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The Old Man the Boat

by The Madeleines

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    CD comes in a high quality gloss UV coated jacket, and is shrink-wrapped for protection while in transit. Cover and reverse art are excerpts taken from "Peace" by John J. McMahon, February 1963. The artist is Richardson's great-grandfather on his mother's side.

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1.
8 Minutes 02:47
8 minutes once the sun burns out Til the last light hits and we start to count down When all the solar panels lose their charge And the core of the earth stops spinning in my yard Slow, time, slow How long, for the fossil fuel Burning day and night, running over time A cold planet will produce no wind The stasis will not let our mighty turbines spin Glow, stars, glow The city light pollutes the milky way Even eternal night is only gorgeous up state The CFCs will finally do good They'll blanket in the heat, and keep it close to home
2.
Standing beside my fake balcony Letting the air in disturbing my family Hearing the click of the old thermostat I'm heating the outside, I sound like my dad The sun had the guts Or even the decency To show not it's face That pitiful once to me If you're gonna hide The whole afternoon Then slip into night Without making a scene Some politician died I know things never change Still I'm an optimist Those flags are halfway up I know it won't happen at this rate I don't ask for much, don’t need to be head of state I just want when I die, my obituary To bring a cruel hope like rush Limbaugh did for me
3.
I should never have looked at the depths in the ocean But there’s so much written on this huge Van Der Grinten, It should get shallow near the shore, But the drop off is steep and my heart sinks as two digits turn to four Do the mental math, multiply by three Over and over Is it fear of the unknown or just the ocean? I know what that toilet roll is for Half used by your headboard It's for my girlfriend's tears, would you rather we drown? I have nothing witty to say, I cast my eyes down To my feet on the floor, wet leather of my shoes, they'll be so smelly tomorrow I have to live with myself, you don't And I wouldn't recommend it Is it fear of the unknown or just the ocean? And you love your naval disasters Do your deep dives, you should start a podcast You have so much potential If you go looking for it don't look down You don't want to know how far you'll fall if you stop swimming Is it fear of the unknown or just the ocean?
4.
You’ll be underwater, and I’ll be up to my eyes I get drunk so easy, when did I get so thin? Me, I’m so mean, I just never told you And you just never caught on We hated every second of stripping off our clothes It got so cold, we started feeling hot again Then we go home, and start cutting deals with ourselves One more isn’t better than none, but it’s better than four There is still time for me, isn’t there? Or let's just get to flaying My skin never felt right anyway Come on we can just dance for a little while Hold your cheek close to mine as we sway in time Come on we can just dance for a little while Hold your cheek close to mine as we sway in time
5.
Worm Season 02:52
I always get the urge To enter contests In old magazines I've always loved the smell Dead insects leak I never thought you'd understand I practice reading maps So I can navigate Some place I'll never go And you can buy me books I’ll read to you at night And I’ll try to pronounce all the words When I light a match I always hide it behind The matchbook in my hand And then I drive my car For far too long after the check Engine light turns on You take the time to notice things I didn't even know I liked about myself What do you think about Behind those sparkling eyes Every time temple's in session?
6.
I'm way ahead of the curve I get it better than you I'm above the rest of the world I'm sleeping on floor two I'm way ahead of the curve So done with the ground work Meatheads I'm ready to hate They don't get personal space There's nothing to explain to me Finance bros CEO hacks Priorities out of wack Don't ascribe their aspirations to me Girl bosses think they're the shit Drone striking syrian kids Not so complex arms industry I'm way ahead of the curve I get it better than you I'm above the rest of the world I'm sleeping on floor two I'm way ahead of the curve So done with the ground work I couldn't hurt anyone Don't want to see your new gun But I'm conditioned to defend So I will kill for the man Fly back and do it again So school is free to attend I get what I shouldn't be There's no one looking like me worth anything, anything, anything please I know there's plenty of not I thought for years and I thought But look how happy it's make me I'm way ahead of the curve I'm looking back where I came I was right to come this far But I'm lost and alone The road ahead is obscured Bending beyond the trees I wasn't bad from birth From here it's up to me
7.
Aleph-Null 02:18
8.
I threw out my old socks today My dresser thanked me But I didn't thank myself I could keep dealing with the holes Where will I find those stripes again No I'm not happy to hear that You know I'm not more handsome than insecure And just because you still like me doesn't mean you won't throw me away You could deal with my holes And my stripes are unique But your dresser will thank you When you've moved on from me The doormat and doorframe are never far apart I'd hate to think you’re asking for support When you're really showing me the way out
9.
Decimal Time 04:44
They started measuring seconds In hundreds and tens And it was fake but it still made sense Now blocks of sixty pass around the world What we invented is the present tense I hate being a woman and I’d hate to be a man Sometimes I hope no one ever looks at me again Sometimes I hope that when you look at me you want to break every finger in my hand Masculine and feminine I'll never hear the end of it There's never any sense in it Just snap all my ligaments It’s not self-destructive if it was never me And it wasn’t invented if it’s always been Time is realer than clocks are fake People matter more than words we hate Sometimes there's use in phoniness It's time to give up all the rest Maps on my wall, they get it all wrong We hate on Mercator but at least he got the shape right Screwed over the equator but he didn't set out to do We're moving on despite a semblance of use There's no projection of me onto words so slim That get it right without distortion Drawing a world without her or him I could stop being lost Sometimes there's use in phoniness It's time to give up the rest
10.
Your keys are balanced on my thigh The little scuba fin dangling off one side I'm in the driver's seat, the engine is still warm And you're inside with your dad saying goodbye Today, the dog is dead I wish I wasn't such a stranger Thinking in terms of now or later And how I'll be irritated later on But if you want Then we can talk about it I'll hold my tongue As long as I can manage Your mother should have been here too If she were she'd bring the center of her world It seems to travel where she goes, right now that's wasting time at home Like six years are so easy to forget She has her talents on display In a contrast sharp and clear Thank god that TV's up upon that wall Better than time spent thinking bout a dog
11.
Cat Vomit 01:50
Well you pulled off your sweater so it wouldn't get stained And we ate dinner while the candle strained And the cat threw up on my satchel bag I couldn't do but laugh and gag for the rest of the night Is there more to be said about how we kiss and it feels just right And how you like that I'm taller except when you give yourself a little more height It breathes It feels good It burns like wax letting off soot
12.
Spring Time 02:14
Spring time, funeral time Your grandmother, my uncle Who died too soon both of them Is there anyone who doesn't? Except for the queen and maybe some presidents He sits typing in the other room I'm leaning over to tie my shoes Running on time for the first time Some old Korean man died in these in '82 And they cut me I should have tried them on first
13.
Yellowstone 03:25
Yellowstone is overdue And we’re all watching from too close to run away It will destroy us, there’s a certainty in that And I’m desperate to leave some evidence of me I’m just hiding film in my shirt I’ll curl around it so it won’t burn A friend of mine told me she’d like a funeral before she dies I’ve been thinking about it since I’ll admit, it’s something I’d thought about before But hearing somebody else say it, it feels less selfish I’m just dying to leave a trace I’ll eulogize right to her face

