Get all 11 The High Dials releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of A New Devotion (20th Anniversary Edition), Primitive Feelings - Part II, Primitive Feelings - Part I, Foreverish, In the A.M. Wilds, Desert Tribe EP, Yestergraves EP, Anthems For Doomed Youth, and 3 more.
1. |
Diamonds In The Dark
03:08
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I live in the sky
Safe and very high
When the morning comes, I must come down through the door
And give myself to you, earn my living and grow poor
But I have found a cave
Where dreams still crystallize
Like diamonds in the dark
Can you see them in my eyes?
This is how I have survived
We work in the sky
Safe and very high
When the evening comes, then you come down through the door
You can’t measure what you lose, and you wonder what it’s for
So you crawl in the dark
Shutting out all you despise
Sell your hands, but save your heart
This is how you have survived
This is how you have survived
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2. |
The Dead Hand
02:41
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Feel your lack of volition
Freedom is just an illusion
There is a hand
Like a ceiling that holds you down
There’s no action
We’re words upon the page
Written by a hand beyond this age…
Run about inside this maze
Built by men in different days
There’s no plan
No way to make your escape
A hand guides the way
See this science-fiction
See our true condition
There is a hand
Like a magnet that holds you down
There’s no action
We’re words upon the page
Written by a hand beyond this age…
This is
The dead hand
This is
The dead hand
This is
The dead hand
This is
The dead hand
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3. |
City Rivers
02:53
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Flowing through the tunnels
Like grains of polished sand
We turn the turbines,
Power the pistons and
Every day we write our numbers
In the books and official ledgers
Flowing quiet
Like a river
Singing gently
Of forever
Endless link to endless futures
Flowing forward, city rivers
Flowing quiet
Like a river
Singing gently
Of forever
Endless link to endless futures
Flowing forward, city rivers
Say you haven’t heard our voices
Say you haven’t run out of choices
Girl, you know it’s yourself you’re deluding
City rivers
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4. |
Hello Boy
02:12
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“Hello, boy
You’ll be starting today
Hello, boy
All your training is paid
Hello, boy
Here we value your time
Hello, boy
On your weekends, unwind
Hello, boy
Here we work as a team
Hello, boy
I take sugar and cream
Hello, boy
There is much you will learn
Hello, boy
Here is what you will earn
They have got it all worked out for you
A ten-year plan that will
Break your back and resolve
Hello, boy
Have you met Mr. Brown?
Hello, boy
He will show you around
Hello, boy
Here we value your say
Hello, boy
Have a wonderful day
Hello, boy
See the wonderful view?
Hello, boy
Many people like you
Hello, boy
It’s a place to begin
Hello, boy
On the life you must win
They have got it all worked out for you
A ten-year plan that will
Break your back and resolve”
Haven’t I to need the reason?
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5. |
Desiderata
05:24
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I was a boy in a place not far from here
Walled in from the noise,
There my nights were dark and clear
Sweet suburban blackness
Beautiful and true
Nights like midnight masses
Silent offerings to you
Now I’m a hologram
An image of the man I used to be
At seventeen
Speak to me
Set me free
Blind me with the boyhood myth
I seek in you
Can I return?
Can I unlearn?
Oh I know it’s wrong
But I still go on crawling back to you
Crawling back to you
Crawling back to you
I was a boy in a house not far from here
I played the saddest joy
You put music in my ear
Shapeless teen desire
Alcoholic dream
Flow through headphone wires
Love me do and set me free
Now I’m a hologram
An image of the man I used to be
At seventeen
Used to be
Used to be
Used to be
I see the seasons passing
I feel the weight of wasted years
I’m frightened by the feeling
There is another city here
And I can’t find the exit
Cause there’s no way out on my feet
There is a new devotion
I must find it in my sleep…
Sleep
Sleep
Sleep
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6. |
T.V. Mystic
01:48
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Shadows fall through the windows of office halls
Another day ends, twilight falls
The city looms large
I feel small
A quiet drink, a vacant stare and then
Down in the tunnels I go again
Up on the ground
Night begins
I reach my door and turn the key
Darkness surrounds me like a sea
Except for the light of my t.v.
