wrist You'll find you lose the ones you've missed It's in the eyes of disbelieving mothers You'll see the fates of those you've missed You had to set his house on fire To call for help I saw the lack of tone & colour You'll see the fate of those you've missed I saw the resignation & the bruises You'll see the fate of those you've missed She insisted she was to blame for all of this You'll see the fate of those you've missed I screamed at your disbelieving mother And then we lost the one we'd missed You had to set yourself on fire To call for help. ©2016 rob hinkal
13.
Stay Close 05:16
I've been searching the mirror And every day it is a new face A little older than the old face You are not welcome here And every day I use a new tool A little sharper than the old tool Cause scratch the surface doesn't cut it You are not welcome here You'd think the feeling was familiar With common cause could come an instinct But you just don't seem to get it You are not welcome here You signed up for the mission And signed on with your children in tow Committing crimes of omission You are not welcome here Starved on redaction Yet grown fat on the fiction Still hungry for action You are not welcome here And now you've come to convince me Or at the very least to judge me I say "you & what army?" You are not welcome here And now you've come to the table And pretend that you'll listen But it's clear that you're wounded And we both know how this ends I'm still searching the mirror And every day it's still a new face A little older than the old face And I'm still using the same tools Using the same fools Losing the same wars But I'll draw you all close to me I'll keep you all close to me But I need to keep you closer still closer still Closer Still You are not welcome here And now you've come to the table I'll pretend that you'll listen But it's clear that you're wounded And we both know how this ends ©2015 rob hinkal
14.
Spring 04:51
I can't believe This is the way it's going down Glass houses on the ground and Stones thrown all around The only way that that can play out Is on a flat flat earth On a round round world It's bound to come around again again it's bound to come around around again I can't believe this is the way it's going down rage & rape & rhetoric But we monkeys like our vengeance quick But you think it's justice Even when it's "just us" But on a round round world It's bound to come around again again it's bound to come around around again Spring will come I can't believe This is the way it's still played today White man jumps and Black man pays One man Trumps all the sense around the world today Whether weather withers Texas Or whether Mississippi drowns today I see someone serving up a toast Drunk & stinking seeking sense But you just have To go & do the math It's bound to come around again again it's bound to come around around again Spring will come. MADD OX verse: The way it's going down The sky attacks the ground Teen spirit smells like sadness Just to move the world Push the Earth off its axis Outrageous tactics Ghetto Acrobats onna pissy mattress The simple fact is The struggle ain't cute it's filled with asses Corporations Apply'n lashes Make it rain ta separate the masses We all need a little sunshine But the ways of man Keep fuckin wit our mind Before you, defined you, You're already defined Break'n the chains Make up your mind What conquers the hurt & the pain is the moment you shine I can't believe Two two sixteen Cold war's back But it's just a meme Oil's cheap The sun is bright It's a February spring It's bound to come around again again it's bound to come around around again Spring will come ©2016 rob hinkal
15.

about

"cicada" is ilyAIMY's 10th album. Released in the summer of 2017 in time to an off-year brood, the album was written (with the exception of the spoken-word piece “Cicada Summer”), recorded and mixed by rob Hinkal. Gordon Nash (Wise Madness) placed cicada on his Top 10 Albums of 2017 alongside the likes of Bela Fleck and Anais Mitchell writing that “Cicada is the oddest album on the list... it's so good … a lightning strike to your nervous system. You are not going to sit still while listening” and calling Natural 20 “the ultimate nerd love song”.

"cicada" saw the debut of drummer Joey Jenkins, now making the full band a 6-piece ensemble. Musically, the band stretches its chops and boundaries even further on this album, featuring new instruments, new styles and a few guest artists. Singer/songwriter Seth Horan was especially impressed as the band pushed boundaries. Seth (who’d also listed “cicada” on his top 10 albums of 2017 alongside friends like Amber Rubarth and bigger name albums produced by Ani Difranco), writes "rob steers the band through uncharted territory... [though] rob has honed and owned aggressive syncopated rapid harmony folk… it's cool to hear the album start with something cinematic and unsettling [Georgetown] or break into something reggae-influenced [Common]... for those familiar with the group this is an evolutionary album like you haven't heard before."

Rowan adds didgeridoo drone to "Georgetown" and "Spring." Kristen breaks out her steel drums on the aforementioned "Common," and even sneaks in an accordion track on "Ode To a Heat Vent." rob adds baritone guitar, fretless bass and banjo. Notable special guests include Baltimore rapper & beatboxer Chuck The Madd Ox on "Spring," Steve Smith's mandolin on "Ode To a Heat Vent," Artem Bank's electronic percussion and literal heartbeat on "Secret Surgery," and Mosno Al-Moseeki's djembe on "Georgetown."

From a fan (Liam G.): "This...is a masterpiece! I don't care what genre(s) you feel yourself anchored to; THIS will pull at your heart strings and set you aflame. Across its tracks it makes me dance like a fool, feel empowered, and thumb away tears from soaking up the passion they've poured into this record. Some songs I've loved for years and some stunning new gems. Do yourself a favor, dive right in."

credits

released June 15, 2017

rob Hinkal: guitar, vocals, baritone guitar, fretless bass, eBow, banjo
Heather Aubrey Lloyd: vocals, djembe
Kristen Jones: cello, electric cello, vocals, steel pan, accordion
Rowan Corbett: bones, djembe, cajon, vocals, didgeridoo, percussion
Sharif Kellogg: piano, bass, vocals
Joey Jenkins: drums, vocals

Special guests:
Artem Bank: beating heart & percussion on "Secret Surgery"
Chuck Maddox "The MADD OX:" vocals, beat box on "Spring"
Mosno Al-Moseeki: djembe on "Georgetown"
Steve Smith: mandolin on "Ode To A Heat Vent"
The Natural 20 Chorus (Susan Schneider & Ryan Kunkle)

All songs written & copyright 2017 by rob Hinkal & arranged by ilyAIMY, except the rap in "Spring" (Chuck the MADD OX) and "Cicada Summer" written by Heather Aubrey Lloyd. All songs recorded & mixed by rob Hinkal, except mandolin on "Ode To a Heat Vent" (recorded by Steve Smith) and electronic wizardry on "Secret Surgery" by Artem Bank. Mastered by Bill Wolf & Greg Lukens at L-W Studios in Alexandria, VA.

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ilyAIMY Baltimore, Maryland

ilyAIMY is a percussive acoustic rock animal hailing from Baltimore, MD. Mixing genres from rock to folk to soul to bluegrass; flavours as varied as jazz and hip hop curl through what is undoubtedly one of the most exciting sounds in today’s folk(ish) music scene. Instrumentation includes acoustic guitars, cello, djembe, cajon, Irish bones, keyboard, bass, drums & harmonies. ... more

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