Get all 18 Joe Sorensen releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Prodigal, Christmas 2022, BRIGHTON, Blink and It's Gone, Heavy and Light, Merry and Bright: Christmas Songs, Vol. 2, Gather in Love: Christmas Songs, Vol. 1, 2020 Hindsight: Greatest Hits, Vol. 1, Tension, and 10 more.
1. |
PROLOGUE
02:08
|
|||
|
This is not a work of art
It's a fucking diary
But if I sing it and I share it
And it somehow sets you free
Then maybe heartbreak has a purpose
When it brings me to my knees
The setting sun is what connects us
It's not just only me
So let's sing into the shadows
Though the silent echo screams
It was ours that sang the first notes
You gave my sorrow harmony
He said, "That's something that is taught"
Well, he was wrong, like when he left
It is something that is felt
When you find your heart bereft
So sing it how you feel fit
And if the doctor says, "It's wrong"
Then the song was never meant for him
It was yours and mine alone
This is not a work of art
It's a fucking diary
But the song was always yours and mine
It was something to believe
|
||||
2. |
THINGS WE DIDN'T KNOW
03:06
|
|||
|
You said you never wanted songs about you
I said I never wanted you to leave
I guess that neither of us got what we want
The only time we ever disagreed
The thought this could be my final first kiss
Fell fast and heavy like I always do
But this time you were fallin' right there with me
We kept on fallin' 'til we fell on through
And now I'm sittin' in my city thinkin' 'bout the week I spent in yours
Never knowin' it would be the only time I'd walk your floors
Gettin' on a plane and plannin' when I'd see your place again
Never knew in seven days you'd bring us to a sudden end
The head, the heart, like you and I were dancing
Now like your head I'm left to dance alone
I want to blame you, but I know these steps well
You didn't know the things you didn't know
Are you thinkin' of me now? It's nine, the time we'd make our nightly calls
Or was it easy leavin' me? I thought we broke your walls
Haven't heard a single word from you since you hung up the phone
And I know that's how it goes, but I fall fast and move on slow
I fall fast and move on slow
There's no going back, but it still takes time
To move on from the past, I thought that you were mine
I had a hope but now goodbye is all I have
Future dreams are now just figments of the past
There's no going back, but it still takes time
To move on from the past, I thought that you were mine
I had a hope but now goodbye is all I have
Future dreams are now just figments of the past
You didn't know the things you didn't know
I didn't know the things I didn't know
We didn't know the things we didn't know
You didn't know the things you didn't know
I didn't know the things I didn't know
We didn't know the things we didn't know
|
||||
3. |
DSM TO DEN
02:29
|
|||
|
I met you in an airport, at first our flights aligned
Played cribbage in a coffee shop until departure time
One minute in anxiety and the next one spent in awe
I couldn’t wait to touch down in Denver, it seemed to take so long
I thought we’d make this airline home until we built our own
Weekend flights and calls at night, let what we started grow
Window seats with perfect views of the miles in between
Dreaming of the days to come, just the doctor and me
We found when we were in the air yours landed before mine
I asked if you would wait for me, you promised that you tried
Everything in transit, I was living in between
You wanted something permanent, but you wouldn’t wait for me
I thought we’d make this airline home until we built our own
Weekend flights and calls at night, let what we started grow
Window seats with perfect views of the miles in between
Dreaming of the days to come, just the doctor and me
I booked a flight back home alone, I guess I should have known
Expect an unexpected change when you make an airline home
I see why Andrew sang of airports: there’s no answers there
Just passengers and passports going up and down the stairs
I met you in an airport, at first our flights aligned
It took a while to realize we had different landing times
|
||||
4. |
||||
|
I used to send you songs
Now I listen on my own
This one says, "There was a sign"
But you gave me none
In the morning we were strong
But by nightfall you were gone
The exile came in a call
There was nothing I could do
I change the record
And this one talks of shit and trousers
We only live life forwards
We only learn it backwards
I know that's not what he means
But it's worth remembering
I wanna walk in reverse
Before I flew to Denver
Holding on while letting go
You're in my mind though I'm alone
Going back while moving on
A broken heart for someone's song
I change the tape, the final verse
Says, "All are sorry for our hurt"
And I want to feel sad for you
But you left me with no reason to
This seems so easy for you
A word and goodbye
Do you feel anything?