Floating in space I start to dream
Sunlight comes to break my dream apart
But something stirred inside my heart
Awakens as
The new day starts
In the streets the waking waters rise
And wash me in upon the tide
The new day waits
I don’t arrive…
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7. |
Antenna
03:36
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I am adrift
In the wind
In the streets
I came undone
Where the ground
And tunnels meet
And my mind is receiving…
all the unuttered dreams of the…
…people crowding my mind with their…
…scattered hopes and desires…
And my mind is receiving…
all the unuttered dreams of the…
…people crowding my mind…
…pushing out all reflection and soft-spoken words of belief
Have you ever had the feeling
Speaking is the meaning
Not the words?
Have you ever had the feeling
Speaking is the meaning
Not the words?
Resonating on a common band
Resonating all across the land
And my mind is receiving…
all the unuttered dreams of the…
…people crowding my mind with their…
…scattered hopes and desires…
And my mind is receiving…
all the unuttered dreams of the…
…people crowding my mind…
…pushing out all reflection and soft-spoken words of belief
All together now
That sound is freedom of the mind
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8. |
Can You Hear The Bells?
03:00
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Sad to
Hear what I hear
So sharp and clear
Like a ringing in my ear
Words reach
They bend and greet
But never meet
Hear them echo in the street
Ringing in separate keys
Major, minor, F and C
Ringing in separate keys
Apparent to me, apparent to me
Can you hear the bells ring?
Stop and listen to
The sound of people
Hear them ring
So very sad to
Hear the things that I hear
Sounding without answer
Far and near
Dreaming separate dreams
Major, minor, F and C
Dreaming separate dreams
Apparent to me, apparent to…
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9. |
Fields In Glass
03:25
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I see in glass windows
Fields in glass
Where the sun shines
On the broken and displaced
I say there’s a garden
There are fields
Where the sun shines
Fields in glass for everyone
I see revolving doorways
In the glass
Where the sun shines
Fields in glass for everyone
Someday I’ll go
Through the glass
And be free
In the sun
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10. |
Save The Machine!
05:05
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The machine
The machine that gives me life
Oh, I fear the day the tubes will burst
And sunshine sting my eyes
Save the machine!
It’s obscene
To hear you talk of breaking free
How I fear the day the hum will end
And silence fill my ears
Save the machine!
Oh, why can’t you see
We are one with the machine
Two as one in breathing
Safe in our collective dream
The machine
The machine that gives me life
How I fear the day it slips away
And winds down in the night
Save the machine!
Oh, why can’t you see
We are one with the machine
When you change your thinking
You will be at peace like me
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11. |
Leaving Alphaville
02:24
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“I was a simple man
Till I stumbled on to their plan
It was a rainy evening
And on the ceiling shadows played
It was hard to abandon all my ways
I tried hard
Yeah, to learn to love this place”
Another sleepless night,
As the dark gives shape to your fright
What is this empty feeling
This sense of leaving the light?
And the people
Blow about this town like leaves
And the people
Go on living, go on breathing
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12. |
Silas, Please Come Home
02:19
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“You cannot just disappear
A future waits, your home is here
All your doubt and all your sorrow
Might vanish in the air tomorrow
Your mother is concerned
If you’re there pick up the telephone
We wait for your return,
Please remember you are not alone
Silas, please come home
Don’t be frightened to
Silas, please come home
Don’t be frightened to”
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13. |
My Heart Is Black
03:15
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My heart is black
The landscape’s poison to my eyes
Full of lies, false persuasion
I wear a mac
The rain is poison to my skin
The streets have spies they will crush you
Make a mockery of pride
Crush and forget you
Everyone says it’s my perception
But everything I know comes through my senses
The black I see falls over me and you
Corrupting all that’s rare but true
Oh!
