Close as a Slow Dance

by Wasp Summer

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Wasp Summer's debut solo album Close as a Slow Dance also comes as a CD in a beautiful, glossy digipack with artwork from photographer Jan Bechberger, stylist Elizabeth Delfs and designer Damian Stephens.

Includes unlimited streaming of Close as a Slow Dance via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.	Dancehall at Louse Point 03:02	lyrics	buy track
I just wanted to hold hands with some young, strong GI While I waited for myself to cry enough tears to float you back to me Bring me another gin, The air is stale and Autumn’s setting in and I’m still in love with him And no-one wants to dance with me If none of you are going to take me home I may as well be carried out comatose cause I feel so numb inside And all this pretty hair can’t hide that… I’m still in love with you And though the future’s knocking And my love’s a futile offering And though my body knows better than my heart I don’t wanna let go and I don’t wanna fall apart Someone distract me now The band starts another dance And rather than offer him another chance, I’m paid to make the people cry And sing my heart out ’til the lights come up The band is out the door The waiter waltzes his broom around the floor but I’m still standing here Feeling lonely as before, ’cause… I’m still in love with you And though the future’s knocking And my love’s a futile offering And though my body knows better than my heart I don’t wanna let go and I don’t wanna fall apart Someone distract me now My heart’s a dirty little mutineer…
2.	Late August Early September 03:30	lyrics	buy track
Make me a day, a day out of time Time that is shimmering Woven from everything pure and divine Divine are the words, the words sealed on jade Elegiac, ardent In leaving, believing the promises made We will have our day, my love We will have our day Te deum
3.	Jacob 03:12	lyrics	buy track
Jacob, your sweet smile each time we pull apart… That we ever have to stop at all would surely break my heart I feel your wishes and your words in my skin My hands are burning and my body’s singing Te Deum for you, for you Jacob, you have opened me like none before I found solace in security and never asked for more I heard the Ballad of Lucy Jordan I thought she was just a foolish dreamer Chasing her regret ’til you Jacob, take me on a journey far from here Roll your car up with the engine off so my husband doesn’t hear I left my suitcase behind the door I’ve got some records and the money-jar And not a lot else more but you
4.	On the Outside of You 03:16	lyrics	buy track
Your troubled thoughts boil in your grey eyes Don’t think I don’t notice, don’t think I don’t recognise You’re so deep in yourself that you can’t hold me when I try to reach you Head down like you expect me to beat you I can’t stand it when you don’t trust me I can’t stand it when you don’t trust me After all that I tried it’s frustrating to be, still, on the outside of you When you’ve got someone to hold you, when there’s fear in your heart, When you pull yourself apart, I could be anyone at all When you fall to pieces it’s not me you’re looking for I’m just a door in a wall that doesn’t keep out the cold I’m so tired I can’t stand it when you don’t trust me I can’t stand it when you don’t trust me After all that I tried it’s frustrating to be, still, on the outside of you
5.	I'm Going Mining 03:08	lyrics	buy track
I’ve got this picture of you, six years old In your spiderman costume down the shops with your sister. Where’s that unself-conscious face now? I read a letter from an older man He had longer hair, but he wrote in your hand. Said he loved to make love and could talk through all the hard stuff You rest gentle on my mind but you’re insubstantial in my hand. Come on lover, where’s your spine? Where oh where oh where’s my man? No stories, no answers, no feelings No nothing in your eyes I’m going mining. I’m going mining. Mining, finding your ruby heart Your ruby heart 30 records from this man In his hot pinstripe, with his hand in the small of my back And feeding me at our favourite restaurant This other man, he chases me On our bicycles through the dark back streets And rides through the night when I need him Is there nothing on your mind? I’m unnerved by your gentle, distant eyes You’re physically present But you’re not here Love, but not in love Please give me something to go on I’m going mining. I’m going mining. Mining, finding your ruby heart Your ruby heart
6.	I Hope You'll Mend 04:22	lyrics	buy track
I was drunk, I was scared of the precious girl I made I was scared I would break her So I just had to break her to make her Stronger, to handle the breaking I placed upon her I’m sorry. I hope you’ll mend I was angry with no words to say, I couldn’t handle myself I thought if she learned to Be tough enough to pull through, she’d survive all the worries life shoves you into I think that she’ll work it out I’m sorry. I hope you’ll mend They say, “You don’t treat me no good.” But they don’t understand it kills something in a man To feel he can’t provide a home I turned away I’m sorry. I hope you’ll mend
7.	No Time For Compliments Now 02:56	lyrics	buy track
We used to roll like tumbled gems And like the sea we’d writhe When you were young and strong And I was young and lithe We used to wreak public havoc You’d wrench me around in the street Take turns in wrecking each other We’d die before calling defeat What was I wearing last time we danced this way? I remember it was white It must have been our wedding night All those hard nights only women can do alone Hard nights men can only do in company I wouldn’t bet the farm on your lasting charm I wouldn’t buy another ticket in your lottery Where were we the last time you held me so tenderly? I sat all night by your bed You pulled me in... And gave yourself to me You were handsome, the devil I was red Lilith’s revenge But there’s no time for compliments now
8.	Waiting 04:15	lyrics	buy track
Break-up song on the radio We’re as close as a slow dance If that’s wrong, tell me so Tell me something Oh, say what you need to say (The waiting’s the worst of it) Oh, come on! Ever since the world began it was this way You’ll step back and see? That’s not enough for me Do we wait like we’ve always waited for you? Waited like good girls are supposed to do For love we’re not sure will come through Waiting for you Choose some nerve, some courage Or choose old and lonely I’m handing you the apple now This is not our Eden Oh, say Say what you need to say (Before I lose all respect) Oh, come on! Ever since the world began it was this way There is no good time so... Knuckle down or let go
9.	Our Old Oblivion 05:45	lyrics	buy track
He's standing there in his ragged Sunday best Smiling like an undertaker in the wicked Old West He is a maelstrom in my simple heart But I cannot bear to be leaving though I know he'll Just hurt me more if I stay Encourage his ways He kills me, I swear, everyday He's my Capital, my king, my everything We have not spoken to my family since early last Spring And what I have chosen feels hollow now But there is a power in his strength and his pleading He's leaning on the door and I'm captured in this room, in this cold, distant town There is no place, in this state, that I could go. He's got a lot of... friends... who'd tell him so, But I've never made love so overpowering. What am I afraid of? Each way that I choose I feel like I'm losing everything This adventure is all over now This pill I've hidden inside my cheek Will be my last kiss for him if it doesn't put me to sleep. He says, “My girl, all could be forgiven” So come here, my darling, and kiss me by this neon light I know we are both longing for A taste of our old oblivion
10.	On the River Road 04:18	lyrics	buy track
Camphor Laurel trees, sugar cane and sky On the river road, Lismore to Corakai Come rolling like the hills, yeah In the place where I was born Never in my life have I known A place to call home The land, like lovers, lay hot and red against the sky Naked and inflamed, and I know black tears well in my eyes Come rolling like the hills, yeah In the place where I was born Never in my life have I known A place to call home

