Get all 8 Olenka and the Autumn Lovers releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Higher, Moose Jaw, On The Wing, It's Alright, Hard Times EP, And Now We Sing, Papillonette, and Olenka and the Autumn Lovers.
1. |
Ballad of Lonely Bear
06:25
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It was a dark and stormy night and we were heading out of town, and mama said,
“Oh honey, don’t let it get you down. The army’s hiding; they won’t come out for another week or two. They need a legal explanation to do what they would do. But you’d best stay quiet, and clutch your favourite TOY.
“Uśpiewam ci piosenke, ale mała nie mów nic i sieć. Bo wojsko lubi spiewać, ale obce dziecko zasługuje miecz.”
And so I sat and listened carefully to everything she said, and whispered in my teddy’s ear: “I won’t abandon you for dead.” And I stayed quiet, and clutched my favourite TOY.
And now it’s over. We have a lovely house in the suburbs where it’s sane. The world is stronger. Forgotten toys are better left forgotten with the pain…
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2. |
Soldier's Waltz
03:11
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The city is buzzing
With thousands of voices:
An army of sinners
Chanting confessions.
And your voice is stronger than most
Raised in a toast to longing.
You curse at the heavenly host
Offer your boast in song and…
The city is buzzing
With thousands of engines:
An army of pilots,
Of restless avengers.
And your ship is angry and large
Leading the charge of shoulders.
You struggle with all that you’ve killed
Seeking your fill of soldiers.
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3. |
Northern Lights
03:42
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The ice is melting in the Arctic.
There’s nothing we can do about it.
The fleets are coming, fleets are coming, fleets are coming, fleets are…
Warheads gleaming in the
Northern Lights…
The ice is melting in the Arctic.
There’s nothing we can do about it.
But you’re no warmer, you’re no warmer, you’re no warmer for it…
You leave me gazing at the
Northern Lights.
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4. |
Iron Pump
01:49
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“This heart will not break; it is too tired. This heart will not ache; it is an iron pump. It pumps my blood through my veins and
arteries and nothing more.
“This house is alive with smiles and voices. This house is a testament to choices.”
Foolish lover on the street and glancing into neighbours’ windows as they sit at dinner living something more.
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5. |
Watching Neighbours
03:37
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It was snowing in the city.
I went out to buy another coffee. I felt kinda blue and kinda empty.
Nothing new. How are you?
And I’m sorry for not calling
sooner.
It was cold in the apartment,
but I guess I didn’t really notice. I was watching neighbours through the window.
Nothing new. How are you?
And I’m sorry for not calling
for not calling
sooner, sooner.
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6. |
Kochana
04:03
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Moja mała
Powiedziała
Że mnie kocha
I jak płakała
Bo mnie wojsko
Woła głośno
I odmawia
Prawa do szczęścia.
Oj moja kochana kochana kochana...
Przepraszam
Ale wyjeżdżamy dzisiaj.
My sweet lover
Please recover
From your sorrow
Soon I will return
For the army
Cannot harm me
In my spirit
However much they may yearn...
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7. |
Warsaw Girl
01:45
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Alone with you,
every night alone with you.
My Warsaw girl.
My pretty little communist.
Standing in a line.
Waiting for her daily bread.
Would I be like you?
A shadow in a smoke-filled bar?
Watch them march,
soldiers in the wintry streets.
Every now and then a…
…glance a glance.
A pretty little soldier boy.
Another chance
for meaning in this barren town.
Anything will do.
A bedroom in a concrete slum.
A narrow alleyway.
A shadow in a smoke-filled bar.
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8. |
Sing Tadzio: The Requiem
03:15
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Sing Tadzio sing
of all the things
that bring you joy
my precious boy.
Why am I so low?
Why is there no reprieve?
Why is there no reprise?
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9. |
Hushush
02:06
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Spiderwebs and suspended flies, and a vacant look in my bloodshot eyes, in an empty room full of dying air, and a funeral in your “I don’t care.”
Shopping trip to the Supermart, where a register dulls an ailing heart, where we browse the aisles in an endless daze, and the music plays…
’Til we all fall down.
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10. |
A Story...
03:19
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I was a sensitive child on the brink.
I didn’t know how to laugh or to think.
I had been taught by my country to KILL KILL KILL
All the joy in my breast.
I was a rather good teller of tales.
I had the generals rapt without fail.
I once told a story that broke all their HEARTS HEARTS HEARTS
And won us the war.
(here’s how it went)
There was a woman, a child, and a mouse.
They lived together in a broken-down house.
One day the mouse ate the last golden CRUMB CRUMB CRUMB
And fled into the night.
There was a beautiful girl with a smile
That lifted the spirits for many a mile.
One day a business man came through the TOWN TOWN TOWN,
And the smile disappeared.
There was a sensitive child in the street,
Who shined the shoes of the wealthy and weak.
With each bit of spittle that fell from his LIPS LIPS LIPS
A spirit was FORGED.
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11. |
When We Were Children
05:13
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When we were children
With mouths full of honey
We dreamed of robot citadels.
Planning battalions
Of salvaged metal
We dreamed of a world that was not ill.
Powerlines
Scratch the sky
Like undead trees.
Where is my ocean?
In the glacier.
Where is my glacier?
In the river.
Where is my river?
In your bottles.
Where are your bottles?
In the garbage.
Where is the garbage?
In the suburbs.
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Olenka and the Autumn Lovers Montreal, Québec
Olenka's music is enigmatic: never fully committed to one genre. It has been labeled folk, but moves across times, places, and moods. Olenka mixes classical and jazz arrangements with complex finger-picking patterns, irregular time signatures, and pop melodies. The band's diverse instruments provide a distinctive backdrop to Olenka's provocative lyrics. ... more
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