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The Analemma Observation League

by Al Harper

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    Edition of 100 cassettes with double sided 7-page inserts that include lyrics and art

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1.
on day one of the sunflower broke through the fence tore up the cement became a little tower above and called on all to come on and behold the rise and the fall the rise and the fall your eyes in the fall figure eight across the sky you're a circle on my mind daylight darkens, winter fades there's nothing time won't take away the rise and the fall the horizon calls the analemma observation league has no attachment to the fate of the seed the analemma observation league just wants to see what will be candle burning by the hour flame grows tall in stares of wonder melted wax runs through my hands I went away but I'm back again tide is rising by the hour waves grow high, we stare in wonder the hourglass, the racing sands I went away but I'm back again on day one of the sunflower
2.
Either Way 03:27
keep the fire burning til the break of dawn for I fear I may never feel ready to move on I could try to make you stay but I could really go either way my eyes kaleidoscope all faces my mind old memories I guess whatever time erases must have stopped mattering there was something bobbing in the sea (it fell and rose) we were sitting on the beach (taking off our clothes) you tried swimming within reach but you weren't even close not even close you been so many different places since I last kept you company why am I the only one that never changes as the world crumbles around our knees
3.
Patience 03:48
come back around you're still on my mind you tend to hide and I unearth you over time cuz I'd just die if you were mine I'd die time after time I've invited you to come my way but I ain't ever gonna beg you to stay don't be that way with me don't be that way as I send smoke signals of your name to disappear beyond the astral plane who has the patience to make something great? Who has any patience these days Saturday night one last time I let myself be led then said that I could never see your pretty face again Monday morning and we're waiting for the same damn train the universe has had her way with me again
4.
way back when there were many miles between us now there's only time way back then there was nothing I wouldn't do to try and bring your home closer to mine and I was very young and you were arguably free and there were pretty girls around kept your mind off me so I thought you were hanging around now to apologize but I'm older and realizing you were never that surprising and you don't really care about doing right by me you just don't want me crying to my friends and family you don't really care about doing right by me so it's finally time to let me be let me be! it's finally time to let me be I find it kinda cruel but I finally understand sixteen years of school can't teach you lessons that a bad man can and I been around the block enough I got no business getting lost in that kind of neighborhood again it's plain to see...
5.
Old Friends 03:58
we're old friends are we good friends? I'm counting the ways you've faded in and out through the years counting the days it takes to completely disappear I'd make the morning coffee clean up the house I was always waiting patiently while you were two-steppin around now I'm wondering if I'll be pouring two cups for me and myself cuz the patterns a lake makes onto the rocks over millions of years can't be changed like the locks on your house but I love letting you in showing you the town seeing how you're different and pretending permanence abounds (breezing in before you breeze out again) could I forgive you anymore If I forgot a little less you can call me when you're happy or call when you're depressed cuz the patterns a lake makes onto the rocks over millions of years can't be changed like clocks in your house that are counting down
6.
when we met I swear it was kismet paid my train fare and there you sat lonely thoughts, believing I was too old for something new lost a lot, try to remember all the times I won some too free me from filters and effects no critics, no regrets and no pictures, no pictures please makes it feel, makes it feel cheap seeing through lenses lost track of my senses nothing real lasts but I'll never forget this in my mind we're perfectly cast in plaster of Paris winter passed the only way out is through summer laughed at all the things I planned to do the day was hot and we were trying to be brave in the afternoon we forgot the people that we were before that hospital room no pictures, no pictures please makes it feel, makes it feel cheap seeing through lenses lost track of my senses life rushes past but I'll never forget this in my mind we're perfectly cast in plaster of Paris could never have pictured this
7.
Memory 02:33
that kind of magic never lasts too long baby we'd better find something more to live on another world that someone else has drawn down here on earth the elevator's gone I don't want to believe that my best days are behind me I don't want to believe that my best days are a memory memory these kind of curses never end too soon they bring me down I'm like a soft balloon we had it good until we read the room California flora don't know when to bloom
8.
every morning I wake up to see another petal's dropped from the bouquet that you game me made of invasive species are you a permanent rose? made of paper and bows god only knows what I would do for you if you stay I have my fears if you leave there will be tears but I will love you as long as you're here invitation's already in the mail another songbird's gone to jail sitting on the floor beside myself worrying about my health am I a permanent rose? the kind that never grows god only knows what I go through for you... if we make it through the years we can transcend all the tears so I will love you as long as you're here
9.
I was playing guitar in an empty apartment watching the sun spin around in the clouds last night we were talking exploring our options we'll roll with the punches and hope it works out and I won't be unhappy no I won't be unhappy don't you lie to me baby will you be happy (lie to me) baby we will be happy does a life of compromise mean both of us just live a lie or does meeting in the middle mean we can build some version of our dreams in a brand new design don't forget what's yours is also mine... feel like it's time brand new design feel like it's time what's yours is mine night settles in with the sadness of knowing I will never live in the same city as most of my friends again we're leaving it all behind we're leaving it all behind we're leaving it all behind like sandcastles at high tide
10.
someday I'll be a farmer working the land I wish I was a farmer to work with my hands cuz it's been too long a ride too high the fare well I built and climbed a mountain but it isn't there and I been looking all around, looked everywhere to build and climb a mountain but it isn't there if it isn't there dun-da-dun it isn't here it isn't there or anywhere I'm gonna pick an apple right from the tree I'm gonna eat the apple cuz it grew there for me and it's been too long a ride too high the fare well I built and climbed a mountain but it isn't there
11.
it's a delicate chain I'm untangling it's a very late train I'm at the station waiting as so-and-so said the hungry are fed when taught to make bread the point of success is your happiness but how about that sense of redress? this time take time this time be wine this time all sings are go slow it's a difficult game I'm slowly mastering I'm a kite, I'm a string I'm a joker, I'm a king as so-and-so said you're better off dead than uncredited if the price of success is your happiness well who the heck are you trying to impress...

