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Chemical Friends

by Nyles Lannon

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ampelios
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ampelios I miss y'all, please do more. <3 This album is still a big part of some of my happiest memories. And not for any big reason... I mainly listened to it while walking to Trader Joe's. It was just a good time for me and I still check for new work every so often. Favorite track: Cruel.
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1.
The Catch 04:18
I hear her voice and visualize the eyes She knows what the signs are, she makes the dream true I play with the stereo, look around her room She spies all night, stays in the pursuit Feel what you need to, I don't feel the same Freedom if you want it, don’t take mine away and it's alright you say, I can't change you This is the right day to start another way So much you hide from How you throw your life away The zone you seek, you'll always be alone So much you hide from How you throw your life away The zone you seek, you'll always be alone
2.
always searching, looking for the one to wrap your soul around sing the one name as you let go the fear of dying, you're on your way endless love and you say you're gonna turn time around never question your bitter chemical friend you can finally lose yourself and take your medicine God's with you now you're flying setting your controls for the sun eternal fire fighting for your chance to live in the world you want
3.
Hollow Heart 03:16
so you're up all night and I cant find the right words to say how things trouble you all the time these days do you miss those times when you had someone to blame for all those butterflies that would pick on you sometimes we can laugh it all away other times we can't shake it all day can't you see I can't take this time without you don't say you won't be there no more I can promise you you'll soon fill the space in your hollow heart sometimes we can laugh it all away other times we can't shake it all day can't you see I can't take this time without you don't say you won't be there no more I can promise you you'll soon fill the space in your hollow heart
4.
My Last Breath close your eyes and pray that it's a dream isolate ourselves what does it mean will they take our souls shadows have come alive crystal in the sky I meet the spider's eye we have seen the future we make the stars divide our waves make lines in space with infinite suns forever moving on say goodbye I don’t mind, I will take my last breath to the sky I don’t mind, I will take my last breath say goodbye you don’t care, you just took your last breath to the sky I don’t care, I will take my last breath
5.
love was never enough that's a lesson we had to learn cause we held on maybe a bit too long can you be a friend where have you gone where can we begin you're gonna find someone "be your own self and you will find direction" I can hear you breathing while you sleep but I know you're not dreaming of me can you be a friend where have you gone where can we begin you're gonna find someone "be your own self and you will find direction"
6.
Beached 03:11
play with me your fashion saved the day you knew this was gonna happen fading face of a girl I didnt know three days before watching waves flow give yourself I didn’t know what I would find we didn’t know it would be right you didn’t know alright
7.
Demons 04:22
Name things that I do that make this hard for you I'll do anything to make this work for you Can you hear the sound reflection can we use the sound perception can we be the science exception love our little demons Can you hear the sound reflection can we use the sound perception can we be the science exception love our little demons and I know something: I cant be alone again and I know something: I cant be alone again
8.
Spy 04:47
now you follow your commands out of time, you're losing touch watch the final parade write a letter to yourself hold your head, don't let go thoughts you’ll carry to the grave you learn to hide your fear and you believe you're the one known by everyone your face is a stone as you climb up on your new throne and let it be known that the time is now to surrender you learn to hide your fear and you believe you're the one it’s known by everyone
9.
infinite mile on the road I found the lesson so hard to grasp expose what’s been hidden the hours we share on the island where we listen to those 80's songs and sing of devotion you try to find the pulse, the blood is dreamy the powers that you have to twist your words around and make new sounds and record what you have seen all the shadows are brightened by your shine can you read the stars do you fear the voices will draw you into the void well it's the nature of things do you fear the voices will draw you into the void well it's the nature of things can you read the stars the secret's in our hearts now
10.
Cruel 04:35
react the same choose to see exactly what you wanted please decide for me- the fool is blind it's hard to see the lost time and mental energy its in the way you can't be free from your beliefs state what you need refuse to compromise and leave the thoughts and the rules that own you don’t be cruel you tend to do what comes natural when it's all still new always thinking your sorry side that's just your way, it's all what you do it's time to see through the lies open the skies above your troubled mind say it's alright, now it's easier alone see the path you're on - clear of damaged souls and on to an ocean and all that lies beyond you've come so far don’t be cruel you tend to do what comes natural when it's all still new always thinking your sorry side that's just your way, it's all what you do it's time to see through the lies open the skies above your troubled mind
11.
Yeah it's easy to ignore subtle signs when working like a dog And it's so easy to focus all the time on things we don’t have but it's so easy to disappear with you and spend the day alive it's so easy to fall into the groove that we naturally design feeling low, what’s on your mind tell you what - there’s countless times I try I’m just trying to see this through I'll close the book on this chapter soon that's why can I freak you out before we call it a day it's not too late to carry on yeah freak me out

about

Listening to Chemical Friends is the aural equivalent of receiving a full-body massage outdoors at twilight in a gently pulsing mid-summer shower while R2-D2 recites Shakespearean sonnets to you in his unintelligible but comforting robotic chirp. San Francisco-based Nyles Lannon (who thought it would be pretty cool to see his first initial in lower-case) has taken a break from his slowcore band, Film School, in order to record the most depressingly gorgeous album since Elliott Smith’s Either/Or. The Smith comparison is a fairly obvious one and doesn’t require a press release to figure out, but there’s a confessional tenor to Lannon’s songwriting here that necessitates a measure of vocal restraint. Fortunately, his voice attains the gossamer pre-dawn quality of Sam Beam’s without veering into the coffeehouse kitsch of Ben Gibbard’s girlish yelp.

Constructed from the ground up, Chemical Friends’ abundance of robust, finger-picked acoustic guitar lines provide most of the sonic foundation while subtle electronic effects glisten, whirr, scratch, pop, whiz or sigh in a trancey New Age euphoria. I can’t say exactly when it happened but, somewhere along the way, practitioners of electronic music (Lannon dodges the bullet here) bought into the filthy lie that a conglomeration of individually cool sounds must guarantee an exponentially cooler album. The math seems to work. But if you wrap all your pretty blinking colored lights around the naked branches of a Douglas fir’s cadaver, your toddler is still going to bawl when she scampers downstairs on Christmas morning.

There’s gotta be a song underneath. If there’s no song, if you’re just indulging a noodling fetish, close the lid on your PowerBook this second and go put in an application at Starbucks. Especially if you live in the Bay Area. Because I have a feeling my friend Nyles will be showing up to order a double espresso from you when he’s staying up all night working on his next ambient masterpiece. And—look at me when I’m talking to you—you better straighten out your forest-green apron and pass it across the counter with a smile, dammit, or I’ll have a word with your manager - Jason Killingsworth, PASTE MAGAZINE

credits

released June 8, 2004

Nyles Lannon: guitar, vocals, programming.

All songs written, recorded and produced by Nyles Lannon.

Mastered by Audible Oddities.

Recorded at home.

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about

Nyles Lannon San Francisco, California

SF based songwriter and composer Nyles Lannon has released 4 albums. His debut album ‘Chemical Friends’ (2004) is offered here, a classic of lo-fi bedroom rock.

His more recent work is with his band and has a more expansive band oriented sound.

He is also the guitarist in Film School, a band that he first joined in 2002.
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