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Cautionary Tales

by Charming Disaster

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rockey427
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rockey427 This is a really good album! I had the chance to see Charming Disaster at Coney Island, USA’s “Puppets Come Home!” Event and went home a fan! What a blast! Ellia and Jeff provided an amazingly appropriate sound scape with their inventive musical
interludes! If you get the chance don’t miss them when they visit your town! Favorite track: Ragnarok.
Rodent
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Rodent Such a pair of well-matched voices is a rare treat... Favorite track: Days are Numbered.
invisiblemage
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invisiblemage If "Love, Crime & Other Trouble" was a firey sunset, this album is a misty lavender morning. It's thoughtful, chill and invigorating. Charming Disaster really show their range of style and taste without letting go of what makes them so strange and fun to listen to. They're just tongue in cheek enough to keep you from going all the way down, but let you look into the dark enough to let you be enthralled by the mystery. I want to recommend this band to everyone who is weird and inquisitive. Favorite track: Sympathetic Magic.
more...
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Our second album in high quality 12" vinyl LP format, lovingly manufactured at Precision Record Pressing in Canada. The full-color jacket by Magda Boreysza opens up to reveal the full gatefold image. Limited edition.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Cautionary Tales via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • The Charming Disaster Oracle Deck is suitable for divination, high-stakes gambling, or art appreciation. It contains 60 cards, each inspired by a different Charming Disaster song and depicting an archetype, concept, or character found in that song. The deck features original illustrations commissioned for this project from two dozen talented artists, silver gilt edging, and a 52-page divination guide booklet written in collaboration with arcanist and poet Jacob Rakovan, packaged in a handsome tuck box.

    A digital version is also available: charmingdisaster.gumroad.com/l/oracledeck

    Featuring illustrations by the following artists:
    Carrie Alexandria Caster
    Ellia Bisker
    Dame Darcy
    Ted Enik & Shiloh Penfield
    Ben Eshleman
    Camilla Finlay
    Omer Gal
    Devon Greig
    Bob Howard
    A. Nancy Koutsouflakis
    Erich S. Lehman
    Thos. Little
    Madame Onça
    Jeff Morris
    Carolyn Raship
    Logan Riley
    Jeff Ritchie
    Susan Saas
    Charles Schneider
    Ben Shafer
    Jacquelyn Marie Shannon
    Turtle Grenade
    Vincent Vaughan
    Steven Warrick
    Zalman Zuckerbraun
    ... more
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $40 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    An album that exists on the physical plane: a beautiful three-dimensional object featuring original artwork by Magda Boreysza. Play it in your car or on your laptop, use it as a drink coaster, or play frisbee with it on a warm summer's evening.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Cautionary Tales via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $12 USD or more 

     

