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For Brothers & Forefathers

by Johnas & Connelly

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1.
Michael 06:34
MICHAEL Lead the way, take my hand and throw me to a pit of lions, there's no sense in you crying, lock the doors I'll be safe inside a ring with hunting-killing heavy hitters, no, don't you worry 'bout these sinners I'm fine Give me hope and strength and all the things that God is known for giving, or does that just come with Christian living? I'm not sure Dry your eyes, I'll meet you after all this heresy is over, I'll understand it when I'm older, at least, I'll try While you're gone I'll find another way to controvert the Bible, a place with God don't bring survival anymore Now take me home and read to me the brazen books they've all been burning, the real lessons we should be learning, turned to ash Put me to bed in sheets of red and hope that they don't see the difference, the colour blood don't scream innocence like holy white And I'll wake up a wiser girl than every day that's come before this, for sleep has taught me what they haven't I'm mine
2.
KETTLE VALLEY MOURNING Lost my own shadow got no one to follow now I drift like a zephyr wind soft and swift Plan for entrapment to keep two feet planted as I wilt to the wily ways of the grave I fear that I choose not to be afraid Practice forgiveness a prodigal business won't give way to these retrogrades I create Wayward in my own skin, canvas of porcelain all the greats have their one big mistake even through their art they can't escape Self-imprisoned artistic vision Hands of voodoo blister as I paint
3.
A Piece Of Peace To Please I’d be happy with a flood, if nature conspired to help me give up I’d rather be drowned by a break in a dam than by ten years of love that I feel breaking down I’d rather be walking with Death by my side, if life means pretending that without you I’m fine If storms should break and snow should fall, then please bury me deep underneath it all So I can lie frozen in the damage I’ve done, so all is forgotten, and you can have freedom I tried to be honest, but maybe this time you need something more, and that’s the reason I’m dying Please, please, please, please, please I hope you find peace
4.
Mothers 06:26
MOTHERS Saliency is ours An outward jagged mountain tooth An open prairie war That humbled those with flatland views A rolling sage At home out of range A sweeping itch for change And solitude Peaks and perils are a twofold act In loop A vagrant poet with a storm of words to scrawl A story teller in a way versicular A circumnavigator with sovereign pen and paper To summarize it all A nostalgic oracle To prophesize the past Chimerical forecast of the things That have already been A retrospective map To shepherd me ahead And they thought I never would Find happiness by tramping through unchartered briar and bramble A loud upraising and a slanted view They want prison and I want answers they can't manifest A sleepless dissidence And still the highlands bay The anchorage the saved All the homespun Crazed to be moonstruck days My mother mountain range
5.
Common Thistle Empty nest, an unfamiliar leap from household providence, halfway through the door I’m an inconvenience And I hardly call, with me communication isn’t typical Long-term parallels are intolerable I’m helpless to a highway’s endlessness and the patience of the wilderness Insecure on streets I must’ve walked a thousand times before, outlandish in a neighbourhood so peculiar Like a marble piece, I’m frigid and hard-frozen in a low esteem, in this town nothing feels the way it seems I’ll always dread this slow return to listlessness, so far-removed from company bound by lineage Limited tenderness for the ones we’re supposed to have a home with, as I’m so constantly reminded It’s hard to say what keeps me coming back here, maybe I’m afraid the longer that I’m gone the more I’m pushed away, it’s a side effect of pulling up my roots and pining for escape in a life-long custody game, never sure for whom I stay Am I the wind that fills their empty sails? A nonpareil, maybe I come back only to learn to propel myself from where I began, from the person I no longer am
6.
Leonis Stream Can I regret something said now that God is my neighbour? Things from before, things I often swore I’d quit, are just a tombstone quip, my past is permanent A shadow-box display inaccurately made from oversights and past misplays Control and destroy, a secret ploy to fade out to pursue nothingness What if I am nothing at all? It’s only logical, one rain drop in a squall, without a purpose in my fall Spirit sweeper, mind reaper, human withdrawal A fractional being, stripped of all feeling balanced in scales atilt A weighted criminal, no innocence or guilt Who am I now? Do I fit into past, present, future? No one to say what was once my name, I’m turned into a lesson worked for little boys and girls A chalkboard exercise, a failure recognized A resting ledger line, a treatment self-prescribed Where do cardinal sins go? Weary from limbo left waiting, post for an anchor, a foothold for anger now waning Collapse into ashes, the cinders of hereafter I’m fading, scattered and tragic, a homeless romantic who’s aching for warmth in the winter, for a face in the mirror, for asylum that welcomes like home
7.
Yarrow 03:30
YARROW A fair-weather ghost, I never want to haunt and it shows An apparition apropos, a fleeting railroad stroll A nomadic coast Tethered tight and taut in the hopes that freedom might just keep me close Give me the briny deep to narrow my scope and sink my will to shake the north My nature's unforgiving, like a ragged city building I'm a bedlam in an honest town A firm-footed oak has never once abandoned his post as servant to the forest folk And me, a humble yarrow A weed to grow and grow I make my bed the side of the road a spread I can't seem to control a fever thrust upon the summer meadows, the empress of wild perennials the grand duke of vast valley views waiting for wanderers I swim in fields and cross every hill with spiny fingers reaching out A subtle curse of putting me first, while those around me seem to dwindle down to a lesser crowd but I've never found it lonely My heart can be forgetful, it's a sinking deep sea vessel, heavy pressure from these unsung murky depths And upon this great submersion I retreat with rosy fervor I'm the sun descending in the west And I lie sleepless on the ocean floor One restless night can be the start of many more so I'll slip out just like I did before to play the song of the dying swan, I'm the eastern dawn
8.
Jalan-Jalan 05:22
Jalan-Jalan I came across a preacher on the side of the road, she held my hand and sang me stories of the crucible that was fired by the good Lord to melt her troubles And I asked her if she’d ever seen an albatross and, if she had, was that the moment that she found her god? Was it fear of losing life that got her living? A man with no shoes had told me once, “We’re at the mercy of the Universe, we’re just playing cards in a game in which the end is pre-determined” I told him I had seen his spirit once before in a canoe beneath the sun, shining like gossamer He was winding through the crystal curves of that topaz river On the sandy shore of that water’s edge, I caught myself inside a coat made of rusting red And through ailing amber eyes, I understood The mountains made a valley like a weathered cross and every night rang out its voices in a perfect song that was carried on the wings of every bird I travelled to a house that held a restless ghost, he sat and waited for the one he loved the most And by the dark new moon, his arms would hold his brother I tried to count the broken hearts, but I got lost beside a willow tree with roots I was depending on And by the blood red moon, the grief we howled in rhythm And inside of me, I felt a tiny ember glow beneath the onslaught of resistance from the outside world The more I walk, the more it grows - this tiny spark

