The House That Eats Memories

[Intro, 8 seconds, detuned three-note music box, warped piano, distant floorboard creaks, reversed breathing, deep sub-bass heartbeat, instrumental, sudden cut to Verse 1] [Verse 1, single mature male baritone, cold close-mic clean rasp, restrained fear, sparse detuned piano] New keys in my hand, fresh paint on the door Family portraits waiting on the bedroom floor The first night felt perfect, warm light in the hall By morning, my daughter didn’t know me at all [Pre-Chorus, same male voice layered into circling whispers, faint scratching inside the walls, rising tension] She backed from me, terrified and small Asked where her father was while I stood in the hall [Chorus, same male voice erupting into mid-low false-cord screams, pitch-lowered self-doubles, suffocating full-band impact] THIS HOUSE EATS MEMORIES IT GNAWS THEM DOWN AND LEAVES THE BONES THIS HOUSE EATS MEMORIES UNTIL EVERY NAME WE LOVE IS UNKNOWN IT LEARNS OUR VOICES, HOLLOWING US OUT FEEDS ON OUR LOVE TILL THERE’S NOTHING LEFT BUT DOUBT [Verse 2, single male baritone with growing fry grit, warped music box, irregular heartbeat kick] My wife forgot the way my hand fit hers Forgot our wedding song, forgot the years Our daughter found a photograph beneath her bed Pointed at the three of us and asked if they were dead Every frame grew cloudy, every written name decayed And somewhere in the walls, our stolen laughter played [Pre-Chorus, same male voice multiplied into distant whispers, reversed breathing, pipe-organ tension rising] The walls inhale each name we cannot keep The floorboards whisper secrets in our sleep It learns the sound of every laugh and every cry Then calls us through the dark in voices just like mine [Chorus, same male voice in unhinged false-cord screams, distorted self-doubles, violent dissonant percussion] THIS HOUSE EATS MEMORIES IT GNAWS THEM DOWN AND LEAVES THE BONES THIS HOUSE EATS MEMORIES UNTIL EVERY NAME WE LOVE IS UNKNOWN IT LEARNS OUR VOICES, HOLLOWING US OUT FEEDS ON OUR LOVE TILL THERE’S NOTHING LEFT BUT DOUBT [Bridge, same male vocalist reduced to a trembling close whisper, uneven prepared piano, waterphone groans, breathing directly behind the vocal] I can feel it pulling threads out of my mind It takes the happiest ones first, one at a time I know that I loved them, I remember that much But I cannot name the faces I am trying to touch I am becoming something buried in these walls Another stolen voice that answers when the darkness calls [Breakdown, crushing half-time deathcore chugs, deep male false-cord growls, glass fractures and doors slamming with the rhythm] IT’S INSIDE THE WALLS IT’S INSIDE MY HEAD IT KNOWS WHO I WAS BUT THAT MAN IS DEAD IT’S WEARING MY VOICE BEHIND EVERY DOOR IT ATE WHO WE WERE AND IT’S HUNGRY FOR MORE [Horror Interlude, instrumental sound design, waterphone shrieks, bowed metal scraping, distorted pipe-organ clusters, reversed male breathing, floorboards cracking, pitch-lowered male laughter inside the walls, three violent knocks, complete silence] [Final Chorus, same male vocalist layered into suffocating false-cord screams and pitch-lowered corrupted doubles, maximum full-band crescendo] THIS HOUSE EATS MEMORIES NOW I’M ITS LAST FUCKING MEAL THIS HOUSE EATS MEMORIES IT STOLE EVERYTHING I KNEW WAS REAL IT SPEAKS IN MY VOICE FROM INSIDE EVERY WALL THE HOUSE REMEMBERS MY FAMILY I DON’T REMEMBER THEM AT ALL [Outro, complete silence, single detuned piano strike, dying music box winding unevenly, same male voice returning as a pitch-lowered whisper from inside the wall] You came here alone. [Hard Stop]