big things theoretically happening 👀🫀

@ all artists, musical or otherwise: please provide some kind of no strings attached donation link on your website or in your bio or on your carrd or in your fucking email signature or somewhere so people can throw coins in your hat. it doesn't matter if you feel like you '''deserve''' it, or if it never gets used. it doesn't matter. it's not the point. just provide the means and let everyone else worry about the rest.

@ all enjoyers of art: stop driving yourself insane over finding a way to do ethical capitalism and just get in the habit of giving artists money for the cool shit you found by accident. it adds up.

IT'S BANDCAMP FRIDAY.

possibly the last one ever, with the way Bandcamp is going. go support the artists who were on your Spotify Wrapped. buy their music on the day that Bandcamp waives its cut. financially support the artists who mean something to you—especially the smaller ones, for whom the $10 or so an album costs makes a huge difference. if an artist saw you through this year, if they meant something to you, if their music helped you or healed you or energized you or soothed you, pay them something. buy some silly merch. own some files so that you'll have them even if and when music streaming eats itself alive. thank them in a way that materially matters.

[audio description: a slow, contemplative, pained song played on piano. lyrics below. end ad]

listen on bandcamp | soundcloud | ao3

lyrics:

you cast your gaze across the sea searching for the ghost you made you’ve spent all your bullets you’ve laid down your blade your head hangs heavy with the weight you know that I once saw the best in you a mind and tongue as sharp as glass and shining just the same I wish you’d told me something that were true the man who made the sky turn pink and the water run red you could tell anybody what to think but never shared what was in your head intoxicating as the sweetest drink you held me precious in your bed but the power of your disbelief left our hands in shackles instead maybe I was just too young for a love that lit me up and a battle hard-won maybe it would have been enough to settle for just one maybe I wanted too much a chorus of voices chose me to lead the fight a chorus of voices entrusted me with their lives you spoke too loud you were too proud have you thought about what could have happened if we had been right? I thought we would change the world standing side by side along the way you lost your nerve you looked at me and lied they called you “king” ‘til you believed it was your place to decide and now even if the man still breathes someone you loved has died I see the way it aches in you I see the shipwreck you’ve turned into sitting somber on the sand do you regret giving the command? you may not ever understand I may not ever understand your head hangs heavy with the weight you know that I once saw the best in you how can I reach out to take hold of you again if you’re never really there and my hand just passes through?

[audio description: a slow, bittersweet song played on lyre and piano. lyrics below. end ad]

listen on bandcamp | soundcloud | ao3

lyrics:

you said you didn’t expect the darkness to feel so good but I have clutched the shadows to my chest they have held me when nobody else would I will guide your hand along this journey I will show you where to tread maybe day’s for growing but I know of flowers that bloom in the night instead in the places where the daylight doesn’t reach there is joy, there is discovery in the night sky you can see forever the sun and clouds would blot it out they tell you, “don’t look up or you’ll go blind” they’d have your gaze fixed fast upon the ground and what is there lurks left that you’re afraid of? the monsters in my mind, you know them all they will prowl at your back, they will defend your pretty lies they will answer to your call tell me there’s no daylight between you and me tell me you want the world that I’m envisioning the light makes plain all the edges in the darkness we may lose our shape where you end and I begin is none of anybody’s business it was like that for a while, anyway your name is not a mantle you may take off as you please we are symbols of so much more your heart hidden in the shade, yet here you beg I feel the sun you don’t know what you’re asking for oh, I can see the daylight breaking through the trees when did you slip so far out of my reach?

[audio description: a fast-paced song with aggressive, rough acoustic guitar and dark, rich vocals. lyrics below. end ad]

listen on bandcamp | soundcloud | ao3

lyrics:

you’re the eye of the squall you’re the gravity that makes the bodies fall I am keeper of your name I see what you’ve become and fear I’m destined to the same sword and stone you and I are never going home left leg or right hand I’ve seen the sea submit to your command bloodlust in your eyes your hope is buried right next to your prize sword and stone give me what’s mine or I’m leaving here alone be the bestial shadow on the wall let the gentlemen imagine you with claws and fangs and ten feet tall but your nightmare’s running out you’ve taught me too well— I’m the thing they’re scared of now sword and stone don’t make me pull the trigger on the best thing that I’ve ever known you and I are never going home you and I are never going home you and I are never going home you and I are never going home

[audio description: a stirring folk song played on the lyre, with numerous vocals as though sung by a whole group. lyrics below. end ad]

listen on bandcamp | soundcloud | ao3

lyrics:

have you heard tale of John the Giant? with his boot of steel he will stomp you down laying waste to knaves defiant he put Captain Flint in the ground ice-blue eyes he will freeze you cold long of lies and tales foretold if you want your prize forget the gold follow the Silver they say his memory’s as long as his name they say his voice is smooth as rum to no one born, from nowhere he came his every step like a beating drum ice-blue eyes he will freeze you cold long of lies and tales foretold if you want your prize forget the gold follow the Silver he’s the ghost who delivers the spot he held the line when it was empires we fought and when Flint failed to take the shot Long John Silver made sure that we never forgot, oh brave men cower in fear of his rage best beware if you besmirch the black the seven seas will never be the same since the king received his crown at last ice-blue eyes he will freeze you cold (stomp you down) long of lies and tales foretold (in the ground) if you want your prize forget the gold (follow, follow, follow, follow) follow the Silver ice-blue eyes he will freeze you cold (smooth as rum) long of lies and tales foretold (beating drum) if you want your prize forget the gold (follow, follow, follow, follow)

[image description: album art for "Sword and Stone" by Fate-Touched: a digital painting of Flint and Silver's swords stuck in the sand on the training hill.]

