Friends

[Intro: Lo-fi tape hiss. A clean, jangly electric guitar plays a slow, lonely arpeggio. A single melancholic piano note repeats every four bars.] [Verse 1: Male Vocals - Low, tired, half-whispered. Very intimate.] The refrigerator hums a flat-line tune, In the kitchen light, under a paper moon. I’m counting the cracks in the linoleum floor, Waiting for a sound from the bedroom door. You’re sitting in the bathtub with the water turned cold, Thinking ‘bout the stories that we’re never gonna be told. [Faint piano melody swells] [Verse 2: Female Vocals - Breathier, vulnerable, slightly raspy.] I found a box of Polaroids under the bed, The colors are fading, the borders are red. We look like strangers in a different skin, Before the rust and the winter settled in. The TV is static, just a gray-scale ghost, In the town that we used to hate the most. [Male joins for a low, haunting harmony on the last line] [Pre-Chorus: Both - Harmonizing in a low, tense register. Clean guitar starts to get slightly more grit.] And the clock on the wall is a hammer... And the silence in the hall is a stutter... Building up the weight of the words we never utter. [Pause - one second of silence] [Chorus: Sudden Explosion. Heavy fuzz guitars crash in. Thundering, slow drums.] TEAR THE MAP UP! BURN THE ROADS DOWN! We’re the only ones left in this hollow town! (Female) Just a flicker in the dark! (Male) Just a shadow on the wall! (Both) Waiting for the gravity to make us fall! [Heavy distorted guitar chugs: Chunk-chunk-chunk!] [Verse 3: Dialogue-style - Trading lines quickly over a driving, fuzzy bassline.] (Male) Do you remember the bridge? (Female) I remember the rain. (Male) Do you remember the switch? (Female) I remember the pain. (Both) We’re a circuit that’s broken, we’re a wire that’s frayed, But I’m glad it’s with you that I’m being delayed. [Bridge: Feedback starts to squeal. Slow, heavy piano chords crash like lead. Melancholic and intense.] [Male - Screamed but melodic] ARE YOU STILL THERE? [Female - Soaring soprano] I’M ALWAYS HERE! [Both] THE STATIC IS THE ONLY THING THAT’S CLEAR! [Chorus: Maximum Dynamic Power. Massive wall of fuzz and cymbals.] TEAR THE MAP UP! BURN THE ROADS DOWN! We’re the only ones left in this hollow town! (Female) Just a flicker in the dark! (Male) Just a shadow on the wall! (Both) Waiting for the gravity to make us fall! [Outro: Guitars cut abruptly to feedback. Return to the clean, lonely piano and arpeggio.] [Male] The refrigerator hums... [Female] The water’s getting cold... [Both - whispered] Stay with me. [Tape hiss rises and then cuts to silence] [End]