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Keeper of Reality

by Night Hikes

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1.
Ethereal Shore 04:28
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There's a place Is it only in a dream There's a face Of a woman I have seen I'm alone But my grandmothers are calling to me And the crone Steals the panic from under my feet Give me strength And a pocketful of herbs Give me grace And a handful of her words And a prayer To the ones we only see in the dark I am scared I'll explode from just the tiniest spark Say I've gone wild I'm not the only one Say I've gone wild I'm not the only one I'm at home In the deepest ocean blue I am known For the things I will not do I can hold All the spirits who have been here before When I'm old Find me walking that ethereal shore Say I've gone wild I'm not the only one Say I've gone wild I'm not the only one
2.
Feeling for Your Bones 03:39
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Close your eyes Every mirror in sight Like an echo in your brain Turn on the radio Criticize Everybody is fine They pretend to be the same Feeling for your bones This is not your shame Hit the floor Just another surprise Have you lost a little weight Holding onto fear Keeping score Are you crossing the line Is it something that you ate Just another year This is not your shame You're just caught in the middle Please don't take the blame For your bones getting brittle You can win this game But still lose every other Give it one more day There's still time to recover You're not the child that you once were In a room where you don't belong You've got to deal with the future It's a choice what you carry on You're not the child that you once were (Say goodbye, love) In a room where you don't belong (Don't believe the lie above) You've got to deal with the future (Find your home in red and gold) It's a choice what you carry on (Feel your heart and not your bones) Say goodbye, love Say goodbye, love Say goodbye, love Say goodbye, love
3.
Vision Never Waits 04:57
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Secret garden Stay a while A summer bloom I'll put a flower in your hair And bend the light Stay out all night Just to be with you You were such a sweet surprise I never knew I'll be the truth to your dare And memorize The lullabies In the way you move Strange how emotion Can turn the heart astray But vision never waits Swayed by a notion of another way I'll meet you at our place I'm not keeping up with time I'm everywhere Sun pouring down from the sky Strange how emotion Can turn the heart astray But vision never waits Swayed by a notion of another way I'll meet you at our place Secret garden alive and awake Worlds collide as we groove in the rain
4.
Keeper of Reality 04:21
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Slow bloom at your fingertips Like a low moon calling in the ships It could drive you mad It's a soft moan falling from your lips Light lands where you want it to Your hands don't know what they do And it grows all night Won't you let love give it back to you? You are the keeper of reality Blessed by an ordinary mind Fall through space Fall through space Fall through space Fall through space
5.
Phantom 04:23
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My father was a pilot He danced above the clouds He spent his youth in service Among the few and proud I know it wasn't easy Being gone for months on end He missed a lot of birthdays We worried half to death But he was a good, good man My father was a sailor He sailed across the sea He made it into harbor But he couldn't get through to me It wasn't that I liked it Being jealous and uptight I saw how much it hurt him When my brother and I would fight But he was a patient man He was a patient man My father was the anchor Through sickness and in health Who kept us all together Never thinking of himself These days we have our distance The wound is healing slow And though we cannot tell him We all want him to know He did his very best He was the very best Holding on another night Holding on to see you in another life
6.
Heaven Only Knows 04:04
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Adding up the days you've been gone Haven't felt the rain in so long Dreaming of the taste of strawberry wine Something in the way it goes down Mesmerize me babe, you know how While I meditate on blowing your mind I want you to see me fall apart I want you to know my rough heart Give you all I got with nothing to hide Say you wanna make my walls drop Anything you like, just don't stop Heaven only knows what we're gonna find There's a time but there is no place So meet me by the staircase And I'll tell you everything that you want me to
7.
Firebreak 04:22
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Tell your mother in time Something that you thought you would find Hidden like a kingdom behind a wall Tender touch of her hand Love only as much as you can It's not all your fault When are we gonna find it? When are we gonna find each other? All that you could've said Losing love that you never had Grieving for the woman you could not know Gotta give it to you Holding onto what you've been through It's a lonely ghost When are we gonna find it? When are we gonna find each other? Now I carry the seed Bury what I cannot repeat Promise that it's ending with me today So let us do what we must Picking up the pieces of us I'm the firebreak When are we gonna find it? When are we gonna find each other? When are we gonna find it? When are we gonna find each other? When are we gonna find When are we gonna try something new? When are we gonna let go and find each other? When are we gonna find When are we gonna try something new? When are we gonna let go and find each other? When are we gonna let go and find each other? When are we gonna let go and find each other?
8.
Southern Lightning 05:00
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When we get home there'll be snow Midnight bright when the lights hang low I'm as weightless as a skipping stone When I look at you and I just know Sweet southern lighting Kind eyes like waterfalls Late night Sunday driving You're a quiet miracle Chase the sun and find a place to grow Hide in forests of the northern coast I'm a woman when I take it slow I'll be waiting for the overflow Sweet southern lighting Kind eyes like waterfalls Late night Sunday driving You're a quiet miracle
9.
Light Years 05:00
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Laughing in a daydream In your eyes I see the sun Velvet memory Everything that I've seen I still know that you're the one It's a soft reverie Oh but nobody's found The moment when the moment falls away Love What happens when the story starts again Will I still find you in the haze? Crossing through the unknown Spanning light years in a smile No rules anymore Folding in a time zone Need you right here for a while It's a long way to go Oh but nobody's found The moment when the moment falls away Love What happens when the story starts again Will I still find you in the haze?

