Incredible Distance [EP]

by Sparkbird

supported by

watcher4ever I love your musical style. your voice is unique and your lyrical perspective is lovely. my favorite is Left Right Left Favorite track: Left Right Left.

	/

Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Incredible Distance in a beautiful package (with a lovely spine), with photography inside and out by Sasha Busko-Piñero and graphic design by André Casey.
This photo (which I stole from Angelica Sather Hodgetts) is actually of the demo version of the CD. The real version is a little fancier!

Includes unlimited streaming of Incredible Distance [EP] via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 1 day

$5 USD or more
Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price

1.	Limits 03:50	lyrics	buy track
Talk about site fidelity... Talk about natal philopatry... Talk about synchronicity! Talk about London meeting Eugene! Other people's flight patterns lack the hallmarks of mine Pictures of ten-year reunions with pictures Of altitudinal migrations With breathless emergency landing vacations Talk about asthma! Narrows for airways Peak flow a puff from a pipe dream— Fifty percent of an infidel's personal best A Forest Park duck falls fifty feet leaving the nest! From the cavity edge to the edge of the briar A baptism of flier without proper plumage! In the purgatory of a spacer Passing from chamber through chamber To chamber... What is incendiary to me? Incredible distance confined In my body. Talk about imagined geography... Talk about plant intentionality. Talk about sessility, precinctivity... Talk about cosmopolitan pantropicality! Jump! Stop tilting at windmills! Wilting at failures to skirt the frame of the swing set! Jump! Stop placing bets On peregrination, on a fair roundabout gain! Spin! Shrink! Skidoo! into a postcard, into the gum on the stamp! Glue! Paste! Tamp! Affix! A Phoenix Garden wren in a sudden igloo sticks to sticks! From a nettle-mound to the pear-petaled crisps on the bower A universe swirls in that souvenir snowglobe! Half-eight till the vesperal pealing The architect shake-sings with skyscraper feeling What is irradiative to me? Incredible distance; unforgettable limits. Wouldn't you like to know where I want to go?
2.	Sedentary City 02:32	lyrics	buy track
Try To wend your way Through the thickest thickets And avoid the ratchet call reviews of the Gray Catbird critics. Easily The mimic mews, "Be more original"; They heard it from A bird more qualified to say it. Freely They propose a game of musical chairs; They bend the rules So they will win it when they play it. Where there's a seat, There'll be someone Sitting pretty, Calling your every shot And shooting down Your every call for help. Your even feet Won't ensure an even footing; Your standing won't be understood In the sedentary city. Try To look to your laurels In a boxwood hedge At public capacity. Try to rest Among the mock-mockingbird–occupied Topiary thrones. Eerily The tin-can chorus vacates the premises, Abruptly and without an echo— Sturdy and upright In the spotlight, You emanate your candidacy For upholstery. Where there's a seat, There'll be someone Sitting pretty, And where the seating's scarce You'll get your shot at Getting shot at. Your beating heart Won't save you from a heartfelt beating; Your standing won't be understood In the sedentary city.
3.	Left Right Left 02:55	lyrics	buy track
The inspirational Isn't moving Inspiration all died I defy Edifying texts I defy Hot air quotational flotationals— Quote away. Float away. Who am I talking to, Talking to? Imaginary figments in the ICU ICU I see nothing left to view Left to view Left (Right?) Left to view— Lungs bereft I seek a sunken bubble Free dive on empty Down to an abyssal depth And where the plain Intersects with the trench I teeter on the edge A current blasts From behind I gasp I cast a shadow On a shadow A Turkey Vulture buddy From my littoral days Phases in All unflappable To call the black swirling kettle Back together for A whirlwind tour Of a marginal sea Hover over One /ˈneɪvəl/ vessel Or another Body of Human or of water Blood exists To be discovered. I exist To be— I exist To be— I exist To be! I take a breath I cast a shadow At the moment of I take a breath I cast a shadow At the moment of I take a breath I cast a shadow At the moment of I take a breath I cast a shadow At the moment of—
4.	White Appetites 05:00	lyrics	buy track
gray after gray prey after prey morning to morning day after day let's let bygones be bygones blackening the skies in the bygone style of soon-to-be-gone monarch butterflies— climb up the butte stare at the sun-drenched river clench your lids hurry carry the sight to the boardwalk lift your chin up open your eyes see a shadow watch as it lightens and dies. see a shadow watch as it lightens and dies. see a shadow watch as it lightens and dies. how can I love someone I've only seen in a painting? how can I love a voice I've only heard described? how, on the other hand, can you kill somebody who's right in front of you seem to have no trouble at all doing it you seem to have no trouble at all straw after straw back after back mourning to mourning caulking the cracks let's let bygones be tattooed upon our eyes let's let the truths be louder than the lies I feel so ashamed to think I used to say it wasn't your land and I didn't take it away it wasn't your land and I didn't take it away it wasn't your land and I didn't take it away white appetites killed the passenger pigeon white fashion killed the Carolina parakeet white silence kills people of color white power will kill the very current it ignited my own white power will kill a current too if I'm not prepared to fight it see a pipeline run along the oil-drenched river see us promise changes that we don't deliver see a sacred place watch us colonize the boardwalk see a fallen cup someone carried that cup when it was full it must have taken every ounce of strength to pour the liquid down their gullet yet a cis hetero white man emptying his gun seems to have no trouble at all carrying it for a future bullet seems to have no trouble at all
5.	The Sound Narrows 03:13	lyrics	buy track
Trampoline sensations lingering I fall asleep grinning and awake grinning in awe at what I see saw see saw see saw see saw... It's unreal it's unreal it's unreal... It's unreal it's unreal it's unreal... It's unreal it's unreal it's un— Cornucopia sofa so far you are treating me A-OK today— Eleemosynary celery boyar born of crimson velvet clay born on an inclement Friday born in the month of March... Tambourine tintinnabulations annotating birdsong, bee song, thumping bunny hearts clinging in awe to what they see saw see saw see saw see saw... It's unreal it's unreal it's unreal... It's unreal it's unreal it's unreal... It's unreal it's unreal it's un reeling in the Earth cartwheel and coincide sidewind and surrealize Sun reeling in the Earth Earth reeling in the Sun (parenthetical asides aside) Sun and Earth having begun accrete accrue accelerate— collide... Pierce my wrists with your nails, pierce my temples with your thorns; Revoke my resurrection license, I can't bear to be reborn. Place me on a bed of shells (relics of pistachios) within earshot of the sound, somewhere over the Narrows…

