We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

The Early Years

by Shorthand for distance

supported by
RecordBook
RecordBook thumbnail
RecordBook There is something seriously wrong with commercial music. Even if we'd assume music itself isn't that bad (it is), main problem is always with lyrics. I don't want to name them, you know who I'm talking about. Songs about nothing. Songs that makes you wonder is it the world getting stupid or is it you detached from this strange reality. But don't worry there is Shorthand For Distance.

Didio Pestana from Portugal met Eirik Sördal from Iceland in Berlin in 2011. Hot southern temperament mixed with cold northern spirit gave us music hard to define. Closest term would probably be anti-folk. They both sings, both plays guitars, but Didio adds keys, wind piano and I'm pretty sure I've heard somewhere there kalimba too. Music however isn't the most important part of "The Early Years" album. Lyrics are. I'm not saying this often but this record contains one of the best lyrics I've heard in a long, long time.

Few anti-love songs like "If I were your cat"or "Oilspill" with beautiful confession: "If you were my tax report/I'd fill you out today/never to send you off". "The Ballad of Lonesome George" with literally philosophical connections. "You, My Micheline Star" ballad of how to cook and serve your loved one. "...and you would make the tastebuds glad/of both my mum and dad". "You Flu" a history of missing someone so much it becomes an illness... 

I could really just quote whole album as the review. Lyrics here are masterpiece, funny but super intelligent. In a same time they're deadly serious. Way of describing difficult feelings with simple, sometimes even naive words, makes these songs even more authentic. Anti-poetry? Everything is a bit anti here and that makes it more powerful! You really don't have to follow crowd with every aspect of your life. 

Cover of the album is also a bit tricky. First thought was "Tango in the Night" by Fleetwood Mac, but no. Take a closer look. There are Didio and Eirik at the bottom of it, playing music in a park. There are also all stories from their songs alive here. It's like a riddle or maybe a final joke. Find all the songs. And where the hell is George? Back of the cover is super simple. Name of the tracks. Black record with two different colors of labels. Simple white inner sleeve. There is something I can't forgive them though. There is no insert with lyrics. Or maybe that was an idea? Same as front cover, you need to get through the songs slowly and find their meaning yourself? Or maybe it is an anti-cover?
/
  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of The Early Years via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 500 
    Purchasable with gift card

      €15 EUR or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €8 EUR  or more

     