Am I alone in that, too?
|
||||
5. |
CONNECT/CONTROL
02:57
|
|||
|
I'm diggin' in a graveyard searchin' for something to resurrect
So many skeletons, so many shadows I long to reconnect
And there were sheep in wolves' clothing
And the ones I drove away
Every face still feels familiar
I remember every name
I've learned and long to try again
Is it too late to make amends?
What could I say to gain a second chance?
I've learned and long to try again
Is it too late to make amends?
What could I say to gain a second chance?
There's an answer in that question
I come upon a gravestone and it says: Your Name Goes Here
Until you learn to kill control they will always disappear
I tried to make you love me
And I tried to make you stay
And now I'm trying to bring you back to me
I tried to make you love me
And I tried to make you stay
And now I'm trying to bring you back to me
I've learned nothing, I've learned nothing
I'm haunted by the ghost of false control
Searching for something it could never hold
The only way that I can save my soul
Is to let go
I'm haunted by the ghost of false control
Searching for something it could never hold
The only way that I can save my soul
Is to let go
I was diggin' in a graveyard searchin' for something to resurrect
I came upon a gravestone, it said: You are all that's left
|
||||
6. |
TZIMTZUM/DUALITY
03:45
|
|||
|
I was whole before I met you
I carved a space for us to share
Choice is always a sacrifice
And I thought that you were mine
I was wise and I was foolish
Lived life ten steps ahead
You brought me back to reality
When you said you couldn’t make a space for me
“Couldn’t” or “wouldn’t” – was it forced or choice?
Who are we really under all that noise?
Do we sell ourselves a tired lie?
The truth is written in the ways we try
The space I made for us was sacred
And now it feels just like a hole
But it was made with best intentions
And that’s what I need to hold
Creation needs a space to thrive
You didn’t have a place for mine
Everything will one day die
I just thought we had more time
It takes two to make a sacred space
Such a beautiful duality
Maybe the lesson I need to learn
Is to make space in all the parts of me
|
||||
7. |
||||
|
As a dog returns to vomit
I dove headfirst into hell
A sea of scrolling faces
That I know so very well
Anything to replace you
And the choice I couldn’t change
I’ll settle for a shadow
If I might forget your name
The answer is a problem
But it’s the only thing I want
Addiction and distraction
Down a path to self-destruct
A screen of names and faces
All trying to connect
I came for the wrong reason
To escape and not reflect
I’m drunk on possibilities
For a moment I forget
And then I see a face like yours
And it all comes rushing back
The answer is a problem
But it’s the only thing I want
Addiction and distraction
Down a path to self-destruct
I claimed a new beginning
But I’m somehow here again
Until I learn to face my pain
The cycle never ends
I’m filling a hole with a shadow
I’m filling a hole with a shadow
I left part of my soul in Colorado
I’m filling a hole with a shadow
Slow down, breathe, rewind
You’ll be okay in time
Slow down, breathe, rewind
You’ll be okay in time
Am I too far gone to save myself?
Can I undo the damage done?
Will I make another false resolve?