1.
Can you feel this from a distance what I'm doing with my pins pull them from between my lips and one by one I stick em in not a cushion not a pillow but a clever mannikin if i covered it with kisses would you feel them on your skin I can feel you out there doing it yet again up to your old tricks dear reaching out through thin air uncontrolled twitches sharp pain in my back butterfly kisses hot breath on my neck Can you feel this from a distance I can feel you out there what I'm doing with my pins doing it yet again pull them from between my lips up to your old tricks dear and one by one I stick em in reaching out through thin air not a cushion not a pillow uncontrolled twitches but a clever mannikin sharp pain in my back if i covered it with kisses butterfly kisses would you feel them on your skin hot breath on my neck Chorus: It's not the same as the real thing might like this better instead I know you're thinking of me when I'm thinking that we are connected we are connected On the evening of the seance Where we met that only time All the candles were extinguished When you put your hand in mine the table started rocking and you caught my evil eye We promised when we parted We would never say goodbye I knew from your demeanor Make a little totem that you were a kindred soul Fetish doll effigy your smile was so familiar Put in it a token and I couldn't let you go Something that comes from me it's a sympathetic magic sympathetic magic pulls us together close are we doomed are we cursed sympathetic magic sympathetic magic it's the thing I love the most it could always be worse (chorus) you never would believe it don't want to be your plaything but a toy can take a toll not at least anymore I sewed it with a needle puppet on a kite string and a piece of your soul that you toss to the floor not just any simulacrum careful what you wish for but a sweet remote control it comes back sevenfold I could shoot you with a pistol might fall in a well dear And they'd never find the hole (chorus)
2.
Snake Bit 04:20
Snake bit, you went down into the dark black pit In my elbow's inner hollow, snake bit Without you life was just a black pit you should have never tried to follow I set out with my telecaster To charm the bouncer at the pearly gate I was trying to avert disaster It was already too late When they called me in to grant your favor I was starting to accept my fate You stood there like some kind of savior It should have been a piece of cake Chorus: Snake bit Snake bit Snake bit You wept, for a chance to bring me back from death I never learned to let go, I wept You sang into that black pit of death And hell, it opened like a red rose I heard my favorite song Blood flowed from my fingers make a path to guide you on But you should have let me linger Since you left me I’ve been haunted Yeah I shuffled off that mortal chain You never asked me what I really wanted You left me in a world of pain (chorus) gods take pity on me let me strike a devil’s bargain I would do anything to bring her back outside your garden i’d give it all, i’d give it up i’d give it all, i’d give it up i’d give it all, i’d give it up i’d give it all, i’d give it up i’d give it all, i’d give it up i’d give it all, i’d give it up i’d give it all, i’d give it up i’d give it all Snake bit, you went down into the dark black pit And I brought you out behind me Came to rescue though I never asked it Why didn't you remind me There was only one condition No looking back to see your face You could have been an apparition You had to take it all on faith Did you think you could just waltz in here And carry me away I made you turn back at the final moment You were calling out my name Face it, you were left alone when death hit I sang all night over your body, wasted what's a song if no one's there who hears it I needed you beside me (chorus)
3.
would you love me if I made you coffee every morning for a thousand years in the evening you tell me a story about a hunter turned into a deer we talk for hours in a sentimental fashion breathing in the languid perfume of the moon and pick the flowers that we'll lay out on their coffins cold winter comes oh so soon the light of your eyes and the curve of your smile the lovely surprise of your skin in the dark lie for a while and I'll be by your side Meantime the moments won’t leave a mark Like Selene and Endymion we watch the string of days go by you will shine and I will lie down to observe you in the midnight sky our history is just one dream after another written down in a shaky script I can see the here and ever after in the curve of your blood red lips (chorus) when you sleep, sleep with one eye open and you’ll see me watching over you wake me gently and the spell will be unbroken we’ll walk the garden in eternal bloom
4.