1.
If I were your cat I would purr you to sleep every night at your feet Every morning I would wake you up with a maimed sparrow on your soft linen with death in its eyes offering the deadly blow to be dealt by you. If I were your cat then you would be my catnip I would lie in your lap absorbing your smell I would lick my own crotch for everyone to see and sharpen my claws to always be prepared to tear someone´s face off who would want to do you harm You would never have to worry about me running away For if I were your cat I would sit there for hours watching you from behind the sofa Pretend to be sleeping in my custom made basket But as soon as you´d leave I would bury myself in your dirty laundry Having lucid dreams about opposable thumbs, about speaking your language about writing a humanlike poem about me being your cat. And if I were your cat I would keep it like that.
2.
Oilspill 03:57
I´ve been watching you sleeping all night long counting your birthmarks writing words for this song If you´re dreaming of going on a killing spree I´m crossing my fingers hope you won´t forget to murder me Your black hair is like an oilspill on my bed Me, I´m a flightless bird stuck inside of your head If you were my tax report I´d fill you out today never to send you off regardless what the state might say Outside the weather is constantly changing at first the snow was shining now the sun is pouring down And I´ve been watching you sleeping all night long pray that you feel the same when you hear this song
3.
Keep your head up George and harden your old shell This “evilution” anyway will take us all to hell You´ve got the beatnik existential look of Foucault Shellcoat, turtleneck and the disinterest you show You´re neither a mutant nor a ninja a teenager no more the tide of human degradation overflows your shores. Lonesome George Darwin was right Lonesome George but it was worth a fight You may be the last one, George but still that´s hard to tell and even if that were the case it may just be as well Cruise ship tourists collect Kodak moments and gloat People have no clue that you keep Noah´s ark afloat It seems so random, George it seems like just because It´s all too human George even in Galapagos Lonesome George Nietzsche was right Lonesome George and that´s a turtle´s plight You´ve seen a lot George and this I know my friend no-one before us has ever gazed into the end I know you visit her in your turtle dreams in that other world I´m sure your sad face beams Even in this place you sometimes give a smile though you haven´t really meant it for quite a while. Lonesome George the Bible was wrong Lonesome George and you knew all along
4.
When I see you I get an urge to bite you your savouriness on my tongue an aftertaste for all day long. You know I´m really into cooking and you would taste delicious in one of my new dishes I would send an invitation to all of our best friends and you would make the tastebuds glad of both my mom and dad Pick out the finest wines from that French store you like your grandma´s silverware crystal, china by each chair. Slicing, cutting, mashing, frying, glazing, cooking, boiling, peeling, stuffing, sautéing, steaming, stirring, tasting, salting, spicing, kneading, rolling, tossing, thickening, licking, parting , puréeing, working, burning, plucking, mincing, hashing, hacking, fritter, chopping you. I would slice you in carpaccio with my Wüsthof knife from your earlobes right to your groin and into fillet and tenderloin In olive oil I´d keep you, extra virgin sprinkle you with salt and thyme and marinate you over time Every recipe looks better when you´re a part of it the starter: tender muscles with white wine and mussels For main course: Foi de you with saffron sauce and truffles my love, my Kobe beef medium rare with a bay leaf Dessert, my final touch chocolates from your sweetened fat with this menu and a cigar you could be my Michelin star poaching, stewing, coddling, canning, conserving, peeling, gutting, smoking, drying, draining, straining, whisking, grating, baking, blending, simmering, roasting, toasting, grilling, filling, flipping, basting, seasoning, stewing, coating, browning, combining, dicing, mincing, cubing you On the grand night the guests in their best evening dress and as you slowly roast I would rise, propose a toast to you – my Michelin star
5.
Anyway 01:51
But I don´t agree with any of that and anyway I don´t care about you anymore and anyway don´t be calling me up anymore and anyway I don´t want to be your friend any more– not even on facebook and anyway I don´t want to see your face and your trendy new look and anyway I´m not listening to what you´ say – about you and your man and all that he can and anyway I don´t want to hear about the child you´re having in May, anyway, and anyway I don´t care if you are feeling fine and anyway I don´t care if you´re no longer no longer … anyway
6.
Susie grew up in Switzerland she once revealed this fact to me: her mother owned a hair salon and her daddy ran a factory But Switzerland is just a land it’s landlocked far from any sea For dinner plans with friends her wish is anything but uncooked fish so Susie has a problem: Susie never liked sushi I knew a guy from the U.S.A. his fate was not benign his laptop was too slow for programmes like AutoCAD an INdesign He went to study overseas and it ended with a drag his parents had to pick him up from the morgue in a body bag he killed himself just out of lack he´s never coming back His parents cried “Oh my gosh Josh he never got a new Mac- intosh” This is the voice of another unsung tragedy a personal catastrophe in the globalized economy people in the first world [people like you and me] problems in the twenty-first century [like you and me] this is for the affluent who often have it rough so this is a protest song for the well off. Claire just finished art school now her life needs some structure Rejections from residencies piling in, it nearly fucked her When finally she got a yes it wasn´t one, but two and in the same time frame Rome or Rio, what to do? The agony of choice is bitter she tells her followers on Twitter And everyone agrees with Claire her life is just unfair Dale has seen some hard times recently life pulled rank as he received a notice letter from his job, the investment bank Asking “why always me?” he´s answered by an echo Dale recites some poetry by Donald Trump and Gordon Gecko Hides his face by the bar thinking: how sad things are And: “how can I prevail as Dale, white, heterosexual male?” This is the voice of another unsung tragedy a personal catastrophe in the globalized economy people in the first world [people like you and me] problems in the twenty-first century [like you and me] this is for the affluent who often have it rough so this is a protest song for the well off.