Or face the things I can’t outrun?
|
||||
8. |
PSALM 23
04:01
|
|||
|
Though I walk through the valley
Of the shadow of memory
The mountains are tinged in light
The Red Rocks kissed by sunrise
We walked by still waters
An afternoon spent at the lake
We lay in green pastures
Watched the clouds slowly float away
And it’s easy to focus on my hurt
Even the past joy is pain
But you brought me so much laughter
You still take my breath away
You sharpened the best in me
Inspired me to write
And it hurts to dwell here long
On the sorrow of delight
And it’s easy to focus on my hurt
Even the past joy is pain
But you brought me so much laughter
You still take my breath away
You still takes my breath away
There’s beauty at the end of the day
I’d never take my time back
It’s so heavy but it’s all that I have
This still takes my breath away
There’s beauty at the end of the day
I’d never take my time back
It’s so heavy but it’s all that I have
|
||||
9. |
THE END
03:56
|
|||
|
I’ve grown tired of writing songs about you
Letting you live inside my head
It was helpful while my heart was hurting
But now there’s nothing left unsaid
This is the end
This is the end
Carving space and asking who I am
Digging in graveyards, giving up control
Chasing shadows and living in airports
You made me better, you left me alone
And this is how heartache goes, fall fast and move on slow
The day comes that we accept the setting sun
Holding on while letting go
We didn’t know the things we didn’t know
I learned more in the aftermath
Than I did along the way
All the same, I’d say I’m grateful
I stayed in Brighton for five whole days
And this is how heartache goes, fall fast and move on slow
The day comes that we accept the setting sun
Holding on while letting go
We didn’t know the things we didn’t know
And I might end up here again
Writing songs when my heart breaks, when something ends
But for now I can say there’s nothing left to say
‘Bout the man in the Mile High State
And I might end up here again
Writing songs when my heart breaks, when something ends
But for now I can say there’s nothing left to say
‘Bout the man in the Mile High State
And this is how heartache goes, fall fast and move on slow
The day comes that we accept the setting sun
Holding on while letting go
We didn’t know the things we didn’t know
And this is how heartache goes, fall fast and move on slow
The day comes that we accept the setting sun
Holding on while letting go
We didn’t know the things we didn’t know
Didn't know the things we didn't know
Didn't know the things we didn't know
Didn't know the things we didn't know
|
||||
10. |
THE TRUTH
01:35
|
|||
|
I write it down with clever lines
With melodies and rhymes
To try to make some sense of it
To find a way to make it fit
But the truth is
You fucking left me without warning
And I was forced to face myself
This will take time
I sit alone and write
And wonder if
You think of me at night
This is not a work of art, it's a fucking diary
You said you never wanted songs about you
I left part of my soul in Colorado
|
||||
Joe Sorensen Des Moines, Iowa
In the veins of Howie Day, Ed Sheeran, Ingrid Michaelson, and Augustana, Joe Sorensen has been releasing pop-, rock-, folk- influenced albums since his 2008, self-produced, debut. Using piano, acoustic guitar, vocals, and heart, Joe tells stories in the form of songs to remind us that “We are all just people / Beauty, blood, and bones / We are all just people / Scared to die alone." ... more
Joe Sorensen recommends:
A Black Mile To The Surface
by manchester orchestra
This album is perfect. The lyrics, the music, the production, the stories. This album is a tapestry of sound and soul -- honest and brutal and beautiful and timeless. Definitely check it out.
go to album
Commit This To Memory
by Motion City Soundtrack
I remember making an edited version of this album so I could listen to it without getting in trouble for the language. This album is the reason I like punk/pop/rock and bought an electric. Classic.
go to album
After Night Came Sun
by Ryanhood
A lesser-known band, Ryanhood is a group everyone should check out. Their lyricism is spot on, and their musicianship is impressive. This album -- and all their others -- helped me immensely.
go to albumIf you like Joe Sorensen, you may also like:
such bad things happen
by Levi Fuller & the Library
Turbulent indie rock from Levi Fuller & the Library that has the snarl of hardcore and the knotty meter of math rock.
go to album
The Edge of the Land
by Katie Spencer
Spencer's indie folk sophomore album was recorded live in the studio over the course of two days.
go to album
featured on Bandcamp Radio Dec 6, 2022
go to album
