Get all 15 Amateur Ornithologist releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Hiding to Nothing, Hide, Time To Talk, The Word is Love, If It Looks Like Magic, Building the Bird, Sunscreen, A Better Person, and 7 more.
1. |
A Hidden Path
03:52
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I walk a hidden path
I navigate its landscapes
Drawing a straight connecting track
Through terrain and ages passed
I hunt the ancient route
Aligning cairns and chalk men
Sites that ring in harmony
Flooding ancestral memory
Take the weight off my feet
Silbury Hill as my seat
With a map in one hand
Scrawl patterns over the land
I walk a hidden path
A clearing in the woodlands
Shifting the land where Watkins roamed
To a time of wood and stone
Take the weight off my feet
Silbury Hill as my seat
With a map in one hand
Scrawl patterns over the land
An experience of every sense
Finding links between old monuments
When you look with a particular lens
Framed to block out all coincidence
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2. |
The Anatomy Lesson
03:08
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Take photographs
While I’m intact
And then I’m cleaned
Dimensions tracked
The block is placed
‘Tween shoulder blades
Spine arches back
My chest displayed
Incisions made
A clear Y shape
Cut through ribs with some surprise
Sight to see with one’s own eyes
Husk before them; form callow
Lived my best with chest hollow
First-hand research
A life reversed
Narrates alone
To dictaphone
My body drawn
‘Neath UV lights
But evidence
Won’t yield insights
Incisions made
A clear Y shape
Cut through ribs with some surprise
Sight to see with one’s own eyes
Husk before them; form unspoiled
Lived my best with chest a void
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3. |
Time To Talk
03:40
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In their eyes
I’ve been told
That’s the key
To connection
Smiling wide
Nod along
Blocking out
All distraction
Enough
I shut down it’s
Too much
I fail to adjust
Such a normal thing to
Take the time to talk
Mark our diaries with time to talk
Time to talk
It’s so ordinary
Taking the time to talk
Compare our diaries
We’ll take the time to talk
Can’t hold my
Wagging tongue
Cause of death
Misadventure
Too caught up
Monologue
Post the point
Back to sender
Just one
Short stop for a breath
I should
Keep all on my chest
Such a normal thing to
Take the time to talk
Mark our diaries with time to talk
Time to talk
It’s so ordinary
Taking the time to talk
Compare our diaries
We’ll take the time to talk
Time to talk
Talk aloud
All the thoughts
I’m rehearsing
Running lines
Through the night
From the top
I’m returning
I’ll play
Both roles of the scene
Previews
A nightly routine
Such a normal thing to
Take the time to talk
Mark our diaries with time to talk
Time to talk
It’s so ordinary
Taking the time to talk
Compare our diaries
We’ll take the time to talk
Such a normal thing to
Take the time to talk
Mark our diaries with time to talk
Time to talk
It’s so ordinary
Taking the time to talk
Compare our diaries
We’ll take the time to talk
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4. |
Hide
04:50
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I need a place to run and hide
Where there is no use for disguise
I hold no value in surprise
I’d rather sculpt from my designs
To find a shelter I can be still
In slow motion with no guilt
A step removed from wild life
I need a place to run and hide
With all geometry defined
I’m done discovering great unknowns
Just read about them sat at home
To find a habitat that’s mine
Where my books can sit aligned
A step removed from wild life
I look for it
Reflect on it
Watch out in case something happens again
I look for it
Reflect on it
Watch out in case something happens
Something happens
I look for it
Reflect on it
Watch out in case something happens again
I look for it
Reflect on it
Watch out in case something happens
Something happens
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5. |
I Won't Be Waiting
03:31
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When you go away
I won’t be waiting
Biding my time
Listening for the door
Where your keys belong
Glancing at the phone
For your name to show
Like the hallway light
Swearing black is white
When you go away
I won’t be waiting
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6. |
If It Looks Like Magic
04:35
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Down the garden to the beck
Father’s camera in hand
Ticing wonders into place
We’ll make Mother understand
Five photographs
The papers laughed
