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Genevi​è​ve

by Red Apple Falls

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Edition of 150. Pressed in Melbourne.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Geneviève via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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1.
Christmas 1977 04:19
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Ever since Christmas You're missing my mouth As your kisses fall chaste On my cheek or my brow Like I'm someone you cared for A long time ago But moved on from and hope They have found someone new Who will love them. Never Felt so Helpless In all of my days And the nights, too I’m through With everything And for all time Solstice makes little difference When every night and each day are the same You spend all your time in a graveyard Of hopes, dreams and old memories. Oh, you know, you know me I never suffered from anxiety But now every night when Gen leaves I sit on the couch in a daze And scratch at my palms till they bleed.
2.
Rock-bottom phase 04:33
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You’re growing scales not hair she doesn’t care for your elegant instincts or your book-shop prowess or the rented house you’re keeping so neat You’re comically indiscreet or just comical you should hear yourself explain several times a day about the court case you’re not a chance to win That goes double for your kid that’s the sadness this solemn dance that you’re busy printing on her[,] canvas I’ve spent all my good thoughts now I’m filled with scorn so I’m standing on my heart rock bottom hits at last She doesn’t care for your elegant instincts or your book-shop prowess or the rented house you’re keeping so neat The thumb on the scale was clear that’s why you moved here commedia dell’art with a walk-on part for a cartoon villain Soulless full of dripping holes if you ever wonder why my voice cracks or my face drops or my back arches fists clenched eyes fixed and you call me an angry prick let’s think about this let’s take a step back are we on the right track driving forward or back coming or going ebbing or flowing Not a place I’d want to live how I hate Melbourne I think I’d put it last on my list of parts of the world to end in I’ve spent all my good thoughts And now I’m left with scorn but Camus’s fate comes hard with this weighing on my heart rock bottom hits at last You're never going home
3.
Clever 02:37
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Why do you have so many books like your house is a library? That was the question I faced from a six-year old child. I hesitated a moment; his serious question deserved a considered reply. It’s ‘cause I like to seem clever, but I don’t think it’s working. No, I don’t think it’s working. For I...I was shocked to discover the fool my mother had raised was, in fact, not my brother. And while self awareness is useful, and should be desired, it can feel like a brick being flung at your well-windowed pride. When you like to seem clever, oh, I like to seem clever. But if I was clever I’d raise my kid better.
4.
Lemon tree 04:35
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You must really want to tear me down Trash my reputation Turn me into nothing Curse the very earth where I was born. But if I may just say I feel the same way about you. Went to the lawyer Found it disconcerting Because his frank assessment Was that the music would all be gone Along with the money Along with my daughter Who’s everything. Great expectations Turning into nothing Like watering the concrete And watching for some little shoots to bloom From the wreck of my life The twice each week I see my child If there’s a chance that wet cement could yield a garden I’ll pasture my days. As Summer fades to Autumn I become a lemon tree Bitter above all Just a little lemon tree My leaves begin to fall I’m a little lemon tree Bitter above all Just a little lemon tree All my life I thought I would be evergreen Bitter above all Just a little lemon tree Just a little lemon tree
5.
Pilot sitcom theme song 02:20
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There was this southern hustler Smile like peanut butter Oil on top and murky below And then there came a lady Eyes a little crazy 28 and nothing to show for it They went off sailing in some stormy weather And pretty soon it started to rain But not before they'd made an amazing little kid like you... She's the stereo commander Energetic dancer As long as it's The Beatles or The Cure An armchair tightrope walker Windowsill performer Hope her mum won't drive by and see It doesn't really matter 'bout the stormy weather In the living room we're in flames And that is all because of an amazing little kid like you It doesn't really matter if it's stormy weather As long as we're together we're great And that is all because of an amazing little kid like you
6.
Saint Geneviève #2 03:53
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You were strapped down And stuffed with a gag And I said to myself That's not the life I thought My kid would lead So I pick you up From Aldi where the junkies meet And ferry you home Along these ugly streets St Geneviève Your mother gets herself A big TV And your hapless father Sits around and reads The Go Between Like it might help his parenting The lawyers count up Each email they send And bill us in six-minute increments St Geneviève We separated before you started walking And now it seems we're heading off to court She's catalogued your every fall and trip Your photo album's titled "Negligence" Oh my love, you chose your parents poorly
7.
I can count to four 02:18
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What’s leaking from my wooden heart a splinter shaved until it’s sharp and worked under the skin It won’t be banished, and it won’t be bled, you’ll suffer the consequence I think it’s going to fester She staged a smash and grab of everything I wanted for my kid and me to be There’s only so much hurt a heart can take and still work; that’s the point I’ve reached Since broken hearts and broken heads align with such coincidence I guess they’re meant to be I try to skirt my father’s fate, the crows all cry, “Too late, too late” and settle in my hair
8.
A weapon or a shield 04:03
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Thought I’d tell a couple of stories on this one. With age I’ve realised it’s not that men don’t get the chance to show what they’re made of; it’s that they don’t recognise it when it comes. Perhaps they don’t recognise themselves. All too conditioned to seeing things resolved in 90 minutes with a biff on the nose for the bad guy and a big kiss; the long, slow grind of making good doesn’t feature. Doesn’t compress. Doesn’t sell. The things you wish she'd never known: bitter twists and broken homes; "you're going to your father's today". The only reason that I’m screaming’s cause my kid’s not here. our lives are matching, oh, I’m seeing patterns, I’ve scarcely slept in three years and now my mind’s a blur: the colours leaking, audio frequencies, all tangled up they wash themselves into a pale grey swirl, on tattered canvas, propane and matches, and as it trails off I’m just ashes, earth. As I was saying. There’s only so many times a man can pick himself up and dust himself off. Hemingway used to have this thing he called a double dicho: man can be defeated not destroyed; man can be destroyed not defeated. Of course, from the depths, both seem imminently possible. Get the excavators in, clear the surface, salt the ground, you know, the works. But that sort of thing isn’t polite to say. Inexpedient, you might call it. Your friends pause thoughtfully; shift awkwardly. Pour themselves another drink. I’ve kept on screaming cause I’ve learned that all I’ve got is words. No man of action, for that I’m thankful; I plot my album making things I think will make things worse. Trying to capture, the bits that matters, constructing angles on the truths I got no chance to tell. It doesn’t matter, she’s not abandoned. And not a weapon or a shield.
9.
Glimpse 02:56
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I woke up last evening about the usual time thinking that I’d heard your voice but of course that can’t be right Got up from my empty bed and crossed the empty floor walked along the empty hall to your bedroom door And I thought perhaps I’d lay there for a while strange how these years became my life Became my life All I wanted was to sing the saddest song there’d ever been for you like it made a difference I picture you about sixteen getting stoned and listening to this cross-legged in your bedroom This is all your father really left you stumbling through his clumsy chords making noise in his life and yours
10.
And then your father dies 04:36
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I don’t know what to say Despair doesn’t work that way 1000 goodbyes just feel so fake When it’s your breath it’s trying to take No more comforting calls No more spirited tales No more history Of our lives failures I am forever in your debt You gave me years ill never forget We never want to use the word death Until we watch you take your last breath We are the legacy now We are the where why and how Final just doesn’t compute From that man in the suit To nothing just dust And yet in life we trust I can’t be in Brisbane anymore It feels empty to me now There’s no comfort in an empty house And the phone just rings out There is no consoling me I am my best friend and my worst enemy Regret just doesn’t work that way 1000 goodbyes just feel so fake No more comforting calls About life's failures I am forever in your debt You gave me years ill never forget We are the legacy now We are the where why and how Chorus We are the legacy now x 3 We are the where why and how Final just doesn’t compute From that man in the suit From here to nothing but dust And yet in life we trust I can’t be in here anymore Ive worn a hole just circling the hall There's no comfort in an empty house And the phone just keeps ringing out Chorus We are the legacy now x 3 We are the where why and how

