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about
Welcome and thanks for listening.
The Air on Earth is a musical project chronicling the passage of time and many stages of life, both significant and not. Written and recorded over several years, the songs themselves reflect these stages in feeling and maturity. Sentimental and perhaps distorted, each song is a source of nostalgia and reflects a moment in time.
credits
Songs written and recorded by Nick Ball.
Captured between the years of 2011 and 2015, mostly in a bedroom in either Eau Claire, WI or San Francisco, CA.
Mixed and mastered by Zach Hanson.
Audio streaming from Soundcloud.
Source code for the site available from Github.
lyrics
Ghost
All my orchids now pull me away
Carry the weight
Follow wild flowers, float into light
Fill in the sky
In the quickness I am defined, grasping for life
Boring deeply into my mind
Now I see the ghosts
They have outgrown me
They are deserted
Ribbon swing, wrapped, bundled leaves
Beg me to rest
Beg me to stay
In the courage I left behind you are alive
In the forage I couldn’t find you are designed
To blur the white to black and back
To reach up and touch
To know the truth and never look back
Running towards you with a hole in my head
I can see much clearer now
I’m the one leaving
It was my fate just to carry you in
I can see much clearer now
But I’ll never understand
____
Nick Ball - voice / guitar / percussion / trombone
Sean Carey - drums
Zach Hanson - bass
Katie McFaul - voice
Second Skin
Climb, and we all were swans
In the autumn wild
We become entwined
Candlelight always in her eyes
Candlelight always in her skies
Glide, and we’re all aligned
And I fall behind
To behold your flight
Candlelight always in her eyes
Candlelight always in her skies
____
Nick Ball - voice / guitar / programming / field recording
Sean Carey - drums
Zach Hanson - bass
Ben Lester - programming
Reflection
My peace is watching on
And I come often to dream of falling
My hate is falling off
And I breathe it in and breathe it out
My home is all I’ve got
And I fall often to keep on falling
My only harbored light is the beauty that lives
On and on
____
Nick Ball - voice / piano / guitar
Farewell
All enhoused in my hand
All the air on the earth
I covered the spread of the land
Best I could
On my way before I fall
Breaking my heart on every inch of it
Breaking my heart
This is how we fall in
____
Nick Ball - voice / piano / guitars / programming
Zach Hanson - bass
Ben Lester - programming
Stillness
My beliefs, slowly out of sync inside of my hand
At my age I wring my body out just to forget
If I ever was, I’ve lived enough
Scattered myself
Waited on more
And I forgive all my other fights
I was a better man once
But I moved on
You and I
We are this instant
Tear the rest down
Down to the ground
We can wait
We can watch it happen
Or feel it all now
If I ever was, I’ve lived enough
Scattered myself
Waited on more
And I forgive all my other fights
I was a better man once
But I moved on
But I moved on
____
Nick Ball - voice / guitars / percussion
Zach Hanson - bass
Ben Lester - pedal steel
Young Guns
The only sun swimming in to me
I am in love with you here
I am endless swell
The coldest touch carries us outward
We are in awe of this drift
We are a glowing blend
Drip on a palm
Catching it all when the fall ends it
You were in shimmering light
You were my only guide
Your love, hold it in your chest
Fold it in your arms
Never end
Your love, hold it in your chest
Fold it in your arms
And lead me in to you
____
Nick Ball - voice / guitars / trombone
Sean Carey - voice / percussion
Jeremy Boettcher - upright bass
Ben Lester - pedal steel
Innocent
We look down on ourselves
Holding on to anyone we can
Pushing through the fallen rock
Leaving home
Peeling off the second skin
The innocence
We are never honest
All that I’m discovering
Right beside me
We were only seventeen
We knew
Breaking down the barriers
Leaving home
Peeling off the second skin
The innocence
We are never honest
We are never honest
We are never honest
____
Nick Ball - voice / guitars
Sean Carey - voice
Jeremy Boettcher - upright bass
Wake
When I was younger I lost my faith
You told me,
“Brother, you’ll know when you’re my age”
And even though that day has come
And I still do not
You are still my hope
My pushing off
You are here
Arms across
I cannot bear to see my father
This is not fair
I’m not at peace
But I clearly see what needs to be done
When we’re breathless
When the love hits
We’re all the same
____
Nick Ball - voice / guitars / piano
Sean Carey - drums
own
The songs are available only as a digital download. They can be purchased directly via iTunes or Loudr.
Streaming available via Soundcloud and Spotify, Apple Music.