Phosphorescent lilies on the surface of the water forming floating constellations round the caravan The Gyptians rule the marshlands they can read them like the lines that trace the future in the creases of your palm they might not let us go but we’ll be royalty the queen adopts her prisoners into the ancient clan If we submit to their initiation rites, and we survive, They'll make us part of all their secret plans Chorus: they say if you want to stay there is a price to pay a sacrifice to make what will you cast away Cast away Round the circle goes the flask and hand to hand the pipe is passed Until we almost can't remember who we are Fireflies conspire with the lanterns on the fishing boats To let us float among the drunken stars we didn’t plan to come here but we never want to go back home the children throw us silver after every song we’ll learn to ply the waterways and serenade the cormorants we’ll roll our cuffs and let our hair grow long (Chorus) They say Would you give up your pinky finger Stay A roof over your head Pay Your great great grandmother's wedding ring or Make Your comfortable bed They say Would you give up the precious memory Stay Of your first true love Pay Your house your home your family Make Your shaky faith in God above They say A tooth an eye a kidney Stay Your future first born babe Pay The last ten years of your short life Make What will you cast away Cast away Crickets chirp and nightjars sing as fiddle bows meet fiddle strings The music's in a tongue we don't yet understand Jasmine blooms intoxicate The choice was never ours to make we're dizzy but we know we're safe the dancers smile and take us by the hand
5.
Ragnarok 03:28
maybe the world will fall apart maybe the crows will come and peck away your heart maybe the wolves will eat the moon and the sun and we won’t have to face the consequences of the things we’ve done axe time, sword time, ere the world fall wind time, wolf time, come the end of it all nearly doomsday, just look at the clock ticking down the minutes until ragnarok ragnarok Chorus: Ragnarok ragnarok ragnarok ragnarok ragnarok rock now that the sky is raining soot no need to return all of those late library books the ones you read with bated breath about the end where even gods can meet their death world tree tremble shake at the root fall before the moment when our bills come due cross your fingers for fire and flood the Valkyries are rushing through the battlefields of blood the time we've spent is not our own nothing to have, nothing to hold and now there’s no more growing older hang on tight it’s almost over Midgard’s serpent is coming for you those new year’s resolutions won’t be coming true go out and buy some cigarettes cause what the fuck you might as well enjoy yourself till ragnarok ragnarok (chorus) maybe we’re here to wonder why or watch the stars wink out like candles in the sky and as the seas begin to rise let’s share this final cigarette and kiss the world goodnight
6.
Little black bird over my shoulder A voice like ice cold cold running water Eyes made by black magic black magic marker Little black bird help me find my way For I fear this might be the end of my days Clever red foxy running beside me Teeth like a trap trap snap shut behind me Flash your fine smile so wicked and wily Clever red foxy i'll stay well away Or I fear this might be the end of my days Little black bird I'm so lost and hungry Dogs closing in they track me and hunt me Take to the sky lead me to safe country Little black bird can you help me escape For I fear this might be the end of my days See that black spectre high over the trees A nasty hawk harrier harrying me Try as I might it gives me no peace See that black spectre wheel over this way O I fear this might be the end of my days Chorus: No matter how I try Despite my good intentions My nature decides I can't fight the animal The Wild Inside Clever red foxy so far from your den Are you as innocent as you pretend my enemy's enemy might be my friend Clever red foxy protect me I pray For I fear this might be the end of my days I once was a prince with castles and farmland I loved me a lovely of beauty and charm and The wife of a jealous cruel sorcerer husband I once was a prince with most refined taste But I fear this might be the end of my days Foxy oh Foxy I’m not what I seem you knew me once as the Sorcerer’s queen his falcon’s black shadow now darkens this stream* Foxy oh Foxy we’re trapped by our ways For I fear this might be the end of my days (chorus) Hunters a-thundering from the king’s castle Led by that dastardly cuckolded scoundrel He won't stop till he takes my tail for a tassel Hunters a thundering from the king’s gate And I fear this might be the end of my days Pretty black bird how lovely your voice is My end is near I can hear hounds and horses Fold up your wing sing me one final chorus Pretty black bird I beg you to stay For I fear this might be the end of my days Darling red foxy there's no future for us I'm doomed in the sky as you are in the forest I'll perch by your ear and sing our sad story Darling red foxy I won't fly away For I fear this might be the end of my days I fear this might be the end of my days I fear this might be the end of my days I fear this might be the end of my days
7.
