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Shame and Sedition

by Lula Wiles

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Double LP in slipsleeve jacket, standard weight black vinyl, featuring liner notes [note: product image is a mock-up]. All US orders will be shipped USPS media mail.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Shame and Sedition via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $29.98 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Compact disc in digipak packaging with liner notes [note: product image is a mock-up]. All US orders will be shipped USPS media mail.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Shame and Sedition via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 10 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $16.98 USD or more 

     

  • 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

     

1.
In Dreams 04:56
How am I supposed to know? What to do with it, what to say What to play up or play down Ooo, freedom So unbearable to watch So untenable to chase Not everything can be changed History, trapped in your face How am I supposed to be? Knowing you, when you don’t know me I can’t change the face I see, And you can’t face the change I need Ooo, freedom In the grave or in the tree From the plains to the city Chains to build the reverie Chains to build the reverie Chains to build the reverie There’s nickel, there’s lead, there’s copper in my head There’s bones in my bed There’s silver in your hand There’s leather in my skin There’s gold in the land How are you supposed to see That which you cannot perceive Haven’t been taught to believe When you’re living in a dream Ooo, freedom Ooo, is for some Ooo, in dreams Yeah, in dreams Ooo, the reverie Chains to build the reverie Chains to build the reverie Chains to build the reverie
2.
Oh My God 04:38
Do you hear the shimmer of the sharpening blade? Do you feel the thunder from the barricade? A wave is building from below and it’s gonna break Riot and ruination, I can’t wait I’ll admit that you’ve done pretty well so far Did you think that you would end up where you are? Do you think that you’re a god now, in your fancy cars? Stepping over bodies, grinning like a movie star Oh my god, how embarrassing for you! Oh my god, you really think you built that throne you look down from To spit on everyone Yeah your time is gonna run out soon And you couldn’t swing a hammer if they paid you to What have you been doing since the world shut down? Counting all the cards you stole to build your house Your insidious extraction won’t protect you now ʼCause we’re turning on the lights that you’ve been shooting out Maybe you believe that you will always rule You may think the world is all complacent fools But hunger is an engine and anger is fuel And everybody’s hungry all because of you
3.
Sometimes I’d go walking over by your old house Where we’d open the window when the rain came down Tiny white room at the top of the stairs Sleeping tangled in a bed too small We didn’t mind it at all I could lie there all night with you looking at me Breathing quiet in the light coming in off the street Tracing patterns of the blinds falling on your skin Secretly I knew you wouldn’t change your mind I didn’t wanna be right But if you didn’t feel it well then what was all that The summer and your secrets and that photograph Everything you wanted catching in your throat Every word a silhouette of the burden of blame And why am I still ashamed Maybe you were looking for a stronger one Still I’d never felt a softer, sweeter touch You can’t keep the sea from tugging on the shore And you were just water running through my hands I know that you understand Haven’t you heard I’m in a brand new town Down here in the fall the leaves just turn brown I’m looking in the mirror, but I’m lying to my friends I’m alone in the theater when the movie ends In this empty house I’ve been waking up slow I don’t wanna do anything but be alone Spend the day watching shadows move across the floor I don’t turn on the lights when the sun goes down Just let the darkness surround me I’ll be turning 27 at the end of next week Same day as the worst day you’d ever seen I used to think the universe was giving us a sign I don’t know why I ever believed in that shit It’s just the way that it is It’s just the way that it is It’s just the way that it is
4.
Everybody wants to be connected to something bigger, All in all they want their paradise to grow to such a figure It’s improbable to break, impossible to pull the trigger Bikram yoga, military, horoscopes, and missionary formulas, The tropes that push us out in such a mold with so infallible a shape, Looting to liberate Everybody wants to be a part of a project Everybody wants to see the plan Everybody’s looking after where they lost it Everybody wants to understand Everybody wants to understand Everybody wants to be alone in their cubby, Every digital individual, curating their surroundings, putting all things in their place Divinity the interface
5.
Wake Up 04:06
You were a ghost in the morning Mountain town, snow was falling Melted when it hit the ground Are you doing better now? Slow going uphill steady Blue and gold across the valley Seeing more with every step Do you understand it yet? Are you ready for the things you want? When do you wake up? So long kept still and quiet Weighed down, afraid to fight it Wondering what it is you need To break the surface of the sea Sun come up, earth still turning Reached the top, breath was burning Expanding and invisible Holding the impossible
6.
Television 04:29
It’s a sharp knife between greed and ambition You start to question what you’ve been given Everybody’s buying when they’re selling division And it’s all waiting for you on your television It’s a tightrope walk between red and blue Watch the Friday night fight, the riveting show They’re fighting each other, who’s fighting for you? It’s a short night reaching, and a long day working Clocking in, checking out, and crashing down It’s a waking dream until you pull back the curtain It’s a war on water, it’s a war on the pavement Awards for the puppet and the overseer And the weapon is hunger and the method is hatred It’s a tightening chokehold on what you see Who points the camera, who points the gun? If the evidence points back, then why would they screen it? It’s a sharp knife between shame and sedition You start to question what you’ve been missing Everybody’s armed to defend the old position And it’s all waiting for you
7.
Cold Water 05:47
I’m gonna run cold water on my face And go back out there It’s a strange new town They don’t need to see me break down I told your friend how it all went down Between you and me He didn’t seem surprised And I hadn’t talked about it for a while I should have believed you sooner When you told me who you are I should have believed you sooner Should have known I’d end up singing Hallelujah, I never knew ya I swear that I never meant to fade out And disappear Okay, so that’s not true But I never meant to lose myself in you You were a story I told myself In a fever dream But now I’m free From the morphine drip of you wanting me So I’m gonna run cold water on my face And go back out there I hear an old country song You never liked this one So I’ll play it all night long
8.
Mary Anne 03:38
Mary Anne Why don’t you get your shit together? I’m not waiting For a better time or better weather To return your messages You’re holding on to vestiges of a long lie And we’re not making plans, Mary Anne Mary Anne I bet your mama still believes that you’re an angel Should I call her up and tell her About the poison you were brewing On the playground back in school when we were young You gotta get out while you can, Mary Anne Mary Anne So you heard I’m doing well, I won’t deny it And I’m sorry that you never made it Out of our hometown And you know I barely made it out alive From the palm of your hand, Mary Anne Mary Anne I still hear your voice sometimes when I am lonely And I remember you’re still pulling All the strings inside my mind Telling me I’ll never find the love I need Oh but now I understand I had to get out while I can And we’re not making plans, Mary Anne
9.
Call Me Up 04:22
Last time that I saw you it didn’t look like you’d been sleeping Watching the boats out on the Danube, you and I breathing There’s nothing you owe me, maybe that’s what I should’ve told you Next time that I see you, baby, what are we gonna hold on to? Mmm, I know you've been taking it rough Ohh, you gotta just call me up We could talk on the phone all night Maybe we could get it right I don’t know why you’re trying to do it all on your own Is that just the only way your heart has known? Don’t think I didn’t notice when you stopped coming around That ain’t no way to live those demons down Can’t you hear the bells ringing down in the square How long has it been since you walked down there? There’s one chime for lonely love, another for the one you’ve been missing But those bells keep tolling even if nobody’s listening
10.
If I could only reach you, I would tell you, I would teach you If you could only see me, I would show you, I would meet you halfway I would take you there, I would make you care About people like me and my friends Do you really want the world to end? Do you really want the world to end? All of these pennies we’re counting, they have bound us to our wanting And to be trapped inside it is to be blind, is to deny it In a world that aches In a world that takes from people like me and my friends Do you really want the world to end? Do you really want the world to end? We carry ghosts within us, in a silence, in a sickness Greed is a cruel companion, it’s the violence we are handed So much to be returned, stolen not earned, so much to be unlearned Between now and then In a world that depends On people like me and my friends Do you really want the world to end? Do you really want the world to end?
11.
You ruin everything, even what’s already dead Looks like everybody wins when you’re playing with their head And they’re giving in Makes me feel like a conspiracy theorist like my dad is Maybe he was right about it Is that really you? When did you grow so tall? Who let you cut your hair like that, you used to love how it falls When you spin Or is this one of those mirrors, makes everything look big On the other side you’re still a kid How does it feel to break free from the frame? Now you can watch the chemtrails flying over your head And there’s no pain No more mourning the days that came and went by Left you empty as a hotel bed

