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The Sound of Your Voice: Volume Five Demos

by The Twelve Canons

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1.
These years away Have drawn lines on your face The pictures they make This home and this lake Sing like angels In wake of thee Lord knows I am following The sound of your voice My humble home (the light beneath the dim sky) My beautiful home (the echoes glow through the night) I'll be here God filling my ears With song like angels In wake of thee Lord knows I am following The sound of your voice
2.
A Toy (demo) 03:28
3.
Your mother and father they called you the shining sun To bed at dusk And up at dawn Your brothers and sisters Are all the shining stars They shine so bright Shine from afar And if you shine beyond the heavens I will be there to steal your light And if you go beyond your brethren I will be there to steal you away Your mother and cousin They called you the evening too They locked you up Inside your room Your brothers and sisters Remain like the shining stars You stole their light But got these scars And if you shine beyond the heavens I will be there to steal your light And if you go beyond your brethren I will be there to steal you away
4.
...have you read your tickets? It seems that your mind is child like You ride through the thickets The same ones you planted As a child And when you die Then, James, oh my You'll find your life Was more than ill spent time
5.
Well, it’s you and me The devil’s here in the room Not much I can see Nothing much I can see The flesh rotting from my bones That’s piled on the floor This is all I know This is all I know And you take me away to A vacation to the north A cottage, a cabbage a hut in the forest Away to the blizzards and the trees A cold room is prepared for Suffering our own disease Released from my life Of these past few years A path of spheres of light A path of spheres of light I’ve climbed down the stairs And I bound them up As I’ve bound my hair As I’ve bound my hair And you take me away to the fiery pit of hell The devils, the demons Are looking plenty soon On your way to sing to the lord The angels, the chorus Streets we could have for it Away
6.
These eyes won’t open Until the evening dies of light My limbs are frozen From dew that binds my My eyes My eyes My eyes My hopes are over Until the day, she dies of light I won’t dethrone her Until it’s good and time My eyes My eyes My eyes My eyes My eyes My eyes My eyes
7.
Do you ever see blood Blood, blood? Tell me Heaven pulls up Up, up By your feet That is when you leave That is when you leave When you lay down Down, down, down My friend Here is what I found Found, found My friend That is when you leave That is when you leave High above the trees That is when you leave That is when you leave That is when you leave That is when you leave
8.
In these troubled times Bless this child Bless these eyes Bless this child In your troubled eyes I see a child I see a child’s that must reach out And how is your soul? And how is your soul?
9.
Darling, did you leave yourself for anyone to see your face? Your eyes are getting dull Your spirits must have died away And you with your secrets and me with my fears are floating on pieces of the time we spent here Shadows from the doorways are bounding across the walls and ceiling The sun has grown too bright and the evening was too dark for me And you with your secrets and me with my fears are floating on pieces of the time we spent here The waves they are crashing and my lungs are full of the bitter resentment and the wrath that I put behind me
10.
Hope (demo) 04:05
Maybe I could find Someone to share my light Maybe I could be Someone you’d like to see In the morning When we wake up Every morning When they wake up You want One from me I want One from life Maybe I would leave Someone who can believe Believe enough in me to help me Rise above the leaves In the evening When we lay down And every evening We all lay down You want More for me And I want More from life It’s the great hope That’s the great hope
11.
12.
Dear one, wake up I’ll bring you a cup First of water, then of wine Then some coffee, look at the time Dear one, wake up Just start up another day so fine The apartment reeks of wine Let’s get out, look at the time Dear one, wake up Let’s get ourselves out into the store Buy some liquor and drink it up Let me fill up your cup Dear one, wake up I’m impatient this morning Let’s get started with the day When it’s tomorrow I’ll go away Dear one, wake up I’ll bring you a cup First of water, then of wine Then some coffee, look at the time Dear one, wake up Dear one, wake up Dear one, wake up Dear one, wake up
13.
Leaving this place is getting harder Since I saw your face All our looking in to see A place that’s past your dreams It’s hard to find a place And it’s hard to find a place Where I don’t have to see your face I don’t have to see your face Set about on this road With an idea to find a home All these places I have been Well I never want to see them again It’s hard to find a place Well it’s hard to find a place Where I can find my face Where I can find another face
14.
You’re there when I wake up You’re there when I lay down to sleep I need, need, need your chattering teeth I’ve come and I’ve staked out And set up a plan in your skin I live, live, live inside your limbs Keep me here Keep me safe Safe from the world Your light grows warm And your skin which is smoking Expectedly painfully dry These shards are going Out into the open And it’s chilly so I’ll Close your eyes In months you’ll forget The day I came here to you Your feet, feet, feet They did not move The ice and snow And leaves piled by your side I pray, pray, pray That you won’t die Keep me here Keep me safe Safe from the world
15.
Children all lie In the city, on the sidewalks All rise to your knees Hear the pitter and patter The feet in the gutter Outside little rooms they sing: Nobody stays here for long They grow old, they fall again They’re gone Grass that grows taller Your mother, your father You’ll grow old Cold and calm And when did you forget Your promise to keep the song faithfully And it seems that: Nobody stays here for long They grow old, they fall again They’re gone Nobody sings the song Songs all slip from Their chords
16.
Check your tickets There’s a train for you On a track, a car, unseen Check your wallet For a picture there The child, his eyes, they’re yours And you’ve been bad And your life, it’s sad When you can’t live up to your word And you’ve been blind Of your like, your kind Who don’t often get through the woods With a medal on their chest And with pride in the breast With a song in their ears And with dance in their heels With a light in their eyes No fear in the sky And a friend by their side
17.
Years (demo) 04:11
Years These years of falling at your feet Have left me nothing more Than showing your backs Where I’ll swing My springs have worn down over the years Knowing every eye’s to die The steps soon made Will find the door And joy’s forevermore These washed up glories on our shores This sorry innocence of ours
18.
Oh Jesus, console me Is the light I shine unholy? These haven’t been the best of years for me The candle, it flickers And the smoke, it grows much thicker The way it curls has made it hard to see Oh father, assure me That the hands with which you cure me Are not the hands that made the world unwell The ground, it is quaking and my own thin hands are shaking When I wake up, will I find myself in hell?
19.
First we had a child Running, laughing, wild Oh what a beautiful baby Oh what a beautiful babe Then you had me Losing to the sea What an appropriate ending Such an appropriate end You found me yet again Right where I’ve stayed and been Time after time after time, yeah Time after time after time In desperate times I turn To the sea and learn Nothing more than to drown there No, no, no more than to drown Let’s have another child Running, laughing, wild Oh what a beautiful baby Oh what a beautiful babe Let’s take the same old James And pull him from the flames The seas and the fires are endless The seas and the fire are the end

