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Little Windows Cut Right Through

by Aloha

/
1.
Signal Drift 04:17
Signal drift What are running from why are you fading? Stay in once place you don’t notice it changing The scrappers are waiting you’re here for the taking Did I already lose you or are you just something new? Signal drift what are you saying ? The neighbors are talking they cut themselves off with a wave What am I missing I thought we were feeling the same Did I already lose you or is it just signal drift? Put your weight into mindless game and you will die laughing the jokes will write themselves why does it resonate tell me it’s not too late signal drift is there only this? or was there more to it? when the clouds do lift is there only this? or was there more to it? Run to your window I’ll tune out the gospel, the bleeding is awful, no sun and no dreams Run to your window I’ll set my sights on us with laser beam focus no static no brokenness
2.
Faraway Eyes 05:02
It’s isn’t fair that these quiet streets could be the root of your unravelling and there’s no one to tell so you tell everyone you know how it ends so you fell into yourself the deeper you go the safer it gets faraway eyes see everything at once everything that ever was won’t be good enough you take a pill it’s gonna change you they're gonna blame you either way and you’ll never be free never be free i know you’re scared i’m scared too someday they’re gonna find you it's something a boy never goes through don’t think about don’t have to faraway eyes see everything at once everything she ever was won’t be good enough never enough and if you’re arguing then you’re one of them come on we can take them on come on we take their stones come on we can take their arrows they’ll get tired of being wrong oh we got nowhere to go oh we got nowhere to go alone wait under the bleachers till they come for you in their black leather jackets with your name on the back and the boys renounce their violence and they call you to your window with a song we don’t know what it means yet, yet
3.
Ocean Street 03:53
when the sun comes up i’ll be changed forever move a pin across the map and leave a tear where you might have buried me down. for the first time it’s coming down to Ocean Street. down for the first time its coming down coming down all around me. and i don't think i can find a better place to hide when the sun comes up i'll be changed forever and i wear the signs of the once deprived i wanna feel like i'm barreling south shedding my skin, crossing state lines or i wanna leave like a bear from a cave no you don't look so big with your cold hands waving me down standing at the docks waiting for their loved ones venerate the space between days clawing at the lock with their gloved hands they stare into the waves
4.
Moon Man 04:36
we’re a little lost and i wonder how we got so close, and gave it up to be human is to be terrified nothing scares you more than wasting time but we made a deal so walk on by moon man and no impact man two friends from another land one carries paper the other one sand moon man and I sing and dance to comfort the comfortable the tears from their faces a way to embrace the suffering the pain of others is what gives them strength when they ask about you what was he like in high school i was the lookout and you were the fool every drop of blood will be unseen every panicked face and every scream i will bury it in inside me moon man and no impact man good kids from way back when one carries paper the other one sand moon man and I sing and dance to comfort the comfortable pull tears form their faces way to embrace the suffering the pain of others is what gives them strength drunk in the green room change into your costume show these people you’re not you drunk in the green room change into your costume show these people you’re not about to let them off the hook we did our job it put a smile on my face we did our job
5.
Flight Rish 04:14
it was only a metaphor but when you told me, i wanted more and i believed you when you said "no one can change me" always the hammer always the hammer coming down forging the metal from the ore never know why it's here never know what it's good for oh does the body have the strength i could have lost it all wondering i could have lost it all if only i could sew up the flaw in your love if only i could make you see it for what it once was without empathy the fools suffer me and all that's left to show now are the feathers at the bottom of the box now that you've fallen another rung down another rung always the ladder do you know why i'm here do you know what i'm good for one day we'll bathe in light we'll bathe in light while they feel the weight of the strangling vines it’s been a while it’s been a day since i've felt that embrace without empathy the fools won't bother me and all that's left to see now are the feathers at the bottom of the box
6.
i’m looking forward to your letters as you travel around the world you’re at the top of your profession you were just waiting your turn, got tired of waiting i’m wanna treat you like a stranger make you a guest in your own home a little drop of confession, in every detail i can’t believe it was you who grew tired of waiting don’t turn around do the work boy, take it on the chin you’re fucking up now where do it begin don’t give up on your creation you’ll see it again you could do better or you could do worse but you chose me first to know a little but about a lot of things will surely come in handy when i’m forced to socialize with a different sort of enemy the brooding type that i’m becoming thinks the world owes him something or will you say enough’s enough here are your roses, now sober up babe in arms, a million women waited a hundred million women i know i know i know i know i’m one
7.
Marigold 04:19
the rumors are flying lately it's enough to make anyone blush until they have it in their hands they're gonna say you made it up and it's so hard to keep it pure among strangers marigold, don't run, don't run i know you're not alone but what, if if i was keep your expectations low and i won't disappoint i fear you more than words could show and its worse when you turn and go Put the prototype into motion i’m aware that it serves no end they want to hold in their hands who am i to deny them you’re so hard to get to know come closer
8.
run for the hills talk all the way do what you will run for your lives talk about us like we can hear hey Dot do you smile when you see the sun going down hey dot do you smile when you lose the sun to the clouds don't wanna win but I can't keep losing don't wanna win but I just keep failing don't wanna win but I can't keep losing don't wanna win but he can't stay away and when the day turns into night i wanna be that number and when you start all over i want to be inside and when you get to the airport want to be in that number and when you start all over i want to be on that plane
9.
swinging for the fences with my sunglasses on swinging for fences with my sunglasses on now that we’ve been beat down, baby why do i feel like the battle is won look up to the sky no you don't have to say a word mesmerized by the flight of birds what magnificence have we observed straight from the courtroom to Dairy Queen not much good to celebrate but you know what i mean and i could do without the crying so long ago was only months bury the memory, don't want to but you must there's a long way from guilt to shame but you and I can share the blame swinging for the fences with my sunglasses on S swinging for the fences with my sunglasses on hang on to your holy rosary they're never ever gonna take you away from me it's hard to imagine how we'd function without sadness oh the trouble we'd be in airbrushed beyond recognition and for what, for what
10.
on a silver serving platter a pair of sharpened Blackwings go all the smallest details matter when the trade is all you know A kept man should keep his station run in place with no regrets fending off would-be replacements but it hasn't happened yet you're the prizefighter in lycra always champion the weak gotta live like a contestant, all they ever do is cheat when you were young, you ran through the night somehow the baton was never passed left all alone, in the fluorescent light you never knew, because you never asked it is what it is. it was what it was he said what he said "kill the head and the body's goes dead" i can hear them through the cracks asking for your autograph i hear them laughing that's another 8 x 10 in the trash you're the prizefighter in lycra always champion the weak gotta live life uncontested all they ever do is cheat vacant looks are habit forming town and country, hill and vale never let them meet your maker tell them hard work gets you there when you rise above your station run away and don't look back gain a new set of frustrations but it hasn't happened yet

