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The Furious Light

by David Ullman

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    **PLUS: full lyric sheet pdf. and the "French New Year" music video.
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a full-color, 4-Panel Digipak with artwork by Matt Jackson. PLUS EXCLUSIVE download code for “The Furious Light Acoustic EP.”

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1.
The Furious Light (free) 04:26
I’m standing on the brink I’m drowning in the drink I’m here to dance and sing I’m here to tear down everything I’m here to heed the call To leave my writing up on the wall I've lost my pride and I’ve come to fall At the feet of rock and roll It’s the voice calling from within Like claws underneath the skin Like the pain of a secret sin Telling me, “You’ve got only your life to give” So let’s hold a tavern wake Raise your glass now, for goodness sake Here’s to the story, always the same Here’s to the song that we all sing Here’s to the saints in the midnight choir To the cowards and the liars We’re all drawn to the dark beyond the fire Wanna rebel against everything But the truth is, I’m afraid. There’ll be blood, and there’ll be flames Please, lord, give me the strength It doesn’t matter what I believe The hound of heaven is hunting me I guess I’m The Saint of Blasphemy And this is my Gethsemane I‘ll burn down hell to make it happen Sort the ruins out in song Beat back the long darkness before it falls There ain’t no use turning back So tear the sails down from the mast Rip the future from the past Let the first become the last While every night and every morn More to misery are born Every morning and every night We’re dancing in the furious light
2.
French New Year (free) 03:12 video
It’s time to cast the stone To ring the martyrs’ bell To take the long way home Be it to heaven or to hell It’s time to lift the veil Time to break the vow This time we will not fail This time, we scorch the ground (Chorus): We will burn our cars on the French New Year Set fire to our pasts and all our fears All we’ve got is blood and time; this all disappears But I’ll be by your side when the smoke has cleared This life, it comes at a cost With enough blame to go around But we ain’t come to carry the cross We’ve come to cut it down (Chorus) And we will not accept defeat So let the walls fall down on me Because as long as I’ve breath to breathe You’ll hear me singing (Chorus x2)
3.
Deep Dark Secrets (free) 03:21
Holding it in Losing your grip Don’t want to give in But you’re starting to slip Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark… Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark… Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark secrets This is the way that it went The last consequence So close to the end Where to begin Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark… Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark… Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark secrets Searching the silence for reprieve Then came the thrashing of limbs and the gnashing of teeth Feel like I’m stranded in someone else’s fevered… dream Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark… Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark… Done a damn-good job of keeping deep, dark secrets
4.
Graveyard (free) 04:42
“It takes a graveyard to raise a child,” said the man with a crooked smile. It takes a graveyard to raise a child. So rest your bones here, and stay a while (Stay a while) Dusk fell early in the afternoon I guess the gloaming gave way too soon Now in the lonely light of moon The nightingale sings a siren’s tune (A siren’s tune) The steely sun is now fast asleep Now the night can bare its full-moon teeth We’re breeding monsters in our dreams Praying to god our souls to keep (Our souls will keep) “It takes a graveyard to raise a child,” said the man with a crooked smile. It takes a graveyard to raise a child. So rest your bones here, and stay a while (Stay a while) Tell St. Peter for to ring his bell Because there’s no more room in hell Throw the ghoul gates open wide Amongst the bones, all you’ve got is time No dirty secrets to live down In the graveyard don’t make a sound You once were lost, but now you’re found In a hole six feet underground (Now you’re found) Well beyond the walls of fate Two shadows lengthen across the gray One to curse, and one to pray One to leave, and one to stay (Do you wanna stay?)
5.
Close To The Bone (free) 05:38
We’ve been best friends since we were kids Since the days of dirty high tops and blacktop jungle gyms Tell me, how has it come down to this Are you somewhere lying low, or do you just not give a shit? At the funeral I said “anything you need” I’m sure I’ve let you down more than a time or two in between Are you still “living in blasphemy?” In your “linoleum exile,” do you ever think of me? Do you remember me? (Chorus): How long has it been now since you’ve been going it alone? The staying and the leaving, the living close to the bone How long have you been watching your rearview mirror for the dawn Would you be here now, even if you’d never gone? We used to tell stories and bend the light You’d say “A man’s past + his present = his place in life” But you and I, we never did fight Well, maybe a time or time or two; but, still something don’t feel right. This don’t feel right. (Chorus) Taking your turn on the merry-go-round You’d say, “In a circle, nothing’s lost, only waiting to be found” But that was all so long ago now Maybe all that’s gone before is finally coming around. It’s coming around… (Chorus)
