I know where you are, on the corner of the bed
And you said that he could never be heavy enough to talk to me again
The city's too far to drive tonight
And all the boys, forgotten toys, can't stay in their own lanes
Alright, whatever you need
Whatever you mean
I'm all alone in this town
But I know you're not much better
Yeah, no.
I thought you cared, but all that's there is something to compare me to
There you go
Spreading wings and other things, somehow this is conquering the ceiling...
I'm sitting in your room
Unsure of what to do
But I can barely see you, just know that it's making my day so special
Cuz there's something behind those eyes
Something that's already died
I caught a glimpse
Of those flying, flaming blimps
But munch on Ritalin like candy and the world will never learn to bother you or your friends
Cuz it sneered as it said,
"I think I'm already dead"
In the city that never sleeps
You are walking too close to me
And the night, it has a working hue
As I'm standing too close to you
In the state that never wakes
I'll need all that I can take
Cuz there isn't much to do except for Ritalin and you
Let's buy some time
And a little bit of space
I think you'll find a reason to replace me
There's an art to losing yourself sometimes
No one bet you a dime, you were a trophy so
No one kept you alive for long
I don't know your kind enough to control
How I write this song
Everyone came to her side, I bet she'd deserved it but
I can't say that aloud
Trophy Man, set me alight
Cuz I feel so wrong to part the crowd
Forever is never long enough to remind myself why I'm wrong
I'll take it, I'll take it, I'll take it, take you away
Someone set you on fire, melted your plating so
Gravity will wipe out her name, for now
Running for another day, a stream of cheap paint in
A wide canal
But I am still bitter like snowless winter or
Someone who's fitter and happy to make your slave
To hell with trying to survive, in a heartless, mindless
Hide today
Forever is never long enough to remind myself why I'm wrong
I'll take it, I'll take it, I'll take it, take you away
The weather is never strong enough to make the day seem too long
I'll make it, I'll make it, I'll make it, I'll make you pay
I think, therefore I am
With every wasted word, I said your name for 20 minutes straight
You told me I am trying too hard
I walked around and tore you apart
I burnt the bridge and said that traffic made you late
And every single time, you said it didn't mean a thing
And on the other line, your voice is conquering
You think about nothing at all
But there's no point in trying to cut me off
You're living for the horror to end
I'm living for cathartic extensions of your old grace
Your face is giving it away
That nothing is as easy as letting people sink
It's easier to leave me than you could ever think
Teach me a trick
So I can counter it
With a tiny pair of die
In your tired paradise
But I'm gonna fight it, so I'm a goner, cuz
God is a fragment of your silver dollar
I'm hopeless to resist
So i'm happy to submit
You say I'm a martyr
For your sisters and daughters
Well, I think you're lying
The dog is still crying
The day I run on
The sway of this song
I will love you again
I can love this again
Forever is never long enough...
The weather is never strong enough...
about
I walked into the studio to start recording 'The Medicinal EP' with one goal in mind: to aggrandize. I wanted to basically make myself sound like more than just myself, to exorcise my delusions of grandeur just enough so that they can be taken seriously. In that regard, I outdid myself. Some moments (as my engineer, Carmen, can testify) were a bitch to mix; together, we clarified the white noise inside my head into a continuous half-hour of music. (Yes, continuous. If you want, you can put it on repeat forever and never miss a beat. But you would never want to do that.)
In doing so, I managed to push myself in more directions than I initially thought possible. I figured out how to write a real chorus (or, rather, how to pull one out of my ass) on 'Ritalin'; I wrote 'Burn That Bridge!' on piano - which I still can't play to save my life; I reverberated and delayed my way to glory on 'Trophy Man' and 'The Latex Ceiling,' the former being by far the most personal thing I've ever written; I reconciled my inner shoegazer and inner punk by getting politically ethereal on 'Silver Dollar'; every song has a subtitle, in a way mocking the emotional content of each song's lyrics.
But these songs, while wider-ranging and more ambitious than my previous efforts, feel more cohesive than my last EP. Part of that is due to its continuity, part due to to how it's basically mixed like a live album at Wembley, like a subconscious reprimand for being too snobbish to get a real band.
I need a real band. I need to feel that communal energy, with other musicians and with people I will never formally meet. I hope, if and when you listen to 'The Medicinal EP,' that you can't tell. Or that you can. Either way, I would be accomplishing my goal.
On whatever speakers you listen to it, try to enter my head, and play it loud.
- Eric Kohlenstein, eventual frontman of Another Hospital
credits
released April 7, 2017
All songs written by Eric Kohlenstein
All tracks performed by Eric Kohlenstein
Produced by Eric Kohlenstein
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Carmen Verderosa at Woodrock Studios in Raritan, NJ
Cover Photo by David Hartz
In memory of and dedicated to Daniel Lautt, for doing nothing wrong, as far as I care to know.
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