about

Restless by nature, Aloha has never made the same album twice. And if they’ve earned a reputation as a cult band, it’s because each record creates its own aural world, spawning a new set of devotees.

Aloha traffics in an introspective style of rock, vivid but melancholy, both fragile and forceful. Not difficult, but also not obvious. On Little Windows Cut Right Through, the band follows its prog influences into the early 80s when Fairlights, LinnDrums and Prophets pushed ambient textures and straight lines into music that had grown bloated and unfocused. This invigorating shift highlights what Aloha does best -- driving rhythms behind a matrix of interlocking mallets, keys and guitars. A kind of post-rock in the service of its heartfelt-but-never-precious songs.

Lyrically, Little Windows offers dispatches from the void. The title comes from singer Tony Cavallario’s attempt to write the album in character, yet finding evidence of himself in each song. It’s a story of self-doubt and reflection, where small truths break through a dark, sometimes dangerous solitude.

Opener “Signal Drift” begins out-of-sync, crooning above unsteady waves of sound which soon give way to a wistful flutes and pounding marimbas, foreshadowing redemption.

Radiant ballad “Flight Risk” pleads for a chance to make things right, propelled by a frantic pattern of wood blocks, cymbal crashes, ratchets — the sound of an orchestral percussion section going off script and into its feelings.

The brooding, cinematic “Swinging for the Fences” enlists eerie arpeggios in the defense of sadness as a social good. The bright synth-pop of “I Heard You Laughing” closes out the album on a defiant high note with a dose of self-acceptance and relief.

For all the album’s existential tension and bleak observation, as a listening experience the takeaway is loud and clear. Aloha has distilled disparate elements (and four years of demos) into a precise, mature record that pulses with life, providing catharsis without bluster.

Little Windows Cut Right Through is the perfect introduction to Aloha for the unfamiliar listener, while longtime fans will be glad to find the band consistently unsatisfied, continually seeking.

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released May 6, 2016

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Aloha Cleveland, Ohio

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