One year ago today— August 29, 2022— I released my first EP. I called the project "Sword and Stone," because I wrote one song with that title and fully believed it would just be that song, just that single. And then, of course, I wrote three other songs. I couldn't help myself. Each on its own tells a story; the four in aggregate tell a more complicated one, a multiplicative enriching. In some ways they tell a story other people told first. In other ways they fill gaps in a story nobody has written yet.

I wrote them in the bathtub and in public pools. It seems apt, in retrospect, that I should write songs about a boat while suspended in water. They're not about a boat. They're about something that was about a boat. They do not mention a boat. The boat is implied. They're about legacy, about choice, about consequence. They're about sun and tragedy. They're about some pirates. They're about me in the same way that everything I make is a little bit about weather (these songs are about weather)— everything I make is a little bit about me. They're about me primarily just in that I made them, and therefore they're about how I would make them. The pirates, though. They're mostly about the pirates.

"Sword and Stone" was a summer-long labor with more love and frustration and endless nights than I can convey. I recorded them in my living room using free software and a microphone gifted to me by a friend's father. More than once I had to stop recording because it was 6 am and the street noise was getting too loud with all the people driving to work or the gym or wherever people drive at 6 am. I don't know. I don't drive. This project consumed me for months; any solitude I could steal was funneled entirely into it.

It was the hardest thing I've ever done. It was the greatest thing I've ever done. Of the innumerable creative pursuits throughout my life, this was the one I am proudest of. I hit a note in "Madi's Lament" I have never been able to recreate since. "Daylight" is the first song I ever played for my parents. This EP introduced me to people who have since become precious. This EP opened the world to me. This EP made the dream real.

I released another two-song EP earlier this year. I've been working on a full-length album for a while, now. I don't know yet when it'll be complete. That will introduce its own adventure. But "Sword and Stone" will always have come first. I wrote uncountable songs before them, to be clear; I'd been writing songs for years. But the ones that breathe in the world, the ones attributed to Fate-Touched? These four came first. "Follow the Silver" and "Sword and Stone" and "Daylight" and "Madi's Lament" came first.

Give them a listen, if you haven't before. Give them a listen if you haven't in a while. Give them a listen just to humor me. You don't have to know much about the pirates. It might help, but I hope you'll find them compelling regardless. You can find them [here] on Tumblr, or [here] on Soundcloud, or [here] on Bandcamp.

I still can't believe it's been a year. An entire year. In some ways my life looks exactly the same. In other ways my life is completely different, and it's "Sword and Stone" that changed it.

I love you all. In the places where the daylight doesn't reach, there is joy, there is discovery. You and I are never going home.

bandcamp friday incoming (august 4)!!

[audio description: a short song played on piano with a battering rhythm that drops out entirely between verses. it has an indignant, resentful, yet thoughtful mood. lyrics transcribed below. end ad]

listen on soundcloud

lyrics:

hand me the knife, babe I'm wailing hungry how many times will you walk away from me? I've left the door unlocked I, I've left the porch light on

disappeared like tissue paper held up to the sun my heart begun, my hands begun your mouth rejected every one oh, stick a fork in me, I'm done oh, stick a fork in me, I'm done

you were empty I would've filled you up I was moving you never sat still enough one day you're gonna see the wreck you made of me one day you're gonna feel so fucking guilty

and when you're breaking down asking who's gonna love you now look down at your empty plate and remember all the meals you turned away

I plunge right toward the puncturing I hate the white november brings I see the night in everything I see your bite in everything

Hi this is Remy from the Built on Sand server HOYL FUCK DUDE THAT FUCKING WHEN I WAS GOOD SONG MADE MY CRY OMG

oof yeah that one hits a real tender place. not as fraught or distressed as born to shiver or madi's lament but very forlorn. a very "don't know what you have until it's gone" sort of piece. I had fun shoving as many dog puns into it as possible lmao. glad you liked it!!