about

Amidst the disorienting array of competing realities that has made the 2020s feel like a time outside of time, Olivia Godby and Matthew Farrell often find themselves struggling to make sense of it all. After the release of their debut studio album Chalice in late 2019, the duo were eagerly finalizing a run of shows when Farrell presciently predicted that a spring tour might not be possible. Several months later when this proved true, the pair returned to the songwriting that originally united them, weaving together 9 songs that would become 2023’s Keeper of Reality.

It wasn’t anxiety or disillusionment that underpinned the duo’s inspiration for Keeper, but rather the dizzying speed with which any shred of a shared societal narrative began to fall apart, seemingly never to return. In the face of such uncertainty, songwriting required an even greater act of faith, both in each other and in better times ahead. Transmitting across the ether, a densely layered, deeply felt sound began to take shape. Late nights (and many actual night hikes) found the duo totally immersed in imbuing the kinds of endearing melodies found on Chalice standouts “Belltown” and “Avila” with a sense of grit, urgency, and drive. This developing sound they lovingly coined “stargaze” music - shoegaze, but with an upward, outward lens.

The band recruited Erik Blood, celebrated sorcerer from the Black Constellation and producer for Shabazz Palaces, to rein the songs back in and steep them in his ruddy, grounding production. With Blood assisting remotely, Godby and Farrell recorded themselves over several months in their shared practice room. This unhurried pace allowed for copious experimentation with guitar feedback and layering. The duo tracked hallowed Marshall and Vox amps at full blast to harness as much sonic chaos as possible, monitoring themselves with earbuds underneath construction earmuffs. Emerging from this chamber of noise after a lengthy session, the two often felt their internal frequencies would take days to normalize. Blood served as the unclouded perspective, confirming from afar when they had gotten it right, and nudging them to try again when he felt there was more to uncover. Among many creative contributions, his encouraging of Godby and Farrell to sing in unison was especially vital as the album took shape, leading the pair toward a deeper commingling of their creative visions than ever before. What eventually emerged was a shoegaze record that shimmered with the lyrical clarity of a band with a story to tell.

Through meditations on love, mysticism, family ties, and collective liberation, Keeper of Reality explores the relationships that breathe life into us, broaden our perspectives, and keep us from tumbling down the rabbit hole of imagined realities vying for our attention. Lead single “Ethereal Shore” is out May 26th and is accompanied by a video from filmmaker Christin Turner, whose impressionistic use of color and light blends past with present, honoring ancient ritual through a modern retelling. The band will announce a West Coast tour to follow the record’s July 21st release.

credits

released July 21, 2023

All songs written and recorded by Olivia Godby and Matthew Farrell
Produced and mixed by Erik Blood, LA
Mastered by Josh Bonati, NYC

Cover art by Jamie Jones

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Night Hikes San Francisco, California

Stargazing music.

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