about

People don’t read Lawrence’s poetry these days. But they should:

"There is a band playing in the early night
but it is only the sound of unhappy men making a noise
to drown their inner cacophony, and ours."

That’s pretty much it. The Geneviève LP traces an imaginary couple’s custody battle and its aftermath. The protagonist despairs, grows bitter, tries to reconcile himself to his circumstances. Rallies. Doesn’t. If you want to get in on a Friday night, open a bottle of wine, and ponder the mess you’ve made of your life, red apple falls will soundtrack that for you.

“Like everybody else, circumstances meant we couldn’t meet our ideals in terms of doing things properly" said guitarist Steve Canvas. "I think we cancelled six recording dates because of covid and fucking jetstar. So we’re trading on sincerity. That and a bunch of literary references because I like to seem clever.”

Lockdowns and border closures helped amplify the album's sense of separation and dislocation.

"Almost everyone on the record has known each other for twenty years," said Steve Canvas. "We’ve all lived together and played in each others’ bands…been through various highs and lows—well, mostly lows, to be honest; most of us are…I’ll go with ‘precariously teetering on the edge of ruin.’”

Despite the interruptions and setbacks, the songs tell a compelling story.

“It’s a very vocally-oriented record, which is weird to me" said Steve Canvas. "I’m pretty suspicious of bands with big reverb-drenched vocals up front – like, obviously these motherfuckers want to be on the radio – it’s not the sort of thing I would normally listen to or take seriously. But now, because of the nature of the record, that’s what we’ve got. It’s just how it is: the story this record tells, the lyrics, are what’s important this time around.”

Which is not to say the band tiptoed through the record.

“Jem [Miles, drums] brought the ruckus as always. Lead drums are our thing. Ian [Sheward, bass] was listening to Lou Reed’s Blue Mask album a bit – he liked Fernando Saunders’s fretless work on it, and wanted to play back to him on a couple of the tracks, so there are some nice bass chords and slides on there, plus the ebow, which isn’t something you often hear bass players doing.”

But the vocals are the record’s centrepiece. “We’ve got three great singers with very distinctive voices, so we use them” Steve Canvas said. “I imagine it as a modernist sort of thing, capturing the different elements of a person’s character – angry, mournful, philosophical – recognising the ways someone in difficult circumstances tries to locate themselves.”

credits

released December 10, 2022

Choirboys: Kurtis Richmond, Daniel Galea, Matthew Burke
Basses: Ian Sheward
Drums: Jem Miles
Guitars & synth: Steve Canvas
Piano & Hammond: Patrick Thomson
Trumpet: Liam McGorry
Violin & viola: Salliana Seven Campbell
Percussion: Rohan Sforcina

Recorded at Head Gap, Soundpark, Sunny Studios
Mixed by Rohan Sforcina
Mastered by John Golden
Album design by Madeleine Brown

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Red Apple Falls Melbourne, Australia

Messy mid-90s indie rock.

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