An Amber Man in Milk Of Amnesia

The complete lyrics for my new album Phosphor.

Bag of Tricks

here I am in your midst
and all you want me to do are my tricks
all you want me to do are my tricks

here I am in your house of bricks
just so you can tick me off your list
it’s almost enough to quit
with my bag of tricks

here I am in your midst
isn’t it enough that here I sit?
isn’t it enough?

Right at the bottom of a pit
covered with blood and dust I found this
God knows I didn’t find any hits
just my bag of tricks

here I am in your midst
inside I am rattling in bits
inside I am a-rattling

here I stand in my bag of tricks
and everything it fits
except my wits

into the river with it
I cannot live with it

my bag of tricks
my bag of tricks.

Dragon Kite

Dragon Kite, Dragon Kite
you cast yourself into the night
and you hang your lantern heart on uncharted skies

Dragon Kite, Dragon Kite,
you brim with indigo light
with luminous eyes you trawl the dark
cold

Dragon Kite Dragon Kite
ribbons of light left behind
you’re light a pike pulling on the end of my line

Dragon Kite my Dragon Kite
can’t you just make up your mind
and find your way through the dark
cold

Icarus and Whisky

Icarus
too close to the Sun
he came back down
like a smoking gun

because of whisky
and that cocaine
they gave him Mitsubishies
he hit the sea like a key

come on we drink and we dream
we escape this place with wings and wax on a beam son, on a beam

Icarus
too close to The Sun
his wings extinguished
with finger and thumb

because of hubris
the parabola
and he knew this deep down -
what comes up don’t stick around

come on we drink and we dream
we escape this place with wings and wax on a beam son, on a beam
drink up for tomorrow we fly
it’s all so beautiful I could cry
a dawn so beautiful I could die.

Silver Set of Bones

you got to be ready
you got to be ready
you got to be holding on
you got to be ready

something is coming
something is coming
you got to be holding on
something is coming

(there’s a) silver set of bones hovering in your mirror
a silver set of bones shimmering through your skin
something is coming

we got to get home
we got te get home
you got to be holding on
we got to get home

on the horizon
look on the horizon

Be Beloved

it’s just like going to sleep
at the end of the road that we all must keep
footprints stop dead in the woods
as the people step outside of their blood

aren’t you glad to have been alive
there’s a chance that we won’t survive this life
chisel skim across the stone
make your mark soon it’s time to go home

on that black door we all must knock
any weather’s good when you’re not in a box
be beloved, make your peace
it’s just like going to sleep

Runes

they are around outside, in the night, rattling through the corn
and in their eyes, which stir my blood, black holes are born.
My breath held like a gem, I look to see them scattering,
dashing into the lake and the heavens they coagulate

these shoes are not for the likes of you
these shoes are not for the likes of your poor souls

it’s down to me alone to get shut of their yawning claws
they hover over your heart like violence.
I go back inside, drink coffee, black as the night is long
and strong enough to prop me up, a monolith of runes

a trick of the eye,
an optical illusion, pigs might fly
in my dreams every atom is crystal clear
and for a moment when I wake everyone’s here

Spell

I’M
AF
RAID

BUT
YOU’RE

HERE
HERE

Qualifier

I only ever felt at home
upon the baseline trading blows
it’s a hard hard court

got broken now I’m back
my bones like chalk I must attack
be less defensive next time
down the line, through it all

and I’ve been so long on the tour
don’t know where I’m from…

I arrive early
to try and qualify for the main draw
it’s a hard hard court

keep losing games to love, I’m so alone I’ve had enough
I see the ball coming
fast towards me like a wall
it’s a hard hard court to live upon

Alcohol

I don’t even think that I need a drink
but I have nowhere else to go
I go to the place where the whisky and beer flow

there’s nothing left
just the luke-warm dregs
I go to the place where I can lose my legs

fee fi fo fum
I smell the blood, I smell the blood of an Englishman

I need a way to sway like a sunflower
with my head spinning like a plate
I go to the place where I can take a few shots and separate

no it’s all right, I insist I’m all right
I go to the place where I can expertly pick a fight.

fe fi fo fum
I smell the blood, I smell the blood of an Englishman

In another life

and so I hang, for all them banks.
The gallows creak, under my feet,
my dangerous hands are tied behind my back, behind my back

any last words?
- the crowd below me stirs -
Yes. ‘here we go.’ Above and below
a seas of vengeance, a sea of vengeance.

My gang are all around,
their faces above the ground
in another life
in another life

the hangman approaches. I knew him way back
he coaches me, so gently, as if he could, as if he could

I reach for the sky,
drop my gun and hang ‘em high
in another life
in another life

the noose like a black hole
like a bruise or a hovering face
I used to say get down
everybody be calm
nobody will get hurt, nobody will get hurt

I would kill ten men
just to see her face again,
in another life
in another life

they set me free
I get a late reprieve
in another life
in another life

Trebuchet

my love drifts
my love drifts
she’s the flame that softy spins
the drifting night
the nuzzling, nudging firelight

oh, my bones are a trebuchet

we were we were we were
we were flickering
hummingbird tongues
and red-mouthed flowers
your hands moving

oh, my bones are a trebuchet
to throw my soul into ecstasy seas

morning light dissolves the moon
into residue
resting silver dusty on the landscape of my bed
revealing ravines

oh, my bones are a trebuchet
to throw my soul into ecstasy seas

Blood Spot Constellations

I need a gun, a real gun, here they come
I need a real gun, I am too young to die.
if I shoot them down then God forgive me, God forgive me
blood-spot constellations and gun-residue will stain me

they are getting closer now, and I would lift my arm
if this gun didn’t seem heavier than sin
I hear their boots on the stairs echo through my skull
I feel my ancient ancestors find the trigger and then pull

the bright white Sunday sky slowly darkens red
shooting these illuminations far darker than dead
a skin of dust settles on the place where they stood
and a skin of dust settles on their blood

UK Gig dates April

Sat 13th April, Jura Hall, Isle Of Jura, Scotland, 8pm
http://www.soundofjura.com/events.htm

Weds 17th April, The 12 Bar, London 8pm
http://www.12barclub.com/

Thurs 18th April, Spiritual Bar, Camden, London

Sat 20th April, Harrogate Theatre Studio, Harrogate, 8pm
http://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/

Weds 24th April, The Blue Bell, Cottingham, 8pm (free entry)
http://www.bluebellinn-cottingham.co.uk/

Thurs 25th April, The Met, Bury, 8pm
http://themet.biz/event/james_grant/1585/

Sat 27th April, Gary’s Living Room, nr Newcastle, 8pm

Sun 28th, The Verve Bar, Leeds, 8pm, (free entry)
http://verveleeds.co.uk/