And if it looks like magic
Why would you choose not to see
The evidence so graphic
If It looks like magic, magic
In the greenery she stood
With an offering of flowers
“Rational people” never see
Howard verified the glass
Five photographs
Who guessed they’d last
And if it looks like magic
Why would you choose not to see
The evidence so graphic
If It looks like magic, magic
Sir Arthur said
Glamour had returned
Sir Arthur said
Mystery was reborn
And if it looks like magic
Why would you choose not to see
The evidence so graphic
If It looks like magic
And if it looks like magic
Why would you choose not to see
The evidence so graphic
If It looks like magic, magic
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7. |
Forgotten Schemes
02:51
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So I sought out advice
How to unfurl all the tangles of
Tangles of my life
They kept me waiting
So many years
So many years
So I set to research
Thumbed through the books and I laboured on
Overwritten verse
Still I saw promise
Unlocking words
Some forgotten schemes
Some forgotten schemes
Patience comes with rewards
That is the wisdom I’m hearing from
All the higher forms
They kept me waiting
So many years
Some forgotten schemes
Some forgotten schemes
So I sought out advice
How to unfurl all the tangles of
Tangles of my mind
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8. |
The Word is Love
03:45
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I thought so long
All the words were wrong
God bless her punctuality
(The secret of so much)
The speed that she responds to me
(It’s such a soothing touch)
But most of all remember
That’s only half the deal
Debit cards on the table
(Nothing else concealed)
You don’t have to lie awake
Fretting now
The word is love
Simple as it is to take
Give in now
The word is love
She’s always bumping into things
(Replacement plates work fine)
And rescues with what the cats’ll bring
(Of each and every kind)
But most of all remember
That’s only half the deal
Debit cards on the table
(Nothing else concealed)
You don’t have to lie awake
Fretting now
The word is love
Simple as it is to take
Give in now
The word is love
But most of all remember
That’s only half the deal
Debit cards on the table
(Nothing else concealed)
You don’t have to lie awake
Fretting now
The word is love
Simple as it is to take
Give in now
The word is love
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9. |
Venetian Blinds
03:31
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Tracing lives
Through Venetian blinds
Filling space
Presumed between the lines
Through Venetian blinds
Fluid lives
The details catch her eye
Through Venetian blinds
Fluid lives
The details catch her eye
Witness to dream
Perched unseen
And take their leave
In careful thought
Tableaus haunt
Twist and deceive
Through Venetian blinds
Fluid lives
The details catch her eye
Through Venetian blinds
Fluid lives
The details catch her eye
Changes in the garden
Visits through the night
Dearly they departed
Through Venetian blinds
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10. |
When They Fall
05:23
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And, lo, the Earth rebels
Roads swallowing themselves
Structures become ideas
Skylines becoming clear
The way things fall away
When they fall
The way things fall away
Twin experience of time
Off centre and out of line
No light to shine on the scene
Urban scenery submarine
Parade a history in flight
Interred, entombed, unspoken rites
Can’t fathom, cannot compute
Salvaged remains of a folk pursuit
Cars race determined waves
Night slept in mislaid trains
Soon higher ground declined
Land roared, the sea replied
The way things fall away
When they fall
The way things fall away
Twin experience of time
Off centre and out of line
No light to shine on the scene
Urban scenery submarine
Parade a history in flight
Interred, entombed, unspoken rites
Can’t fathom, cannot compute
Salvaged remains of a folk pursuit
Cold reverberations
Felt so far away
First the days grew shorter
Then the snowfall came
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Amateur Ornithologist Gateshead, UK
Weird pop group from North East England. The band’s neurodivergent members have found a home for their musical expressions; fusing pop, orchestral, jazz and rock influences to create a grand melodic sound.
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Great songwriting and weird sounds. Pop as it should be!
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I Was Named After Daniel Treacy
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