Burial Weather

[track: genre: southern-gothic / dark-acoustic-folk / slowcore, style: intimate autumn burial lament, mood: tender macabre grief, tempo: 68 bpm, meter: 6/8] [Intro: 0:00-0:18] [Instrument: Fingerpicked steel-string guitar alone, quiet natural room tone] [Vocal: Low male baritone, close and tired, first line almost spoken] [Em] The rain made mirrors in the yard [C] I dug until they disappeared [Verse 1: 0:18-0:58] [Instrument: Guitar remains exposed, very low bass entering only beneath longer phrases] [Vocal: Restrained anguish, breath audible at phrase endings] [Em] The shovel struck the roots like bone [C] Every sound too sharp to hear [G] You always hated being cold [D] I’m sorry that it’s cold down here [Em] Your hair caught underneath my hand [C] I tucked it back behind your ear [Refrain: 0:58-1:24] [Instrument: Warm bass settles beneath guitar, distant pump organ enters almost below perception] [Vocal: Melody opens gently, pain increases without becoming louder] [G] It’s burial weather [D] The leaves won’t stay where they fall [Em] I keep putting earth between us [C] It doesn’t help at all [Verse 2: 1:24-2:04] [Instrument: Guitar and bass, occasional soft mallet strike on floor tom] [Vocal: Intimate and increasingly frayed] [Em] The maple’s almost empty now [C] Red turning brown against the rain [G] Your porch light shakes across the yard [D] I keep expecting you again [Em] I brushed the dirt from off your sleeve [C] Like you were leaving any minute [G] I said your name into the hole [D] The ground gave nothing back from it [Refrain: 2:04-2:30] [Instrument: Slow mallet pulse joins, organ slightly fuller, no dramatic lift] [Vocal: Voice strains upward on the final line then falls back] [G] It’s burial weather [D] The leaves won’t stay where they fall [Em] I keep putting earth between us [C] It doesn’t help at all [Instrumental Passage: 2:30-2:46] [Instrument: Fingerpicked guitar, bowed low string enters as one distant sustained note, autumn rain faint behind the room] [Bridge: 2:46-3:22] [Instrument: Drum disappears, bass reduced to long root notes, guitar slows] [Vocal: Bare and increasingly unstable, almost unable to finish phrases] [Em] I thought the ground would take you [C] I thought that was the deal [G] I give the earth your body [D] And I get to stop feeling this [Em] But the ground just closes over [C] It doesn’t take a thing [G] I can still hear you breathing [D] In every room I’m in [Final Refrain: 3:22-3:52] [Instrument: Organ and bowed tone retreat, guitar and low bass carry the refrain] [Vocal: Softest and most anguished performance, slight natural crack allowed] [G] It’s burial weather [D] The leaves won’t stay where they fall [Em] I keep putting earth between us [C] It doesn’t help at all [Outro: 3:52-4:12] [Instrument: Bass disappears, fingerpicked guitar alone] [Vocal: Close exhausted voice, almost no projection] [Em] It doesn’t help at all. [Long pause] [C] You always hated being cold. [Instrument: Guitar plays one unresolved figure and stops] [Room decay]