about

In the first seconds of her debut solo album 'Close as a Slow Dance', Wasp Summer pulls you into the story-arc of a woman who won't settle down and whose outlaw life rollercoasters through passion, desperation, divorce, and a desire to burn everything to be free. Wasp Summer's smouldering voice commands immediate attention, framed by the timeless sounds of alt-country, soul and blues, of dobros, twangy guitars, warm organs, strings, harmonies and handclaps.

Born in England and reared in an Australian surf town, Sam Wareing birthed Wasp Summer in Berlin's fertile international DIY singer-songwriter scene where she has developed an alternative approach to living as an independent artist. She curates a monthly living room concert series, has organised and played over 150 concerts, regularly tours via couchsurfing and car-sharing, and has helped build A Headful of Bees, a Berlin-based artist collective and record label that is dedicated to helping artists to take a DIT (Do-It-Together) approach rather than DIY.

So, it makes sense that Wasp Summer's debut album would also embrace this global underground approach. She successfully crowdfunded the cost of mixing, mastering and manufacturing the album with contributions rolling in from 23 cities worldwide. The band recording was done in a relaxed and creative 5-day session with a mobile studio in a private home in northern Italy, was finished in Zürich and then mixed and mastered in Buenos Aires. The album features violin, cello, guitars and vocals emailed in by friends in Tuscon, Oslo, Tamworth and Melbourne who have worked with the likes of Calexico, Giant Sand and Silver Ray.

Wasp Summer will be DIT-touring throughout 2012, starting with Germany in March.

'Close as a Slow Dance' is the first of six albums that the artist collective A Headful of Bees will release in 2012.

credits

released May 4, 2012

All songs written by Wasp Summer. Arrangements by Wasp Summer, Henry Hugo and Los Savonarolas.

Produced, recorded and engineered by Henry Hugo at Paolo and Maria's house in Castiglione Olona, Italy and Zürich, Switzerland with the Untuned Mobile Studio.

Mixed by Marcelo Depetro and Mastered by Toto Strapporava, Buenos Aires.

Wasp Summer - guitars, vocals, organ, vibraphone, handclaps, backing vocals, programming

Los Savonarolas
Henry Hugo - guitars, bass, mandolin, lap steel, piano, banjo, organs, dobro, programming, strings and brass arrangements
Fabio Gallarati - guitars, bass, dobro, male chorus, handclaps, pasta, translation
Stefano Caldonazzo - drums, handclaps, male chorus, wooden frog, triangle, documentation

Vicki Brown - violin
Julitha Ryan - cello, organ
Mark Steiner - vocal on 'Pretty Promises'
Paolo Zangara - bass
Leigh Ivin - pedal steel, guitar

Thanks to: Henry for his generosity and ideas. Paolo and Maria for their home. Mark Steiner for encouragement and introductions. Irene Wareing for her support. Jon Shannon for the original demos. A Headful of Bees' Eric Eckhart, Cameron Wilson and Ken Burke.

Love to Sascha, Tom, Lena, Michelle, Cameron, Damian, Matty and Beth from The Gypsy Curse, Dora, Nicho, Chez, Ola from El Madrigal, Andreas from The Alma Church Choir, Bec and Bob, Sean M., EZB, Chappelli, Justin and Darren. The Australian and Berlin crews for encouragement. Berlin venues where I honed these songs: art.gerecht, Valentin Stüberl, Ufer Cafe, Joe's Bar.

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about

Wasp Summer Berlin, Germany

After five years in Berlin, Europe’s grimy,
sleepless City of Fun, Wasp Summer makes
rock that is both agitated and dreamlike, offering grinding bass and taut drums
with spare, spaced-out guitar and
adventurous voice. The songs talk about resilience
and breaking with the past. ... more

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