about

Poetic piano pop dealing with travel, asthma, injustice, Gray Catbirds, grief, existence, environmental racism, privilege, extinction, and trampoline sensations.

credits

released February 9, 2018

All songs published by Stephan Nance Music (ASCAP).

All songs written & performed by Stephan Nance
Produced by Stephan Nance & Adam Caswell
Engineering and mixing by Kash Mowatt
Mixing and mastering by Thaddeus Moore, Liquid Mastering

All songs recorded at Sprout City Studio, Eugene, Oregon
Piano recorded at The Eugene Piano Academy, Eugene, Oregon
Drums recorded at Chimpanzee Studio, Kagoshima, Japan
Viola recorded at The Listening Room Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona

Photography: Sasha Busko-Piñero
Design: André Casey

Adam Caswell - programming
Jon Caponetto - trombone on "White Appetites"
Sarah Evins - viola on "White Appetites"
Alexis Garnica - trumpet on "White Appetites"
Esther Kwak - clarinet on "The Sound Narrows"
Dylan Myers - bassoon on "White Appetites," "The Sound Narrows"
Shigeki Okubo - drums on "Limits"
Sarah Rosier - cello on "Left Right Left," "White Appetites"

license

some rights reserved

about

Sparkbird Portland, Oregon

Sparkbird, a.k.a. Stephan Nance. Chamber folk-pop. Pronouns: they/them.
Booking/sync/licensing/inquiries: music@stephannance.com

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Sparkbird

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Sparkbird recommends:

Harbor
by Cynthia Marie

I listened to "Oh, Legs!" and "Harbor" and I was hooked. Cynthia Marie's music is whimsical, thoughtful, and surprising—the kind of music that always seems to be thanking the listener for listening. Sparkbird
go to album
WE CREATE OUR MAPS (2016)
by TGTG

I played a show with TGTG in 2017 and their music and energy blew me away! I've been singing along at home and in the car ever since. :) I recommend "Mic Checkers" and "Taking Off My Mask". Sparkbird
go to album

If you like Sparkbird, you may also like:

Another Time
by Femme Vanille

Spunky songwriting wrapped up in luscious vocals and beautifully baroque-pop arrangements. Bandcamp New & Notable Nov 4, 2016
go to album
i burnt all my letters (deluxe)
by themme fatale

Recorded over the space of a year, the vivid pop songs on the latest from themme fatale match sugary hooks with diaristic lyrics. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 13, 2022
go to album
Deleted Scenes
by Once And Future Band

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jun 3, 2020
go to album
Truth or Consequences
by Chelsea Rose

The former Summer Twin steps into her own on a sophisticated solo record full of classic pop sounds and starry-eyed optimism. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 23, 2022
go to album