6.
Enough (free) 04:08
When the water is rising And the wolves are at your door And you’re through with all the fighting But you don’t believe no more When you’ve knocked on all the gates And you’ve stood in every line But you cannot bear the weight And your whole world is on the line When your well has gone dry And there’s no faith left in your cup When the world has passed you by And you feel like giving up Just try to look me in the eye, now Because you know I’ll call your bluff When you say you’ve had enough When the sun is hanging low And this city gets so dark And there’s nowhere you can go And no fire coming from your spark When your heart is caving in And you fear you might be beat When all your hard-won hope Is giving way to defeat Don’t you dare give in, now Lay your troubles at my feet I’ll tell you when you’ve had enough No title or tide can deny That four-alarm fire in your eyes Keep the punches coming; I don’t mind I’ll decide when I’ve had enough Have you had enough?
7.
Almost There (free) 01:02
Feel like I’m almost there Feel like I’m almost there Suddenly I just don’t Suddenly I just don’t Feel like I’m almost there Feel like I’m almost there I keep screaming but you just don’t I keep screaming but you just don’t Feel like I’m almost there Feel like I’m almost there Suddenly I just don’t Suddenly I just don’t care
8.
How The Story Ends (free) 03:57
Pour yourself a drink As you promise everything Yeah, you build me up But leave an empty cup Everyone is warning me Telling me what to believe Still I want so desperately To hear what you see in me (Chorus): You think you know best But you don’t know the half of it This is how the story ends Tell me what did you do? You lack the follow-through Why did I believe in you? I was just a fucking fool? (Chorus) Full of all the answers But do you ever question Your own place In this equation Do you ever wonder If you might be Part of the problems That you misperceive You let me down (You could do so much for me, if you just would) Change your name again I thought I found a friend Always so quick to defend I guess this how the story ends (Chorus)
9.
Lately (free) 03:05
Lately I’ve been thinking: I should really read more books Be more romantic with my wife and finally teach myself to cook Latey I’ve been thinking: I should call my mother more Pack up the Christmas tree and clean the kitchen floor Take my dog for walks Maybe even think before I talk Lately I’ve been thinking: I’d like to be seventeen But do it better this time—hell, I’d settle for twenty-three Lately I’ve been thinking: I should really drink less wine But I don’t really want to, though. I’m sure my liver’s fine Try to listen more Maybe fix the window on my driver’s side door I don’t want to live online I want to spend more time outside I’ve seen the eras of my ways I want to get right someday Scientists are saying that the holocene is over But it’s been ages since I’ve seen you Wish I could just come over Maybe I shouldn’t have drank so much and wrote you that letter It’s really how I felt, though, so why don’t I feel better? You’re still my oldest friend So long for now Until we meet again
10.
Maytime (free) 04:00
The sun’s hanging low in the west The new moon has shaken off its crest The masthead stands empty against the sky Been keeping the world at bay Just another lonely castaway Having one more, trying to hold on to the night Found some friends to get me through Looking for the lie that best tells the truth Felt like the world stopped spinning for a time May time bind us tight We used to sing by firelight Where the earth drained up into the sky Sharing songs and secrets with the night Now we’re all so far apart Some through distance, and some at heart As the past and present collide May time bind us tight You see, Pumps moved South, and Kramms went West Bauman joined The Church, but Twinkie left Katie’s a sailor now—both she and Starr got kids Nick’s up next, but Larry split Chimney’s getting re-married soon And then there’s me and you Still doing what I’ve always done Always hanging on for far too long Trying to fit my whole life into a song The sky is closing down As the waters widen between us now I’m sorry; but I gotta be homeward bound Some friendships have no end They go out with the tide and come back again With no parting words or backward glance

about

The Furious Light is the incessant, merciless drive to create... to discover... to uncover… to improve... to evolve. To bring something into existence through sheer will and determination.