about

Conceived amidst profound change and calls for revolution, Shame and Sedition is the sound of Lula Wiles amplifying the present moment. Each song grew from personal revelations or yearning for collective reckoning, materializing into proclamations against powerful oligarchs, toxic relationships, media narratives, and the callousness capitalism demands. Sung in their instantly recognizable tight harmony, within a landscape of expansive electric guitars, dynamic currents of bass and drums, and intimate acoustic textures, the album sees Lula Wiles’ sound deepening to give honest form to their trenchant lyrics. Shame and Sedition captures Lula Wiles at a pivotal juncture, as they critically examine today’s nuanced struggles and reconsider how our lives are lived.

credits

released May 21, 2021

Produced by Sam Kassirer
Mixed & mastered by D. James Goodwin
Photography: Laura Partain
Executive producer: John Smith
Production manager: Mary Monseur
Production assistant: Kate Harrington
Editorial assistance by Carla Borden
Art direction by Sean Trischka and Lula Wiles
Design and layout by Sean Trischka

Lula Wiles thanks our incredible team at Smithsonian Folkways, Mollie Farr, and the many musical communities that have encouraged our creativity and growth.

Isa thanks Julianna Burke, Susie Burke, David Surette, Sam Gleason, the Hohenems Schlossberg, the fools who inspire her angriest songs, and the friends who inspire her best musicianship.

Mali thanks the ancestors, the Obomsawin clan, mama Daisy, James Baldwin, Buffy Sainte Marie, Taylor Ho Bynum, and all of her enemies.

Eleanor wishes to thank her family, friends, and mentors for their loving support.

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Lula Wiles Boston, Massachusetts

None of us are named Lula.

Physical orders through Bandcamp are fulfilled from our record label. Visit our website to buy other merch and physical copies of our albums directly from the band!

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