Dust of the Dead

[lyrics and vocals are reversed shards, warm glitch breaths, corrupted vowel smear, silence = pressure, breath = broken time, vocals behave as inhaled memory rather than spoken words] [Verse 1] White air Turns heavy in my throat You said “it’s only wind and smoke” But every breath Feels older than my chest Skinful of strangers Pressing from the inside [Chorus] I’m breathing in the dust of the dead (it’s under my tongue) Every inhale writes their names in my head And I can’t cough it out I just pull them deeper in Breathing in the dust of the dead ’til I forget where I begin [Verse 2] Teeth grit On the grit between my teeth Soft ash Lining every word I speak You lean close Say “baby Don’t be scared” Your lungs on my lungs Sharing what’s buried there [Chorus] I’m breathing in the dust of the dead (it’s all that we share) Every inhale writes their names in my head And you just drag me down When you pull me closer in Breathing in the dust of the dead Wearing them under my skin [Bridge] Whose jawbone in my jawline? Whose last gasp in my sigh? If I exhale Do they scatter? If I hold it Do they die? [Breakdown] [Beat stutters Bass swells Vocals distant] I choke On the ones I never knew You kiss Like you’re coughing them in too Slow crush Of your ribs into my chest If this is love It’s loving what’s long since left [Chorus] I’m breathing in the dust of the dead (cannot get clean) Every inhale writes their names in my head We’re just open graves Wrapped around each other’s breath Breathing in the dust of the dead Calling it life While we practice their death [Outro – Guitar Solo] [Intimate Strangled guitar solo over swelling drone] (ahh) Breathing in the dust (ahh) Of the dead