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Radiation Hymns

by Plasticine Cowboy

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Spore print picture disc, comes in a jacket with an insert of liner notes. Cover art photograph by Hiromi Goto, layout and design by Harman Burns.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Radiation Hymns via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 8 Plasticine Cowboy releases available on Bandcamp.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Westering Sun, Yellow Barks Spider (Remastered), Radiation Hymns, Transmogrifier, Astrotheoros, Wolfs II, Wolfs, and Yellow Barks Spider. , and , .

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1.
I looked into the water, and much to my chagrin Saw a face I didn’t recognize drowned in the reflection I tried to save ‘em, but it slipped between my fingers, and No matter how hard I try to shake this feeling that’s lingering Some things are like other things.
2.
Dante 03:41
Somewhere below this hell that I call home There lived a man who turned his hand unto a stone He said to me, “Friend, this is as easy as it gets. If there is more to life, I sure haven’t seen it yet.” But as he spoke his words turned inside out his mouth “Upstairs God is sleeping, so please don’t wake him up.” Up there above this hell that I call Earth There flies a man who made his arms like birds He said to me, “Friend, this is as high as you can get. On wax’ed wings burned through I sing of my regrets.” And as he spoke, the winds threw him to the sea Down where the Whale’s eating everything Somewhere between the stars I peer unto the Void There lived a spirit possessed by brilliant joy They said to me, “Don’t be afraid of who you are. The universe inside is endless as the stars.” But as they spoke I saw the stars fall from the sky And as they held me there was a sadness in their eye Everything must end eventually, in time Try not to hurt anyone Everything’ll be just fine.
3.
Jesus Freaks 05:29
Jesus freaks Jesus freaks Jesus speaks to me at night before I go to sleep He tells me about the goings on under my neighbour’s bed sheets Jesus weeps I hear him at night when I’m trying to sleep I made up my mind, and I wrote it on a sign And I’m taking it to the streets With my Jesus freaks God is good I ate his body and I drank his blood Since I was a kid I’ve been doing everything I should But God is angry I see it everywhere, I see I see it on the TV Seen it on TV There is a war, there is a war, from sea to sea There is a war, there’s a war on my people and me All my Jesus freaks Jesus freaks I love him like my own, my own daddy But nobody knows the truth but my people and me My people and me, we love everybody equally But disagree And you’ll burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn, burn for eternity O, Jesus freaks
4.
O, here come the Bunnymen They’ll take you where you want to go I’m not being funny, friend They’ll climb in the window when nobody’s home They’ll make themselves comfortable With their fashionable ties and big pointy ears And when they open their mouths They will give voice to your fears O God, O God, how they sound just like an echo O God, O God, I think I’m an echo O, here come the Bunnymen They’ll take those bad memories away O, you’ll feel quite wonderful Their price is well worth it to pay They’ll tell you just what you want to hear With their big furry lips to your ear They’ll show you just what you want to see They’ll make you the person you always Dreamed of being O God, O God, how they sound just like an echo O God, O God, am I an echo? Of something you said while you were digging in my head Or did I make myself forget everything I regret? Since it’s easier to leave without saying goodbye But this time, I will remember, or at least I will try O there go the Bunnymen There go the Bunnymen They’ve left you feeling cold Where you once stood there is only a hole Better hold on to yourself while there’s still something left to hold
5.
Spirit, they’ve come Quietly, then vanished Spiders feast Skyless, and gigantic I’m sorry, God. I don’t want to hide. I’m sorry, mom. I’d prefer to stay inside.
6.
I saw the light going down the horizon I felt the darkness washing over me When my spirit climbed up and over the other side The spiders left my body for the first time I felt peace finally I saw the light, Lord, I saw the light I saw the light, O! I saw the light When the candle grows dim The hour of the wolf begins That’s when I saw the light I saw the light rising up from your eyes then I felt the light washing over me When your spirit danced naked in the kitchen, my love The spiders left my body for the first time I knew you and I were meant to be I saw the light, my love, inside your eyes I saw your light in the cold of the night When the world grows dim, There’s vultures circling That’s when I see your That’s when I see your That’s when I see your light
7.
Harvester 03:49
There’s a circle on a hill Laid flat the wheat just like a circle Called to ritual There’s a family locked inside The windows of their house stay locked up every night Scared of the ritual We’re calling out your name We’re calling out your name We bloody our bodies ‘til the Harvester is tamed There’s a spider in the grass His legs grow longer each turn of the hourglass Praise to the ritual We change our bodies by their shape We paint our faces in each and every shade Chanting ritual We’re calling out your name We’re calling out your name We make magic with our bodies ‘til the Harvester is tamed.
8.
(no boy) 03:38
No boy, no boy No boy No boy, no boy No boy I have no body No body of my own I have no body No body of my own No boy, no boy No boy No boy, no boy No boy I have no body No body of my own I have no body No body of my own No boy, no boy No boy No boy, no boy No boy I have no body No body of my own I have no body No body of my own No teeth no skin no hands no eyes I, I, I don't I have no body No body of my own No body of my own No body of my
9.
Home 06:24
Born in a small and lonesome town You left home when you were a kid Worked like a dog from dusk till dawn Putting steel bolts through a cow's head You joined the navy but you fell in love Writing letters from across the sea To a woman whose name was a beautiful feeling You'll build her a kingdom of wood But the pines they ache and they shiver, they sigh Ever since you've been gone Looking for answers in the face of grandfather Who cut down birch trees and rode horses through water Those cruel winter nights of whiskey and beer, it's A taste you inherited, haunted by spirits But those days are long gone, the horses are harnessed Come lay by the fire, Lord hold the darkness It’s like grandmother told me but I don’t listen enough It’s like my parents showed me with their lessons of love But the wolves've come calling, they won't let me go And I fell one too many times, lost in the snow Looked to the night sky to find the way back But I’m ten years old again and these fucking attacks, They play on repeat in all of my nightmares Heavy as memory but lighter than air This world costs a lifetime, from ashes to dust After years starving myself, I'm afraid to be touched Getting worse before better, for better or for worse, Though I’ve rehearsed my death a thousand times, I promise I'll stay here with you, the one I adore cause You built the fire that keeps me the warmest So I’ll brace for the wind and steady my pace I’m on my way home, my compass is straight. (Remember who you are, remember where you came from) Well I’m not anyone, and I’m not from anywhere (Remember who you are, remember where you came from) Well I’m not anyone, and I’m not from 'round here
10.
Angel Band 01:46
My latest sun is sinking fast My race is nearly run My strongest trials now are passed My race is nearly run O come, angel band Come and around me stand O bear me away on your snow white wings To my immortal home O bear me away on your snow white wings To my immortal home.