about

Everything that grows knows itself. What’s taken root and blooming in Al Harper’s latest album, The Analemma Observation League, deeply knows how to invite new and old fans to linger, smile with eyes closed, and then line dance our way through reflection on these past, pivotal years of individual and collective metamorphoses.

Like an heirloom Central Valley bush sunflower, native to Al’s hometown of Bakersfield, California, the seeds of A.O.L. were cultivated over many mighty seasons of heat, movement, and seeking the sun. The formative influence of the twang and heart of the Bakersfield Sound, mashed up with the as-seen-on-TV Sounds Of The ‘70s tapes her dad bought to blast on coastal road trips, is an Al Harper calling card that bobs and weaves throughout her songbook. With seriously siren vocals that defy comparison, honeyed with a Chrissie Hynde-meets-Harumi hum all her own, A.O.L. plays like the culmination of what Al promised to further nurture in herself after the release of her pandemic LP, Promises I Kept.

An analemma – the shape the sun makes in the sky when seen from the same spot at the same time every day for a year – takes the shape of a figure 8 when observed from Earth. Just like the flowers and landscapes that take form throughout A.O.L., Al’s organic and intentional lyricism gives a body to the seasons of change we all experience that occur and inevitably repeat over time. In stretching her sound through ethereal call and earthy response echoes with guitars that imitate electric harps, bass that keeps it MC5, and tight drums that recalibrate our heart rate, Al loops back and swirls us through her experiences of memory and love that feel both intimate and deeply shared at the same time.

By analyzing her own life chapters and highlights through the lens of an analemma, Al’s membership card in the Analemma Observation League has given her access to refract the figure 8 concept of infinity through a new light set to a sonic sound. A.O.L. nudges us that, to really grow? It starts by knowing we gotta know we gotta grow.

Lani Wild

credits

released February 23, 2024

Al Harper: vocals, piano, guitar, wurlitzer, synth, percussion, vibraphone, field recordings
Jason Kick: bass, reverse horns, vocals, percussion, drum production, synth, 12 string guitar, vibraphone, guitar, disco strings, programmed drums, synth vocals, harpelele, organ, church bells, synth strings,
Garrett Barley: pedal steel, slide guitar, rippin' guitar outro on "Let Me Be,"
Eli Balmer: harmonies on "Old Friends"

All songs by Al Harper except #10 by Melanie Safka

Engineered and mixed by Jason Kick at Tunnel Vision Studio

Produced by Al Harper and Jason Kick
Mastered by Matthew Barnhart

Cover Painting: Jen Weisberg
Layout: Mike Ramos

Special thanks to Daniel Pearce, Chris Portka, Ainsley Wagoner, Omar Negrete, Asha Wells, Luke Robbins, Ray Seraphin, Tony Jay, Mister David, Lani Wild, Eli Balmer, baby Leo, Craig, and my sweet Yvette (2010-2023)

"He says the best way out is always through.
And I agree to that, or in so far
As that I can see no way out but through"

—Robert Frost, "A Servant to Servants"

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Al Harper San Francisco, California

Your local soft rock specialist.

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