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Shanda

by Average Joey

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  • Shanda Cassette
    Cassette + Digital Album

    Green cassettes hand assembled. WARNING: the duplications of these cassettes came out pretty high pitched, so it will not sound exactly true to the album online

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1.
Destruction 03:01
Into the familiar unknown I must go all alone with a gun on my shoulder and a knife by my side, I will ride If I find what I seek, I'll put my mind at peace or I'll die with my beliefs unconfirmed I will capture the unnamed A holy rapture I shall tame in an attempt to understand my own disdain When it comes time to fight upon the sacrificial rite I will look this fear directly in it's eye If I succeed in my chase I'll put nature in it's place and I'll claim victory for God's awful grace
2.
The spoken word of this song is an excerpt from the short story "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" by Ursula K. LeGuin
3.
CYCLE 01:21
4.
Mountain bathed in pale moon light Casting a shadow, a trick of the eye A figure shifts among the trees I pretend I can't remember my dreams I'll just forget my dreams Something here is haunting me I lie to myself through yellow teeth The truth it hurts, the veil is thin The water reflects the shape I'm in If nothing is sacred, everything is sacred If everything is sacred, nothing is sacred How I wish I was here alone But they're shaping sigils with the stones To cast a curse that preys on fear I'm not alone, there's something here Salamanders slither and hiss Something secret whispers a kiss The forest knows, the trees can see Casting back an image of me Covered in mud I crawl along Writhing around to an ancient song The taste of blood in my mouth I am now without doubt If nothing is sacred, everything is sacred If everything is sacred, nothing is sacred I gasp for air, I scream for help But it's all just copies of myself All deformed, all unique Human faces attached to the trees And they can see me A presence felt, a conjuring In human form, the forest sings Capturing an empty vessel My hand is forced, my hands they tremble I am not special If nothing is sacred, everything is sacred If everything is sacred, nothing is sacred
5.
The spoken word of this song is an excerpt from the short story "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" by Ursula K. LeGuin
6.
Haunted 02:50
There's something speaking from within me Guiding me to do it's bidding I can't see but I can feel it Whispering right in my ear It's breath is hot it's voice is chilling Promising secrets if I'm willing Heart is pumping blood to something Hiding where there once was nothing Possession, Obsession, one way to learn a lesson Impulsive, revulsion, under control I must be haunted In my feeble mind By my flawed design Finally a sign from a horrible devine Feel it in my bones Drags me from my home Sticks my face in shit and tells me I'm alone That Baba Yaga's calling my name from the woods My feet follow her song I'd stop them if I could I'm haunted By my shadowed past Caught in my own trap Now that succubus has got me sitting in her lap By my inner child Something dark and wild Sharpened teeth take shape into a smile Skeleton woman sends me searching through her swamp To reflect on my regrets, to remind me what I've lost I'm haunted By what could've been By my long lost friends By a path that could've lead to a better end By the soiled land By my bloody hands Cast out like a devil now I understand Satan reaches out his hand for sympathy He moves my mouth, rattles my bones Makes his home inside of me I'm haunted
7.
EAT 00:43
If the forest eats me I am worthy I become one with the Earth I shall not bow to an alter of anger I will stand and face it's form Life, Death, Life is a cycle With many endings other than death Life, Death, Life is a fire Yearning, burning, bright with breath I won't cry for the end is nigh And the forest eats me alive
8.
Bandishaum 02:55
Can you hear me silently screaming through the veil? Oh, so frail The seasons shift with me, my reason is drifting Palms to the sky, in surrender I am worthless now that I have found purpose This search comes to an end, and it starts again The great unknown has claimed me for it's own I'm changing shape, I'll never be the same I am begging for an ending, I'm holing on for dear life I must go further, frantic with fervor Dying for the art in my dying heart I study the folklore of chaos and disorder This prison inside me, I shall be free After all that I've gathered, I collapse in rapture I bow before the thrown of letting go The great unknown has claimed me for it's own I'm changing shape, I'll never be the same I am not going anywhere, I am somewhere I am now
9.
Sacrifice 03:13
Sacrifice me to the god of brutality Of heat and wind and frost and pain Lay me to waste in the name of normality Deformed and horrible and all the same Sacrifice me to god of carelessness That fatal phrase, fuck it all Spill my blood for the lords of loneliness They avert their eyes as I crawl Sacrifice me to the gods of cruelty In constant crisis I'm carefree Kill me ritualistically Characterized by cannibalized beliefs All hail, inhale, exhale All hail, in hell Sacrifice me to the god of fertility To slow growth and soil turned Dig my grave, place a stone without a name I'll give my flesh and bone and skin Sacrifice me to the god of honesty Deeply devoted do devastation I build my alter the the goddess of tenderness In hopes she'll grant me some affection Sacrifice me to the gods of balance Somewhere between war, and peace, and sleep Allow me empathy to all I meet With the knowledge that none of us will ever be complete All hail, inhale, exhale All hail, in hell Make for me a faith without a name Embraced entirely without question Blind worship, naïve belief Stories told without a lesson All hail, inhale, exhale All hail, in hell
10.
11.

about

In the fall of 2019, I took a solo retreat into the Allegheny National Forest at a friends cabin. "Shanda" is the name of the family camp. I took in the forest, and it took me in as well. I drank a lot of coffee and these songs came out of my body.
During the retreat, I was read a collection of short works by Ursula K LeGuin. This album is a concept based on her short story "Vaster than Empires and More Slow". The instrumental spoken word tracks include excerpts from that story.
This album was recorded over the Covid Quarentine in 2020 - which gave me something to focus on as the collapse becomes more apparent

Huge thanks to Mac Ingles for diving into this project with me, and being patient with my often absurd requests/demands
I also want to thank Dave Egger. Random fate lead to his adding cello to these songs which gave them new life, and took the album in a new direction

credits

released July 1, 2021

Music and lyrics written by Joey Schuller
Spoken word pieces are excerpts from "Vaster Than Empires and More Slow" by Ursula K. LeGuin

Recorded, Mixed, and Mastered by Mac Ingles at ..... in Pittsburgh, PA
Banjo, Vocals, Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Percussion - Joey Schuller
Cello - Dave Egger
Electric Guitar (Tracks 4 & 8) - Phil Faconti
Electric Guitar (Track 11) - Tommy Grubs
Trumpet (Track 4) - Joey Schuller
Trumpet (Track 11) - Scott Nadelson
Flute - Jesca Leigh

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Average Joey Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Poet with a banjo!

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Livin' in a Van

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