Born from a DIY lo-fi vortex with a bottle up and explode mentality, these  roots inspired southern spiritual anthems showcase Jack Harlan at his gritty best. Created collaboratively with artist Jonathan Anderson in the early days of his studio work, these songs are built on the exploration of experimental sounds with expansive finishes. Jon has always been truly gifted, magical and quick to catch the moment.

In the fall of 2000, I retreated into the vortex underground with a bottle up and exploded mentality in recording a bunch of new songs. I had just finished college and had from what I can remember some pretty crazy late night prowess that also fuelled my ambitions. It was a dark time for me. I was burning for some way to find what truly would make me content, although at the time I was way too intense and reckless to know what was good for me. Much like the other songs, Burning Star was of that desperation. Built with myself and co-creator Jonathan Anderson, this was in the early days of his studio work and we just went for it with whatever tools we had. All I remember is that my headphones were so loud that the sound was bleeding into the vocal track that I was laying down.  Jon has always been a truly gifted musician, magical and quick to catch the right moment for a performer. He allowed to me unleash my soul, raw and tortured at the time as it was.

I always come back to these recordings, they inspire me to keep trucking, to be reminded that something can come from nothing. That it makes no difference what you have done, it is the passion and drive from the dirt and disappointment where you pick yourself up and do great work full of conviction. Around this time (so foggy, but in those days, let’s just say good reason to be) I was also in the weeds of big recording contract with Nettwerk Records working on Carnival of Mystery… long story short, I never really gave Scintilla what it needed. Excited to be finally releasing it almost 18 years later.

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  • Release date2000
  • FormatDigital MP3
ALBUM LYRICS

Down to the River

Standing in a hallway
Of an Empire of Emptiness
There’s an October wind through my doorway
Like a ghost of the wilderness
Well my existence is tremblin’ right down to my bone
When you really get down to it
All I got left is silver and gold

I’m going down to the river
In the pale moonlight
If my Lord it don’t deliver
The river’s gonna swallow me tonight

When I was much younger
Hey man I never count a wasted day
Just always bought another
When you’re young you buy
The days with pocket change
Had a hand full of women
And a diamond cane at my side
Now these days when I’m taking the women home
There just ain’t no honey in their pie

That’s why I’m going down to the river
In the pale moonlight
If my lord it don’t deliver
That river’s gonna swallow me tonight

God send me a word
And won’t you make it straight and true
I don’t care what it is
As long as it ain’t something that I’m used to

Got an imported ceiling
I got seven guest rooms
Ten different tailors
My clothes have been woven on a golden loom
I got everything you probably ever wanted
But that’s all my life can lend
I got a million connections
But I ain’t got no friends

So I’m going down to the river
In the pale moonlight
If my Lord it don’t deliver
The river’s gonna swallow me tonight

Burning Star

I am disgusted with my point of view
My unwillingness to let go of
Things that teach nothing new
This is the moment to remember
This is the moment to forget
My life is either a miracle
Or a mistake they failed to catch

Like a burning star
Like a burning star

Crawlin’ out of the ashes
Of our desperate neurotic love
I don’t know why I left you
Just tired of something I can’t understand
I’m looking for a home
But home ain’t a place I ever want to be
Got to get something change something
Something has got to give

Like a burning star
Like a burning star

Wasted in the late hour
Without a compass or moral
My mouth is full of garbage
My eroticism is on the shelf
Bluebirds flying in and out of my conscience
They’re there to justify when I hurt someone
I’m the first one to be honest
Except when it comes to myself

Like a burning star
Like a burning star

Wrestling with Cain

Why haven’t you shown favour?
Why does my song fall on deaf ears?
Trees grow tall all around me
I’m in the decay of the morning dew

Waiting with all the warnings
The echo of my name
I have lost my patience
That’s why I’ve been wrestling with Cain

Your wisdom it leaves me hanging
You’re out of touch with all these aspirations
What is the point to go on pleasing
Oh my Lord I am out of range

I have given my all, time after time
But I still got one thing left to give
A great divide between the losers
And the losers who find anyway to win

Ain’t No Satisfaction

Well, Well, Well
Won’t you bring me some water
My hands are just about fallin’ off of this plough
Hard to understand why I’ve been
Held by sorrow
There ain’t no satisfaction in tomorrow

Well I’m prayin’ on my mother
Got a fever in my head and salt in my eyes
I crawl on a bloody knee through
The misty moonlit forest
Beneath 57 dead lilies her body lies

Chorus

Well I’m prayin’ on my father
I’m hear to tell em’ that these shoes I’m walkin’ in ain’t no better than his
He’s off somewhere pissin’ off of some
Bar room table
Or pissed off swingin’ his everlasting pitiful fist

Chorus

Well I’m prayin’ on some sweet stranger
Come heal the disease beneath my chest
They see not the deuce I’ve been dealt
Only danger
Scared there might be a joker concealed beneath my vest

Chorus

Devil’s Bed

Desert in your eyes
Vacancy in your room
Stain each other’s bellies
With the milk of the moon

Sleepin’ in a Devil’s Bed

I’m going nowhere
You’re going nowhere too
Let’s spend the night together
Do the things that nowhere people do
Sleepin’ in a Devil’s Bed

Stars have gone out
And the satellite is dead
I kind of like that funny feelin
I’m getting’ in both of my heads

Sleepin’ in a Devil’s Bed