about

The Old Man the Boat is all about fragility to me. These songs were written over the course of more than two years, the oldest of which started to take shape at the beginning of the pandemic. Since March 2020 the world has not, of course, gotten less fragile. There are songs about the fragility of the earth itself and our place on it; the uncertainty of death and legacy; and the instability of identity and relationships. But fragility doesn’t just engender anxiety, justified or otherwise (looking at you, Yellowstone supervolcano). There are also celebrations of the vulnerability we share with people we love and know best; to be Known is as destabilizing as it is beautiful. Naturally, the fragility that comes from relationships with other people isn’t always good. A whole song on this record is spun out of the plain metaphor of being replaceable like a pair of old socks, no matter how much sentimental value those socks hold. The Madeleines (both the people and the cookies) are fragile, and there’s no point in pretending otherwise.

credits

released August 19, 2022

All songs written, produced, mixed, and mastered by Michael Richardson. Engineered by Michael Richardson, Joichaun Taylor, and Karen Laws. Underwater engineered by Reann Nichols.

Guitars by Michael Richardson. Drums by Joichaun Taylor. Keyboards by Sean Hynes and Michael Richardson. Bass Guitar by Sawyer Camden, Kyle Russo, and Michael Richardson. Vocals by Karen Laws, Lou Armstrong, and Michael Richardson.

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The Madeleines Annandale, Virginia

The Madeleines are an indie rock and folk group from Annandale, Virginia. Their debut full-length The Old Man The Boat came out in August 2022.
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to Turquoise & Gold out March 2023.

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