she flirts with the diplomat at the banquet they take a slow walk down the hall and as he puts a match to her cigarette she eyes the camera on the wall he climbs to the second floor like an acrobat and pulls the Rothko off the wall he takes his stethoscope from his backpack and hears the tumblers slowly fall chorus: we were playing for time one more situation where we might be double crossing the line we were playing for time milking every moment from those seconds slipping by she asks him if he wants a little nightcap perhaps a port from ‘64 is someone listening through a water glass standing just outside the door he finds the dossier with the microfiche and breathes to steady shaky hands opens the attaché from the agency and swaps an altered set of plans [Chorus] she slips the envelope from his cummerbund and ties him neatly to a chair when he wakes she’ll be long gone with the access code a new tattoo the dye washed from her hair he makes his getaway through the laundry chute when he hears the wail of the alarm checks the coordinates for the rendezvous wonders just how long this can go on [Chorus] trust your lover blow your cover going under days are numbered See you across the room, heart skips a beat The rush of danger feels like love We slip a little bit every time we meet We’re both awaiting orders from above Are you my nemesis or my better half These days it matters less and less Sodium pentothal or a polygraph We know all the tricks to beat the test [Chorus] trust your lover blow your cover going under days are numbered
8.
I'm so tired of dancing every night in this terrible place Even when I'm waking I still hear the music play There's no rest in sleeping, when I close my eyes I'm taken away To spin and waltz unceasing until the break of day Iron bells ring Silver harp strings Leaden singing Never ending Ever since I tasted the banquet from that horrible house Food or wine is wasted, it all turns to ash in my mouth How my heart is haunted, am I cursed or under a spell Spend my life enchanted, a tale I can never tell Iron bells ring Silver harp strings Leaden singing Never ending Is it the light from my candle or the light of the moon That casts the dancing shadows on the walls of the room The soles of my slippers they are worn straight through I don't know how on earth I could explain to you If it's even true, if only I knew, what can I do The day is nearly over, the setting sun gives one final gleam I'm swept up like a feather, in a strange recurring dream Dancers swirl around me in this mad infernal soiree Their wild eyes surround me, there's no hope for any escape Iron bells ring Silver harp strings Leaden singing Never ending
9.
What Remains 04:05
wind blows cold over the willows sky is bruised and shadowed put on your boots and overcoat don’t be afraid my little sparrow bridge slung high over the river every step shakes and shivers water laughs out in whispers she’ll take anything that you give her it’s okay wash away every trace what remains it’s okay it’s not too late to find your way clean again when your heart is weak and wearied clap your hands wake the spirits leaves float by on the current tide won’t turn till you turn it
10.
Everything breaks down eventually It's all just a matter of entropy Thermodynamics and gravity We're all gonna fall in the end When you play the record the needle gets dull It’s tragically irreversible you know some erosion's inevitable When you rub up against the world You’re locked in a box - try to hold your breath Conserve what remains of the air that’s left If you don’t breathe you’ll smother yourself But every inhale brings you closer to death Everything breaks down eventually We're all decomposing gradually into atoms and cells and vanity all our constituent parts You can’t make sparks without friction Or music or love or nonfiction That’s just the price of admission You can’t ride the ride without wearing it out still locked in a box - try to hold your breath conserve what remains of the air that’s left if you don’t breathe you’ll smother yourself but every inhale brings you closer to death Chaos is going to win in the end The universe is flying apart There ain’t nothing much you can do about it burn up the candle or live in the dark burn up the candle or live in the dark burn up the candle or live in the dark burn up the candle or live in the dark

about

CAUTIONARY TALES includes songs involving: double agents; ensorcelled animals; faerie abduction; greek mythology; Norse mythology; occult rituals; séances; spies; Vikings; voodoo; vampires; the inevitable decay of all things; and more! BEWARE.

credits

released April 21, 2017

Ellia Bisker: vocals/ukulele/hammond organ/percussion
Jeffrey Morris: vocals/guitars/percussion
Don Godwin: drums/bass/horns/percussion
Noah Hoffeld: cello
Marandi Hostetter: violin
Michael Petillo: tambourine
All songs written by Ellia Bisker & Jeffrey Morris

Engineered & mixed by Don Godwin at Airshow (Takoma Park, MD) and Phantom Center (Brooklyn, NY)
Produced by Charming Disaster

cover art by Magda Boreysza (foxandcomet.com)

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Charming Disaster Brooklyn, New York

Charming Disaster is a goth-folk duo based in Brooklyn, NY, formed in 2012 by Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris. Inspired by the macabre humor of Edward Gorey and Tim Burton, the murder ballads of the Americana tradition, and the dramatic flair of the cabaret, they write songs that tell stories about death, crime, myth, magic, folklore, and the occult. ... more

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