about

FOR BROTHERS & FOREFATHERS


It’s frightening to think that we’ve finished this album. There are countless tears, laughs, and romantic moments embedded in this record. Our entire life has been poured into what you hear. It’s scary to think of what may come next, and what it will take to create something to follow this. It’s scary to think of what will become of our relationship - as lovers, musicians, life-partners, and stakeholders in one another’s dreams. It feels like the end of this creation signifies the beginning of so much more.

Two years ago we decided to record an album by ourselves. Just us. We knew it was the right thing to do in order to express ourselves fully and create something that was bigger than us; something of which we were genuinely proud. So, we invested in some gear and travelled halfway across the world. We busked in Melbourne, hitch-hiked thousands of kilometres across Australia, worked on farms, and slept on beaches in Bali. We thought we would record our album during this time, that we would experience, write, and record simultaneously. But we just weren’t ready. When we returned to North America after five months abroad, we headed home to Banff, Alberta, for a carefree summer of friendship, super moons, and train station jams. We lived out of our truck, wrote songs, created art, and collaborated with loved ones and musicians. When autumn began to sneak into the mountains, we meant to escape to the tall, towering redwoods of California - but our plans were altered by the painful news of Brandon’s brother’s suicide. Brett’s sudden death completely reshaped our future in a way I could never have imagined. There were now so many emotions needing to be captured and, because of that, the album transitioned from a completely self-reflective speculum to an ode to a loved one lost.

As Brett’s beneficiary, Brandon received $25,000, which was the incredibly bittersweet gesture that helped us record and create this album with more comfort and less responsibility. In a time period of over thirteen months, we recorded the album in Rock Creek, Vancouver, Nanaimo, and Banff. Our relationship as a couple ended and re-started about three or four times. As we were nearing completion of the album we rented a room in Surrey, BC, and were ridiculously paranoid that our gear would be stolen. In the end, our gear was safe, but my antique engagement ring fell into the hands of, presumably, our down-and-out roommate. But once the sadness of losing something so special had settled, we ultimately saw the silver lining in the fact that he chose jewelry over the computer that held our album files.

What a whirlwind experience. I feel both free and fearful as we release this record into the world. This is for brothers, forefathers, mothers, sisters, lovers - those whose existence we cherish.

Jimmy and Brettsky, we love you.



*You can follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/johnasandconnelly

credits

released January 3, 2017

All songs written, performed, engineered, mixed and mastered by Brandon Johnas and Caitlin Connelly.

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Johnas & Connelly Banff, Alberta

Johnas & Connelly is a Rocky Mountain duo rooted in evergreen-fresh folk and small-town splendor. Inspired by canyons, caves, and excruciating break-ups, the pair uses thoughtfully-woven vocal harmonies and seasoned fingerpicking to honestly channel emotion-filled experiences into mindful art. ... more

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