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Undone

by The Lasses

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A physical copy of our newest album 'Undone', in a beautiful eco-friendly cardboard sleeve designed by Sjaak Kassies. Includes a booklet with liner notes and lyrics (does not include the beautiful cat).

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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 7 The Lasses releases available on Bandcamp and save 40%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Spring is Here, Rise Up Shepherd, Follow the Heron, Undone, Live at De Parel van Zuilen, Daughters, and The Lasses. , and , .

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1.
Over yonder in the graveyard
 Where the wild, wild flowers grow 
It’s there they laid my own true lover 
She's gone from me, forever more Fairer than the sweetest flower 
Restless as the wildest wind 
Born with a love deep as an ocean
 This was the girl that I loved best I left her there back in the mountains 
To see the world’s riches to gain
 When I returned no earthly treasure
 Could ease this heart so full of pain There so high upon the mountain
 Beneath that little mound of clay
 The girl that I returned to marry 
So still among of flowers lay I'll go back and I will wander 
I’ll lay aside my earthly gain
 And I’ll not end a man of riches
 Undone in sorrow I’ll remain
2.
The Tide 03:56
Embers on the water the sun fades clear And the moon will soon be laughing down As our eyes rest again on the same cold sphere On her icy beauty, the ocean’s crown And we’re turning on the tide, the tide and the time The waves on your shore, the silence and the roar That cuts across the space and time between our walls As I feel your senses call, and our hearts pitch and roll on the swell of the tide My candle is burning low and I know it’s time to go But tonight I hold you with me and wake up in the arms Of your scent, your voice, your touch, your glow The echoes of your closeness resound in me And we’re turning on the tide, the tide and the time The waves on your shore, the silence and the roar That cuts across the space and time between our walls As I feel your senses call, and our hearts pitch and roll on the swell of the tide
3.
Hunter Moon 04:30
Running through the fields I know you run
 I know you're running from the pain inside your heart living there Trees stand tall beside the road
 You pass them fast as they grow slow I know the pain you’re running from I know The hunter moon is rising on the land Let the moonlight guide you Shines a light and shows you where you stand 
 Like it did to those before you Falling skies and shooting stars Passion joy and broken hearts 
I’ve seen the hurt behind the eyes I know 
Always strong, hold on to what wasn’t wrong
 I know you’ve known it all along, I know you’re strong Hunters and collectors, they don’t wander darkened skies 
Nothing lasts forever, your moon it will arise It will arise and rise

 You inside you shine so bright
 I know the darkness that you fight
 Trust in me I’m at your side you know

4.
Here Now 04:03
I am like a child to your lead The water runs and I am in too deep The fields are wide and far away the sea I'm torn like the cotton on your sleeve 
 And I know not where you were and where you'll be 
I know not where you were and where you'll be 
 But we're here now, we're here now 

 When October comes you'll set the sails for me 
 A blackbird bowing down perilously 
 From branch to branch I'll climb till I can see 
 When a year has passed, what's fake and what is real

 It was summer when I first saw your feet 
 And I liked the way they seemed to fit with me 
 So I dreamed a path where I thought you would lead 
 And that is when the bird begins to sing
5.
High upon Highlands and low upon Tay
 Bonnie George Campbell rode out on a day
 Saddled and bridled so gallant rode he
 Home came his good horse but never came he Saddled and bridled and booted rode he
 With a plume on his helmet and a sword by his knee 
Home came his saddle all bloody to see
 Home came his good horse but never came he
 Down came his mother with her heart full of woe
 Down came his bonnie wife, her hair hanging low
 The fields they are green and the corn is unshorn
 The barns they are empty and the baby's unborn
6.
There lived a woman in our town, a woman you ought know well
 She loved her husband dearly but the other one twice as well
 With me right finnickinario, tip finnick-a-wall
 With me right finnickinario, tipping it up to Nancy 

She went into a chemist shop a remedy for to find
 “Have you anything in your chemist shop to make my husband blind” 