[video description: a white nonbinary person in a striped shirt playing acoustic guitar and singing. the song is "Mixed Metaphor Song (Both)" by Fate-Touched. it's a mid-tempo song with a wistful, forlorn mood and simple, slightly messy strumming. lyrics transcribed below. end description]

lyrics:

I close my eyes and the air around me undulates like plastic sheeting with that warbling sound maybe my body thinks I'm drunk maybe I'd feel better if I was maybe it'd be softer on the ground

those eyes as deep as graveyard dirt I knew it all, I knew it first somehow the shock still knocked me down your skin almost translucent catch a glimpse and then I'd lose it when you moved the light around

somebody built you out of snow you'd melt away or keep it cold don't know how you managed both don't know how you managed both

I told my sister all about you every piercing, every tattoo she hasn't asked me where you've gone I wasn't made for something lasting close my eyes, the air moves past me all your offerings withdrawn

somebody built you out of snow you'd melt away or keep it cold don't know how you managed both don't know how you managed both

somehow I chased away your ghost the windows open, the shutters closed don't know how I managed both don't know how I managed both

[audio description: a fast-paced, spiteful song played on acoustic guitar. lyrics transcribed below. end ad]

listen on soundcloud

lyrics:

climb tall enough to block the sun behind your silhouette look down from that dizzying height see the small things that you left behind and how far away we get hang your head, drop the curtains, usher artificial night

come on, willow, weep and let me hear it make me believe that it mattered at all come on, willow, weep and let me hear it can't expect a sound from a tear that doesn't fall

dig your roots up from the earth and set them all aflame do your best to breathe around the smoke wrap your hands around my throat and bid me do the same tap out when you've had enough of the beast that you awoke

come on, willow, weep and let me hear it make me believe that it mattered at all come on, willow, weep and let me hear it can't expect a sound from a tear that doesn't fall

looking for your lonely violence I drag myself across the floor trying to scream around your silence 'til I just can't stand it anymore

come on, willow, weep and let me hear it make me believe that it mattered at all come on, willow, weep and let me hear it can't expect a sound from a tear that doesn't fall

Im srry but w/ bandcamp union busting i cant stop but think back to when i was goin back n forth w/ dumbasses on here who were calling them equivalent to a local indie record store and not a corporation w/ a monopoly on indie music distro. Thank god the employees arent as dumb as some musicians.

[audio description: a bitter, resentful song played on piano, getting more wretched and wailing as it progresses. lyrics below. end ad]

listen on bandcamp | soundcloud | ao3

lyrics:

things change but you knew me start to finish the first time you said my name I stay the same is that what you want me to say? I'm still lying in the ditch still reading too much meaning into every little twitch still mopping whiskey off the floor nobody's paying me to do it anymore you lost everything that day I had nothing and I gave it all away a debt too high to ever be repaid is that what you want me to say? I still come when you call gravity still works: when you push me, I still fall I've not forgotten how to play my role you can let me off the leash, I'm still a watchdog on patrol you've changed your face and limbs all rearranged I still grit my teeth through every pain is that what you want me to say? I took the shining emeralds from your eyes I grabbed your next three hundred years and choked out all the life that's the most of you that I have ever held can you believe that you once looked at me and told me I'd done well? empty credits on my resume special skills: desert, steal, and betray always hoped that I would make you proud someday is that what you want me to say? the world has changed all its warmth gone down the drain but I stay the same I was born to shiver anyway I was in the gutter anyway I was just some human anyway no one but myself who I can blame is that what you want me to say?

[audio description:  a wistful, nostalgic, disappointed song played on piano and acoustic guitar. lyrics below. end ad]

listen on bandcamp | soundcloud | ao3

lyrics:

woke up on the floor today my hair thick with grease, my clothes all whiskey-stained can't remember the last thing that I ate do it all again tomorrow anyway the better times are not as close as they appear my leash tied to a post out in the snow for six long years you used to scratch the itch I couldn't reach behind my ears when I was good, when the magic was still here I guzzle sugar to offset my sour blood this acrid singing in my veins, a discordant hum can't swallow down the aftertaste of what I've done think I'll always be surprised by the rising of the sun the warmer times are not as close as they appear I swear the fur lining my coat is getting thinner every year used to lay my head down in your lap so you could keep me near when I was good, when the magic was still here in the army I wore dog tags if lost, take me back to eyes greener than the grass follow my nose but it all smells like roses through the glass always feel the urge to chew I need something in my teeth besides the memory of you can't stop hoping that I'll catch you passing through oh, there must be something else that I can do the kinder times are not as close as they appear feels like I've aged seven times for every passing year you used to stroke my face and call me "dear" when I was good, when the magic was still here oh, I was good when the magic was still here if I were good, the magic would still be here

we've arrived again! today (mar 3) is bandcamp friday! this is the best time to show your support and appreciation for your favorite artists!

hey hi hello

today (sep 2) is bandcamp friday!

if you're going to buy my album, please please please do it today! bandcamp friday means that bandcamp waives its portion of sales revenue-- meaning that all the money you spend goes directly to me! no splitting it with the platform itself!

supporting independent artists is the best way to insure that independent artists can continue to exist. so please consider supporting me and/or any other musicians you love buy purchasing their work TODAY

as of this writing (6 pm est) there are nine hours left in bandcamp friday. the next bandcamp friday is on oct 7!