[Opening | downtuned distorted riff | gritty bass response | punishing acoustic drums | no vocals] [Movement I: What I Heard | smoky male clean lead | intimate, uneasy] You say my name; I hear goodbye. The ending gets there first. You ask what’s wrong; I give the lie Another chance to do its worst. Your sentence reaches me in parts, The kindness falls between. I hear the click of loaded darts Where ordinary words have been. [Low cello beneath clipped guitar replies] You leave a space to let me speak; I fill it with retreat. Then spend the better part of a week Explaining why you seemed so brief. [Movement II: Crossed Signals | broad dark clean melody | harmonized distorted guitars] I keep your smallest change in tone And lose the things you plainly say. A hundred ways you’ve made love known Go missing when you look away. You say you’re tired; I hear “of you.” You need some quiet; I supply A hidden meaning, something cruel, Then make you swear it’s all a lie. [Clipped harsh male vocal | forceful percussion] I put the ending in your mouth. I make you spit the poison out. You stand there trying to explain; I call your patience proof of strain. [Instrumental passage | approximately 55 seconds | no voices] [Gritty bass and floor-tom pattern] [Harmonized distorted guitars develop a long, aching melody] [Dissonant bends interrupt the melodic answers] [Crushing half-time passage | low cello counterline] [Drums briefly withdraw beneath sustained distortion] [Movement III: What I Said | exposed male clean lead] You stop correcting what I hear. The room grows hard to cross. I almost welcome something clear, Then recognize the shape of loss. I’ve been rehearsing being left With someone reaching for my hand. Each small refusal makes a theft Of ground where both of us could stand. [Band gradually returns | clean male voice grows strained] You ask if I can let one phrase Arrive without a hidden blade. I try to meet your level gaze; There’s nowhere left to put the blame. [Coda | restrained male clean vocal | isolated guitar and bass] You say you’re hurt. I let it through. For once, the sentence stays with you. [Short harmonized guitar resolution] [Dark minor chord | natural decay | definite stop]