My heart is black
I roam the city, there’s no peace
Still I try, still I reason
I wear a mac
The rain is poison to my skin
They’ll draw you in and deceive you
Draw you in with their deceit
Trick and deceive you
Everyone says it’s my perception
But everything I know comes through my senses
The black I see falls over me and you
Corrupting all that’s rare but true
Oh!
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14. |
The Birds
02:31
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Beautiful and strange up in the blue
Pointing out some way for me and you
Shadows changing patterns
Forming secret words
What can they be saying?
(Ask the birds)
I am winding down towards my fate
I will disappear without a trace
Shadows changing patterns
Forming secret words
What can they be saying?
(Ask the birds)
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15. |
Surrender
03:53
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Please cease all subversive tactics
(Yes, master, yes, master)
We have crushed all your friends and allies
(Yes, master, yes, master)
Come on, come on, come on
Strike your plans for a counter attack
The day is ours
You must learn to adapt to reality
Lay down your arms
And surrender to the voice
Lay down your arms
And surrender, girls and boys
(Yes, master, yes, master)
Lay down your arms
And surrender to the voice
Lay down your arms
And surrender, girls and boys
Come on, come on, come on
Strike your plans for a counter attack
The day is ours
You must learn to adapt to reality
Lay down your arms
And surrender your future
Lay down your arms
All you beggars and choosers
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16. |
Assassins
04:36
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Sweetness
I am backed into a corner
I am out of moves
Sunday
Sparrows sang of a disaster
Open the bottle and pass it around
Sheets of rain fall into the night
Over streets and houses
Sounds of unsheathing, the glint of a knife
As the city closes
Falling down upon the ground
Low, low, low
Down, down, down
Low, low, low
Down, down, down
Scimitar handshakes that twist in my side
Thrust from darkened hallways
Sinister smiles, so hard and so bright
Thrust from darkened hallways
Lying still upon the ground
Low, low, low
Down, down, down
Low, low, low
Down, down, down
I retreat
And stumble out beneath descending roses
Destiny has passed me by
And I don’t know why…
I am low
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17. |
St. Marie
02:48
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In the streetlights dimming
She is like a ghost
Calling me forth with her hand
In the glow of 4am
I’m wide awake
Staggering home drunk again
Sitting in my sitting room
Revolving once again
I am the axis the house turns on
Night is fading, masquerading
Blowing me its kiss
Find me on the staircase and whisk me off to bed
Images come flooding up
Out of the fading blue
Soon the dawn will break and they will vanish in the sun
Bells are ringing, choirs singing
Flooding through the house
Find me on the landing and whisk me off to bed
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18. |
Sweetness And Light
02:31
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19. |
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Wake to morning’s white vibration
White electricity
Feel the moment’s white sensation
Washing over me
Humming in the silver leaves
Buzzing in the insects’ summer sound
Oscillating in the wind
Coursing through the fabric of the ground
The world is new
The world is here for you
The world is new
The world is here for you
Wake to evening’s white transmission
Particles in stream
Coursing through the copper lines
And penetrating dreams
Pulsing in the paling glow
Streetlights drinking deep from supple ground
Generating in the dark
Steady static signal makes no sound
The world is new
The world is here for you
The world is new
The world is here for you
Wake to morning’s white vibration
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20. |
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21. |
Regeneration
02:48
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Rest in the sun brings regeneration
Soaking in the sea brings regeneration
Love of a girl brings regeneration
Deep inner peace brings regeneration
Sweetness and light brings regeneration
Music breaking time brings regeneration
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The High Dials Montréal, Québec
The High Dials are an indie pop band from Montreal.
While their melodic sensibility, harmonies and jangling
guitars owe an obvious debt to the 60s and power pop groups, they also draw upon shoegaze, new wave and folk sounds to create rich and varied albums. Their most recent album “Primitive Feelings” is a predatory summer mix of lo-fi grooves, acid rock guitars and razor-sharp humour.
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