about

Radiation Hymns takes place in a world just beside our own. The narrators of these songs lament and console, enchant and transform, lure and mislead. They celebrate love and gather around the fire, they warn against the wolves in the dark, the horizonless prairie winter, the old gods that lurk in the wheat. Above all, they are shapeshifters, transfiguring the clay of their bodies to adapt to the forces that encompass them. As they look into the water, the face that looks back is not their own.

Radiation Hymns began with a few demos in 2018. Over the next four years it would undergo many changes, evolving gradually from scribbles in a beat up notebook into a landscape. During the lockdown in the summer of 2020, the album took on a new trajectory when Harman Burns asked long time friend and collaborator Sean Davis Newton to come aboard as producer. With Newton's expertise, the project expanded beyond its bedroom recording origins, and by spring 2022, Radiation Hymns was finished.

Equally intimate and otherworldly, the songs tell the story of a new haunted mythology of the West, unearthing memories of the world, picked up by broken antennae, disintegrating in the irradiated air.

credits

released September 23, 2022

Written, performed, and engineered by Harman Burns
Produced, mixed, and additional engineering by Sean Davis Newton
Mastered by Harry Gregg at Riverdale Recorders

Harman Burns plays guitar, synthesizers, samplers, and sings
Sean Davis Newton plays percussion, woodwinds, guitar and synthesizer
Phil Rodda plays drums on track 2
Patrick Smith plays harmonica on track 2
The Radiation Hymns Memorial Choir sings on track 9
Jefferson Hascall wrote the lyrics for track 10

Cover photograph by Hiromi Goto
Cover design and layout by Harman Burns

Special thanks to Cliff and Sherron, to Ken and Joy, to Paul Johnston and Harry Gregg, and most of all to Niamh, for everything.

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about

Plasticine Cowboy Vancouver, British Columbia

Plasticine Cowboy is the solo project of Harman Burns. Born in the Saskatchewan prairies on Treaty 6 land, Harman is a trans sound artist, filmmaker and writer. She currently resides on the unceded ancestral territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
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