7.
You Flu 05:08
I´ve been sitting here all day long not really knowing what was wrong I´ve got a Carl Lewis kind of running nose, all red from the countless blows I´ve gone through a tissue box or two I´ve come down with a nasty kind of flu I´ve come down with one helluva flu coincidentally it´s named after you I´ve caught the you flu, ever since you flew Took you to the airport and kissed you good bye probably for the last time, for a while or so you told me with an unconvincing smile You went through the security check and waved goodbye and then it was as Bob Marley put it: just I and I and I and I and I and the you flu Since you took off I feel it in my liver I´m swinging constantly from fever to a shiver I´ve been drinking iced beer by the liter but it doesn´t cool my thermometer I must have caught it in your saliva because now I definitely have a you flu you flu I asked around in pharmacies, no one knew the first thing about an ailment called you flu Called my mom to ask her for tips and tried to look for some YouTube clips but all of that and my Google search fell through seems that I´m the only guy with the you flu, you flu I´ve tried to do some meditating acupuncture and self-medicating cooked up a medieval witches brew but nothing works on the you flu Salty liquids pour from my eyes a cure for this is worth a Nobel prize And now I feel my strength is waning I´m lying around doing casket training Scientifically, it might be polemic but this might turn into an epidemic of you flu So if you ever miss me, you know where to look just open up a pathology text book Since I´m the first to fall victim to the illness which you‘ll find under you flu
8.
I could be your Gertrud if you would be my Alice I could be the scraper if you would be a callous I could be your Link and you could be my Zelda I could be the iron if you would be the welder I could be your Courtney and you could be my Kurt you could make me froth and I could make you squirt you could be my Narcissus and I could be your Narcissus I could be the match if you would be an arsonist I could be Simone and you could be Jean-Paul I could be the 18th hole if you would be the ball you could be a valley and I could be the fog you could be a fireplace and me a burning log I could be Schopenhauer, you could be free will or I could be the coffee mug and you a free refill I could be your Tenzing if you would be my Edmund I could be your short legs if you were a Dachshund Now, if I were a Monet, you would be a Manet I could be a bank account if you would be the money you could be Mrs. Marple and I could be a hint you could be a cave man and I could be your flint I could be Marina and you could be Ulay and if you were a pig then I would be your sty I could be your Rimbaud and you could be Verlaine I could be Hail Mary and you could be amen I could be an altarboy and you could be a priest you could be a necrophile, and I newly deceased If you were a platypus then I would be your beak and I would be a feta cheese if you were Greek you could be technology, then I would be a geek and if you were a turban, then I would be a Sikh you could be my Ernest and I could be Marlene you can be the paper if you let me be the pen I could be The Autobahn and you could be the lanes you could be inflation and me John Maynard Keynes I could be Chewbacca and you could be Han Solo you could be Slash and I a guitar solo I could be a salt pillar, you could be Lot you could be a troll so I could be a bot I could be Rodman and you Kim Jong Un if I were Neil Armstrong then you would be the moon
9.
Sadness isn´t sexy, under any circumstances (They say) people with low serotonin levels don´t invent new dances Self-mutilation is only cool until you‘re 18 years of age, I´ll never come of age When your days are sombre, like the darkest onyx don´t get all caught up in the eudaemonics Just remember you only have your DNA to blame when you pop a pill and still, it stays the same, it always stays the same. Listen here; there is a cure It´s neither listening to Smiths nor Cure You won´t find it in French literature, or any health centre brochure It´s not so bad when put in context, though you might feel like you´re in a vortex The remedy isn´t complex, get with the groove in your frontal cortex. Dance, dance to the bashful lull of misbehaving neurons, crashing into your skull. snap your fingers and clap your hands to underactive neurotransmitters Get on your feet and do the abjection jitter you´re never bitter always fitter with the abjection jitter Now, every so often, we all fall into ennui Well, I can only speak for me, but I don´t need a lobotomy The first step is to accept, this life is just absurd, this life is just a turd To realise it you don´t have to be overly cynical the medical industry wants all of us to be clinical But there´s enough dopamine for everyone to go around around, it always comes around. I know you might feel somewhat worthless, but here´s a thing that makes it hurt less it rids you of nervousness and burdens, like an actor before the curtains Change out of sweatpants, kick off your Crocs, forget about those electro shocks don´t believe any quacks or docs, my fix is certain like atomic clocks Dance, dance to the bashful lull of misbehaving neurons, crashing into your skull. snap your fingers and clap your hands to underactive neurotransmitters Get on your feet and do the abjection jitter you´re never bitter always fitter with the abjection jitter

about

All songs written and performed by Shorthand for Distance / Drums on "For The Well Off" by Mitch Betancourt / Recorded At Altes Finanzamt Studios (Berlin) / Recorded and mixed by Pedro André / Mastered by Pedro Augusto at The Environment / Design and Artwork by Inês Gomes Ferreira

credits

released March 1, 2017

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Shorthand for distance Berlin, Germany

contact / help

Contact Shorthand for distance

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Shorthand for distance, you may also like: