Sounds

lyrics — empyrean i built a sky out of everything
i was too scared to say out loud.
call it empyrean, call it home,
call it the only place i'm allowed.

every wall i put up came down
the second i let the melody in.
so i'm not asking permission anymore —
i'm just going to begin.

see me, if you can see me at all,
up here where the noise goes quiet.

lyrics — woods i was a kid, lost in the trees
talking to the moon like it knew me
better than i did.

every branch looked like a question
i wasn't ready to answer yet.
so i kept walking further in,
further than i meant to get.

found my way out eventually —
just took the long way around.

lyrics — woods (full) i was a kid, lost in the trees
talking to the moon like it knew me
better than i did.

every branch looked like a question
i wasn't ready to answer yet.

found my way out eventually,
just took the long way around.
traded the dark for a porch light,
traded the silence for sound.

still go back there sometimes,
just to remember the way.

lyrics — woods (studio take) same four walls, same old mic,
trying to get the take just right.
take nine sounds like i mean it —
keep that one.

somebody spilled coffee on the lyric sheet,
we kept singing anyway.
the version that made the record
was never the one we planned to keep.

lyrics — heartbeat (live) you can hear it in the front row,
a thousand hearts keeping the same time.
i wrote it alone —
it never stays that way for long.

every night it means something different,
depending who's singing it back.
that's the only part of this job
i never want to get used to.

lyrics — heartbeat wasn't supposed to be anything,
just a hum to fall asleep to.
now it's everything —
now it's yours too.

wrote it at 2:17am
with the lights off and the door locked.
didn't think anyone would hear it
the way i heard it that night.