“Just give him eggs and marrowbones and make him suck them all
 Before he has the last one sucked he won't see you at all” She gave him eggs and marrowbones and made him suck them all
 Before he had the last one sucked he didn’t see her at all

“ If in this world I cannot see here I cannot stay
 I'll drown myself”, “come on” says she “and I'll show you the way”

 She led him to the river she led him to the brim
 But sly enough of the old man it was him that shoved her in

 “Oh help me dear husband don't leave me behind”
 “Oh well” he says “you silly old fool, you know your husband’s blind”
7.
As time draws near, my dearest dear, that you and I must part What little you know of the grace and awe of my poor aching heart Each night I suffer for your sake, you're the one that I hold dear I wish that I was going with you or you were staying here I wish my heart was made of glass wherein you might behold   There your name I wrote my dear in letters made of gold Oh there your name I wrote my dear believe me when I say You are the one I love the best until my dying day The blackest crow that ever flew would surely turn to white If ever I prove false to you, the day would turn to night Bright day would turn to night my love, the elements will mourn If ever I prove false to you, the seas will rage and burn And when you're on some distant shore, think of your absent friend And when the wind blows high and clear a line to me, please send And when the wind blows high and clear, please send a note to me That I might know by your handwrite how time has gone with thee
8.
Motherland 03:39
Where in hell can you go, far from the things that you know Far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way A thousand miles a day Take one last look behind, commit this to memory and mind Don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place When you leave, keep your heart off your sleeve Motherland, cradle me, close my eyes, lullaby me to sleep Keep me safe, lie with me, stay beside me don't go My five and dime queen, tell me what have you seen The lust and the avarice, the bottomless, cavernous greed Is that what you see? It's your happiness I want most of all And for that I’ll do anything at all If you want the best of life and the most from love If there's anything that I can do at all Now come on shot gun bride, what makes me envy your life The faceless, the nameless, the innocent and blameless and free What's it like to be?
9.
Late summer day and my love and I were walking 
 Over hills and fields we walked laughing and talking 
 Came across an old farmhouse standing broken and bare 
It used to be someone's home now no one lives there 

 And through the crack in the window pane I hear the sound of the falling rain 
Another farm being left run down, another family moved into town 
 Had a life that they tried to save, but the banks took it all away 
Hung a sign on a torn screen door, nobody lives here no more 
And there's a red barn standing held together with nails and dust 
And a tired old Massey Harris all wires and rust 
 Weeds overgrown in a garden sown with care 
 It used to be someone's home now no one lives there 

 They worked their fingers to the bone 
 Nothing left they can call their own 
Packed it in under leaden skies 
 With just the wheat waving them goodbye 
 Had a life that they tried to save, but the banks took it all away 
 Hung a sign on a torn screen door, nobody lives here no more
10.
11.
I know it’s late, I know you’re tired, we should be sleeping For today is yesterday and morning’s near But you may take me in your arms while Bowley’s singing About the thought of you, the very thought of you my dear And we’ll dance, dance, humming to the tune In the middle of the night with a lamp pole as our moon I’ve seen them peeking through the windows raising eyebrows At the sight of lovers dancing in the night But with a smile I will endure their disapproval For what to them might seem so wrong to me feels right The trumpet plays a jazzy solo And my feet no longer touch the ground Then you whisper in my ear that you love me You never knew true love could be found Small rays of sun start to arrive just as I wonder If it’s more than just another day that starts That maybe in the deepest night while quick-quick-slowing Good old Cupid shot his arrow through my heart
12.
Across the evening sky all the birds are leaving
 How will they know it's time for them to go
 Before the winter fire I will still be dreaming 
I have no thought of time

 For who knows where the time goes
 Who knows where the time goes

 Sad deserted shore your fickle friends are leaving
 How will they know it’s time for them to go 
I will still be here I have no thought of leaving 
I do not count the time I am not alone when my love is near me
 And it will be so until it's time to go
 So count the storms of winter and the birds in spring again 
I have no fear of time

 For who knows how my love grows
 Who knows where the time goes

13.
You must know someone like him, he was tall and strong and lean
 With a body like a greyhound and a mind so sharp and keen
 But his heart just like a laurel grew twisted around itself 
Till almost everything he did brought pain to someone else