about

"The Sound of Your Voice: The Last of the Twelve Canons" is a set of unreleased tracks from Jim DuRocher. The first ten tracks represent the planned set of songs to be recorded for "Volume Five", chosen by Jim Durocher and I (Justin Norman) before Jim's death.

The first of these tracks, "The Sound of Your Voice", was recorded in a mental institute with the same equipment we used to record Volume Four: Sacrifice.

The nine tracks following it are demos Jim gave to me. These tracks were intended to be re-recorded on the same equipment as "The Sound of Your Voice" along with two new songs Jim had written, which unfortunately — to my knowledge — were never recorded in any form. Most of these were recorded by Jim on a laptop microphone at different points over the last five years.

The remaining tracks are songs that were not intended for "Volume Five", recorded in demo format on a laptop mic over the course of the last several years. A demo of "The Great Physician" from Volume Two is also included. In this iteration it was titled "oh jesus" and contains alternate lyrics in the second half. "The Seas and the Fires Are Endless" was a song I recorded on a Zoom recorder at the Abbe Care Center in the outdoor courtyard. I believe this was the last new song of Jim's that was recorded. "Dear One, Wake Up" is a demo I found in July 2021 in an email Jim sent me in 2010. After discovering it, I adjusted the volume to match the demos here and updated the track list for this digital release in July 2021.

"Interlude" was a demo Jim gave me with the file name "piano thing". Since previous Canons albums used interludes to split up lyrical songs, I've used it to separate the first ten Volume Five demos and the remaining tracks.

I've included lyrics on some tracks, but they may contain inaccuracies since I don't have access to written lyrics (if they exist). I've transcribed them all by ear. I chose to include these unofficial transcriptions because I find many of Jim's lyrics beautiful and I know that some people have difficulty making out what he's saying in the low quality demo recordings.

— Justin Norman, March 2014 (updated July 2021)

credits

released March 25, 2014

Jim Durocher - vocals, acoustic guitar, lyrics
Justin Norman - electric bass, keyboards, vocals
"The Sound of Your Voice" and "The Seas and the Fires Are Endless" recorded by Justin Norman. Others recorded by Jim on his laptops.
Mixed and mastered by Justin at home in Des Moines, Iowa.

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The Twelve Canons Iowa

The Twelve Canons were a gothic folk band formed sometime in 2001 or 2002 in Iowa City by singer/guitarist Jim DuRocher. After three albums with members Sam Gold and Alex Body, the Twelve Canons stripped back to a two-piece with the addition of composer/bassist Justin Norman. In January 2014, frontman and founder Jim Durocher tragically passed away. He left behind a large collection of demos. ... more

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