Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$1CAD or more
about
I have no idea when I recorded this. It turned up in the vault when I was cleaning out my old master tracks, and I do believe it's the original demo for "Inuksuk," one of the songs off Desolation Sound.
It's raw, and weary, and as unpolished a solo-guitar demo as you can get. But having gone (intentionally) for a very dated production standard when I recorded the track for Desolation Sound, I feel right now like this is my preferred version. It's completely unpolished, and utterly stripped to its bones, but to me it makes a clear statement that the "polished" production standards of a good song age a whole lot faster than the song itself. Stripped to its basics, I think this works better than it did as a finished track.
lyrics
You can hear the black flies hummin'
As you sit beside her sweatin',
You think of going home
'Cause she's the kind of girl who waits until the weddin',
In a young man's eyes,
When all you got's a hammer,
The whole world is your nail,
You got an '81 Camaro, son,
The whole town gets to feelin' like a jail
In a young man's eyes,
Still you think that you could "save" her
If you take her from this town,
From this land the good Lord gave her,
This home that she built on hallowed ground,
But you know that she's no highway,
This Inuksuk in her polyester gown.
Now she had a lover long ago
Who moved across the water,
He never found his fortune,
But he set down roots the day he saw his daughter
In a young girl's eyes,
When all you got's a single shot
You never wait for better,
Plant your seeds where they have fallen,
Plant your kisses on a laser-printed letter
For a young girl's eyes.
And when she asks you if you're leavin' too,
You don't want to let her down,
Watch her face fall down like ashes,
Watch the spindle of her future come unwound;
But you know that she's no highway,
Your Inuksuk on the edge of her hometown.
When all you got's a cell phone,
The whole world is your cell,
A tiny three-inch window's
Big enough to see she's just not sleepin' well,
Even with a young man's eyes,
The thing about a settler
is he's never really home,
All the highway is his poison;
It's the only thing his bones have ever known
Except a young girl's eyes.
And she wants to keep on keepin' on
But she'll settle for the chance to settle down,
In her diamond-ring world,
Shining bright although it's not so big around,
And you know that she's no highway,
Your Inuksuk,
Weather-beaten,
Homeward bound.
credits
released May 23, 2021
Luke Maynard: Vocals and acoustic guitar
Recorded on the Grecian isle of Hydra, this is blissed-out psych pop with stacked falsetto harmonies and luscious arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 9, 2023
Two dozen 12-string acoustic improvisations that feel undeniably haunting, like lost transmissions from ancient Appalachia, rediscovered. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 17, 2022