 It’s not just what you’re born with, it’s what you choose to be
I t’s not how big your share is, it’s how much you can share
 And it’s not the fights you dream of but those you really fought
 It’s not just what you’re given, it’s what you do with what you’ve got

 And what’s the use of two strong legs if you only run away
 And what use is the finest voice if you’ve nothing good to say What good is strength and muscle if you only push and shove 
And what’s the use of two good ears if you can’t hear those you love

 Between those who use their neighbours and those who use the cane 
Between those in constant power and those in constant pain 
Between those who run to evil and those who cannot run 
Tell me which ones are the cripples and which ones touch the sun

about

For us, folk music is not about perfection, not about arrangements, talent or skill. We feel folk is about telling stories, feeling connected, sharing sadness, sharing happiness. We once had a conversation about making music with our friend Luka Bloom. He said - and we hope we quote him correctly – “Don’t use a beautiful song to show how well you can sing, but use your voice to show the beauty of a song.” And we hope that that’s what comes through when you listen to this album.

We found a wonderful producer sharing our love of song in musician Janos Koolen, who we met in Mulligans, the Irish pub in Amsterdam that hosts a singing session every Wednesday. Janos helped us recreate the atmosphere of a session by setting up the microphones in such a way that we could sing and play together, facing each other. Most of what you hear on this album was recorded by the single microphone in the middle of the room. So when you listen, we hope you feel like you are there with us, that we sing for you. During the recording, we both actually had a specific “listener” in our minds – someone different for each song. For some songs this was the person who wrote the song or taught it to us, for others it was the one who inspired us to write it, and for some it was a friend who we thought might need the song at that particular time. We like to thank each of these “secret listeners” for being our imagined audience. Thank you so much for inspiring us during the recording of this album, Philip, David, Mairi, Misha, Jimmy, John, Jack, Chandar, Timothy, opa, Richard, Sue, and our lovely hometown Amsterdam.

We are so grateful to the fantastic, kind, patient, reassuring Janos Koolen for helping us create this album. He didn’t just take care of the recording side of things, he also helped us arrange the tracks, played multiple instruments, and hosted and fed us, all the while keeping two self-critical singers afloat. We hope we can ever pay you back! Big thanks and love to Mirte, Auke and Morris. We are so happy you agreed to be part of this and adorn our songs with your beautiful playing. Thanks to Timothy Hull who spent a morning with us in a misty park capturing the Undone feeling in images and to Sjaak Kassies for bringing unity in our plethora of design ideas. Many thanks to the Sena Performers Muziekproductiefonds for helping us finance the recording of this album. We also want to thank our friends from the Backroom Session in Mulligans for being the most supportive musical friends one can ask for, and to our fans, friends, families and concert organisers for allowing us to do what we love best. Lastly, thanks to you, who bought this album, for encouraging us to keep singing.

credits

released October 18, 2019

© The Lasses 2019
Produced by The Lasses & Janos Koolen
Recorded, mixed & mastered by Janos Koolen at Studio Doornenburg
Album design by Sjaak Kassies
Logo by Majken Enequist
Cover photo by Sophie Janna, all other photos by Timothy Hull

Vocals, acoustic guitar and bodhrán by Margot Merah and Sophie Janna. Violin by Mirte de Graaff (4, 8), acoustic guitar by Auke Hofstra (2), French horn by Morris Kliphuis (2, 12). Additional instruments by Janos Koolen: electric guitar (5, 7, 8, 11), mandolin (4), dobro and bass guitar (8), acoustic guitar (10) and piano (3).

Songs by Ola Belle Reed (1), Jack Durtnall (2), Margot Merah (3, 11), Sophie Janna (4), traditional (5, 6, 7), Natalie Merchant (8), David Francey (9), Bob Coltman (10), Sandy Denny (12) and Si Kahn (13).

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The Lasses Amsterdam, Netherlands

Amsterdam duo singing trad folk & original songs with intricate harmonies.

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