Stay Low, Stay Close

[Genre: alternative trip-hop, dub-soul, leftfield hip-hop] [Mood: nocturnal, tense, seductive, defiant] [Tempo: 86 BPM] [Vocal: low male lead, intimate verses, lifted layered hook] [INTRO vinyl dust, sub pulse, distant guitar] (half-whisper) I woke with the ceiling leaning over my bed, street rain counting every word I never said. Phone face down, blue dawn under the door, I know what I came for I don't know anymore. [VERSE 1 dry drums enter] You move like a rumor with nowhere to land, half in my pocket, half out of my hands. Coffee gone cold, little crack in the cup, every small promise trying hard to grow up. I keep my good coat by the back of the chair, one shoe on the floor like I'm halfway elsewhere. You say, "Don't turn love into something you prove." I say, "Give me one reason to stay in the groove." [PRE-CHORUS bass opens] No grand rescue, no grand goodbye, just your breath and the rain outside. If we fall, let it fall in time one beat yours and one beat mine. [CHORUS wide dub drop] Stay low, stay close, we don't need a map for where this goes. Slow burn, bare bones, two hearts talking through the undertones. Stay low, stay close, let the whole night bend but never own us. No crown, no pose just stay low, stay close. [POST-CHORUS chopped vocal] (Stay low) (Stay close) One beat yours, one beat mine. [VERSE 2 deeper pocket, muted keys] Bus lights slide on the wet window pane, names on the glass get washed by the rain. You laugh once soft and the room gets warm, then pull that smile back before it can form. I know your habit: keep one foot free, mine is pretending that nothing gets me. But under the table your hand finds mine, like two small thieves stealing back some time. [PRE-CHORUS] No big answer, no perfect line, just your pulse keeping pace with mine. If dawn comes early, let it come we still got bass beneath the sun. [CHORUS fuller drums, doubled lead] Stay low, stay close, we don't need a map for where this goes. Slow burn, bare bones, two hearts talking through the undertones. Stay low, stay close, let the whole night bend but never own us. No crown, no pose just stay low, stay close. [BRIDGE drums fall away, sub and guitar only] (low, nearly spoken) Maybe love ain't built to win, maybe it's a room we let each other in. No flags, no vows carved into stone, just leave the latch loose when I come home. (voice rising) I don't need forever in a perfect frame, I need your hand when the weather changes. One honest second can carry more than a hundred speeches at the door. [BUILD percussion returns in layers] One beat yours. One beat mine. One step late. Still in time. One beat yours. One beat mine. Don't look back cross that line. [FINAL CHORUS heavy sub, bright backing stack] Stay low, stay close, we don't need a map for where this goes. Slow burn, bare bones, two hearts talking through the undertones. Stay low, stay close, when the morning comes, don't disappear on us. No crown, no pose just stay low, stay close. [OUTRO drums strip to bass pulse] (soft) Stay low. Stay close. No perfect answer. No need to know. One beat yours, one beat mine. Rain at the window. Still in time.