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Project Blackbird

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    • LYRICS
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True Names

True Names

Project Blackbird

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This is our third album as Project Blackbird. It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here.

Some of you might be wondering about the title, so before you put on your headphones or open up the lyrics, here's a Read more
This is our third album as Project Blackbird. It's been a long time coming, but it's finally here.

Some of you might be wondering about the title, so before you put on your headphones or open up the lyrics, here's a quick note about the concept of "true names” - a theme that comes courtesy of the writer Ursula K Le Guin.

In Le Guin's fictional realm of Earthsea, identity is multi-faceted and mysterious; there are selves and shadow selves; and a living thing's true name, its essence, is a source of profound power, vulnerability, and consequence. To be given another's true name is to exchange "that gift that only a friend can give, proof of unshaken, unshakeable trust". To give one's own is to allow oneself to be seen, to be heard, to be truly known.

Though only the lyrics of the title track are directly inspired by Le Guin's writing, each of these 12 songs has its own identity and its own set of truths to share.

We hope you find something of yourself in there, too.
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    Thank You for Last Time 4:13
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  2. 2
    Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down 4:06
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  3. 3
    Equinox 4:52
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  4. 4
    Carmen 3:52
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  5. 5
    The Magic Pebble 5:00
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    True Names 4:48
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    Radical Engines 4:08
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    Such a Diffident Child 5:21
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  9. 9
    115th Street 3:37
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  10. 10
    Cassandra 4:19
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  11. 11
    Small Syllables 4:16
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  12. 12
    Listen 4:44
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Listen by Project Blackbird

Listen

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Listen
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A lilting guitar motif, hip-hop inspired rhythm section, and sultry, Sprechgesang vocals drive this song to the lakeside with the top down. “Listen” offers unexpected optimism through the introspection, and warm rays of sonic sunshine for dark and uncertain times.

This is our third single, and the final track on the album, from True Names.

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  1. 1
    Listen 4:44
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Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down by Project Blackbird

Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down

Project Blackbird

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Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down
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Like so many of their songs, Project Blackbird’s new single, “Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down," is a study in contrasts. An outwardly bright melody and cheerful laid-back groove tell one story, while the Read more

Like so many of their songs, Project Blackbird’s new single, “Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down," is a study in contrasts. An outwardly bright melody and cheerful laid-back groove tell one story, while the lyrics tell quite another.

“It might be one of our poppiest songs on the new album,” vocalist/lyricist Ming Nagel relates, “but the lyrics are written from a fairly dark place of disconnection, and are set within the context of increasingly open conversations about men’s mental health - particularly with regard to self-esteem and expressing feelings. To me, the narrator is just a bit lost; this is both an internal monologue and external cry for support and connection, as if he's calling a helpline. It’s this turmoil of trying to grapple with and articulate a sense of emotional darkness but also being trapped in a kind of emotional adolescence and wanting to just shut down.”

With Nagel’s lyrics and heartfelt delivery juxtaposed against the song’s lilting beat, and horns that hint at a New Orleans style second-line bounce, “Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down,” is multi-dimensional on a myriad of levels. It successfully tells two seemingly different stories that combine to create a new kind of Chiaroscuro Rock. (Night Train PR)

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    Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down 4:04
    Every House Gets Dark When the Sun Goes Down
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Thank You for Last Time by Project Blackbird

Thank You for Last Time

Project Blackbird

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Thank You for Last Time
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"'Thank You for Last Time,' Project Blackbird’s new single, sees the band’s shapeshifting sound subtly moving in a dub flavored direction. Echoing elements of spy-fi movie soundtracks, the band creates swirling grooves Read more

"'Thank You for Last Time,' Project Blackbird’s new single, sees the band’s shapeshifting sound subtly moving in a dub flavored direction. Echoing elements of spy-fi movie soundtracks, the band creates swirling grooves beneath a blanket of vocals that recall ‘60s French pop.

“'It was just two words in my head: time, fiction. That was the jumping off point,' notes vocalist Ming Nagel. 'I went back to Iceland a few years ago (after first going there in the '90s), and culled some of the lines in the verses and the spoken word part from a poem I wrote during that second visit. There’s a phrase in Icelandic that basically translates to "thank you for last time." It’s what Icelanders say when they bump into old friends. On the surface, the song is a love letter to Iceland; it’s an incredibly mysterious and inspiring place. On a deeper level, it’s about the elasticity of time and the process of grappling with getting older and meeting your past selves.'

"As the song unfolds like a slightly funkified casual Sunday drive, a dreamscape travelogue emerges, adding an air of mystery that hints at multiple layers of meaning beneath the surface. It’s otherworldly and earthbound all at once, defying time and creating new musical fiction." (Night Train PR)

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  1. 1
    Thank You for Last Time 4:13
    Thank You for Last Time
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IF THIS IS THE END (2021)

If This Is the End

If This Is the End

Project Blackbird

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  1. 1
    If this is the end 5:30
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  2. 2
    Baby Giant 5:15
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    Murmuration 5:00
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    Laissons cela entre nous 5:02
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  5. 5
    The handle of the spade 5:08
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    Shake these trees (feat. Lynval Golding) 4:30
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  7. 7
    Indecision 3:57
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    The Archivist 2:50
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    I name my mind and throw it treats, hoping it will become tractable 4:14
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  10. 10
    Ava my love 5:56
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  11. 11
    Speed of sound 5:37
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  12. 12
    Letter no. 5 7:12
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  13. 13
    Let love 4:51
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ENDURANCE (2018)

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