Ten years into writing, recording and performing as a solo act, I felt lonely, isolated and angry. My music was not connecting with audiences the way I’d hoped. My friends were scattered across the world, and I’d made little time for them amidst the constant melee of my creative pursuits.

I felt frustrated and lost; and, as I tend to do when I feel that way, I picked up my pen and my guitar and started writing a song. Over the course of the next two years, that song turned into ten. Along the way, I ended up recording an album with my brother in Ohio.

I needed to get away from the idea of “making it” and get back to the practice of “making things” of Dreaming Out Loud… To do away with the hubris, the entitlement, the expectation and get back to the purity of creating something because you cannot help but do so.

I started writing music because I needed to. At age 25, I was newly divorced and had reached a real low-point in my life. I needed a mechanism through which to process the upheaval I was experiencing. I was not very amenable to clinical therapy, so… Music became my therapy. Writing and sharing songs was cathartic and turned something terrible into something positive. My music is still that for me, and such is the guiding principle of my work--to turn a negative into a positive.

My aim, very simply was (and is) to be true to myself, make the best music I can make and not get too caught up in how it may or may not be appreciated and/or perceived.

For years I’ve been “too rock for folk” and “too folk for rock.” This album embraces both extremes and blends them in a way I’ve never been able to before. Some will dig it. Some won’t, but this is exactly the record I needed to make--with precisely the people with whom I wanted to make it: my brother Brian (guitars) producing and my friends Brian Yost (drums) and Tara Hanish (cello).

I’m really proud of their work and the record as a whole. We set out to make something which was honest and raw, as well as sonically engaging. It’s the truest, fullest expression of myself I’ve been able to capture so far.

- David Ullman, May 2015

credits

released August 11, 2015

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CREDITS:

David Ullman - Vocals and Acoustic Guitar
Brian Ullman - Electric Guitar, Bass, Backing Vocals, Keys, Light Percussion
Acoustic Guitar (#2, 3, 4, 9) and Kontakt Programming (#7, 8)
Brian Yost - Drum Kit (and Didgeridoo on #4)
Tara Hanish - Cello
Larry Griffin - Pedal Steel (#5, 9)
Nate Pelfrey - Bass (#3)
Chris Metcalf - Backing Vocals (#2)

Recorded & mixed by Brian Ullman @ Killa B Studios in Rittman, OH
Live Drums recorded by Brian Yost in Northfield, MN
Mastered by Adam Boose at Cauliflower Audio, Lakewood, OH

Art, Design and Photography by Matt Jackson

THANK YOU
Susie #BWE. Yost, Tara, Giff, Nate and especially my brother Brian for kicking ass way beyond the call of duty. Dad & Mom for the musical genes and endless support Chris Metcalf for the extended use of mics, preamps, software updates and more Jackson for the pretty pictures (and 25 years!) Joe Hinz for the Champagne Sparkle Big Bob for the Smithsonian subscription. PAL for the advice and encouragement Herman Melville, Martin Scorsese, William Blake, Neil Gaiman, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Benjamin Percy, George Romero, William Faulkner & Trent Reznor for ideas and inspirations (with all due respect). Steve Brightman, Katy Ross Robbie Smalling, Matt Denholm, Kevin Conaway and Sean Kammer for the feedback. To all above: Your contributions were invaluable

Music and Lyrics © David Ullman, 2012 - 2015 (BMI)

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