Dead Kids, R.I.P. City, by Soft Kill (2024)

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1.

Roses All Around 03:26

lyrics

There’s no room to restI saw the cracks you’ve been slipping throughFell into the mouthsAnd swallowed upThe stories shared between foolsThese dreams they have no meaningThis miseryRemembered in hot floodsA secret loveRoses all aroundLiving out these dampened schemesClipping deathSlipping in betweenA failing light burns brightExplore the mask you’ve been peeking throughDwell upon the crowdThat gathered upThe truth that’s bleeding throughThese dreams they have no meaningThis miseryRemembered in hot floodsA secret loveRoses all aroundLiving out these dampened schemesClipping deathSlipping in between

2.

Wanting War 03:36

lyrics

This is our worldWhat are you waiting for?I spent a day watchingI guess I was just wanting warNot single thing that I adoreA single thing that keeps me wanting moreA single thing worth fighting forA single thing that’s worth wanting moreThe things she said, those words have left my headA single thing worth dying forThis is our worldWhat are we fighting for?i spent a day watching I guess I was just wanting warBut here I was just wanting moreA single thing thats worth fighting for

3.

Matty Rue (feat. Adam Klopp) 04:25

lyrics

Sitting in my roomWatching both our endings plannedLanding on the moonThe world is full of waterNo wonder lovers drownLike gods pulling us downBut it’s the pills we’re fedThat pull us up tonightIt really madeIt really made us wonder 
He’s in trouble now Standing on the banks Feet are getting colder We’re all just getting oldHe’s in trouble now The city growing colderHe’s in trouble now Whispers in our earsCannot strangle fearsCannot hold back these tears It all just bleeds This shame that makes you shiver 
Made a shallow tombHaunting his own head at nightLeads this way to sleepIt felt like practiceI had a brush with sinIt all got lost in play No use for happy songsThe words they just felt wrongIt all just madeIt all just made him wonder

4.

Floodgate (feat. Tamaryn) 04:36

lyrics

These words they wash over meI peer from underneath a thousand dreamsA voice that follows freeOf all the things I deemed were down to punish meI lay broken on the groundThese are the things they say Please don’t make a soundJust broken here, here on the groundIf the world would turn, just turn awayDon’t start thoughThese are the things they sayThis flood has taken thingsThis god has grown tiredOf loving meThis voiceThis voice just leave it beOf all the things I deemed were sure to bury meLay here underground

5.

Crimey 05:48

lyrics

Free of any mention They came to wonder whyWe stood in both directionsWe both commit the crime I called it each timeGet caught get tossed awayWe came to cross a lineThese were the harshest daysWe both commit the crime stalling for time
Never realize till you’re pushed awayThe course that changes in certain waysThe peasants locked into the playThe course that changes a certain fateBut you act slyI looked up at the lightYou aren’t rightWe both commit the crime stalling for time
You can pretend that you changedIgnore all the mistakes that we’ve still madeYou held me down to fight the painI can tell what we bled can’t wash these stains

6.

Pretty Face 02:31

lyrics

Relax your pretty face Fall in the shadows from afarWe roamed around these streets from the seats of stolen carsThe man who took the high roadServes the low to a troubled fewCuz it’d be pain and suffering if I suffered without you
You laid there on New YearsYour lips were turning blueI screamed and prayed and swung my fistsTo beat the life back throughI never thought on different paths we’d cycle back aroundI never thought I’d see you fall and stay there on the ground 
Relax your pretty face boy

7.

Ducky 04:19

lyrics

It was stated as a questionBut they never really mentioned it beforeThe bliss of piled cashIt tumbled to the groundAs we were changingShoveled into the bagsHanded to crowds who waitedSuch a simple taskHid behind the trash that we createdYou can feel the acheThe hands that choke the life awayI aimed my gun todayAnd shot outside the frame,And loved the tasteGo ahead and remain distantBlistered skin from the second you came exposedIt built and boiled overTucked under the coversFlailingWe groveled at the feetOf a life beyond our reachSo drainingThis oh so simple taskThat ripped it us both in halfWe createdYou can feel the acheThe hands that choke the life awayI aimed my gun todayAnd shot outside the frame,And loved the tasteSo hand over your worthExposed your very worst every dayI aimed my gun todayAnd shot outside the frame,And loved the taste

8.

Inverness 05:29

lyrics

What’s in a name?
Familiar sores exposed
Spread open again
But what do we gain?
I stood outside their home
And off the top I dove
Caught by the hands of god
And placed back in the sky

The traveling boy who kept me well for two days,
I slept with on the floor of a house on Interstate
He preferred to sleep up top, under that same sky
Nodded off the roof, four stories high

He never walked again and I wonder why
He never walked again didn’t bother to try
He never walked again and here I wondered why
Felt like the time of our lives

To those I loved who drowned
Consumed by their escape
The water filled their pores
And they sunk to the floor
We drifted on the lake
The cold will crack your bones
In dirt we dug a tomb
That tomb we made our home

The shyest boy I knew
We filled our world with hurt
The calm of the morning set, the days they were berserk
Can’t trust where you cop they don’t care if we die
He nodded off again and all I did was cry

He never walked again and I wonder why
He never walked again didn’t bother to try
He never walked again and here I wondered why
Had no hold of our lives

9.

Oil Burner 08:23

lyrics

The man I met at HooperHad a noose around his neckHe was fed up Before the drugs had took him He was not afraid of deathNoWhat scared him the mostWe’re all those beautiful childrenJumping rope All around, the desert by the roadAll the children, running homeWhen he is ready he’ll come back for meI will not be afraidBut now is not the time
You were my least favorite personWoke up in a pool of poison Still next to you Dreamt I jumped from the buildingLanded on the ceilingStill next to you
The day I left MilamHad a leash around my neckNo longer fed upBefore the doors had openedLaid tangled by a deathSo closeWhat scared me the mostWas being bornFelt like a child finding homeAll around the desert by the roadJust a child, running home When I’m ready I’ll finally feel freeI will not be afraidBut now is not the time

10.

I Needed The Pain 05:01

lyrics

Boots in the dirtWe were stalling For the buzz to take us We’d already paid
Here’s to coming cleanI want to lie to your facewhen it’s playful We’re already saved
Can you trust your mouthTo know that it’s bleachWe’ve been drinkingCause we’re running out
It’s just mixed with the mudThat’s holding us downAs we’re sinkingIn small amounts 
It’s true the few I’ve loved keep hauntingIt’s something that never will changeThe news of those I loved passing It’s crushing but I needed the pain
Sorry mom I’m a flirtAlways brushingAgainst the stableDown in the dirt
They begged for truthThey weren’t ableTo trust like demandingThey be hurt
Watch animals screamAs they're pulled apartBy something higherUp In the chain
Tried to save them allThey got liftedUp to a heavenPut an end to the fall
It’s true the few I’ve loved keep hauntingIt’s something that never will changeThe news of those I loved passing It’s crushing but I needed the painI’ve lost more than most Surrounded here by ghosts It’s something that never will changeThe news of those I loved passing It’s crushing but I needed the pain

about

A story odyssey of sorts told in ten parts, ten songs - each track essentially a character - “Dead Kids...”, produced by David Trumfio (Built To Spill, Wilco, OK Go) and mastered by the legendary Howie Weinberg (The Cure, Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana), explores, through a beguiling mix of personal memory, allegory, and narrative structures by turns both poetic and stinging, a long and complicated relationship with a dark version of Portland OR. It’s songs that tell of the fractured and fragile legacies of those lost during the city’s last couple decades as it moves from soggy backwater to unheard of growth and tech-fueled transformation.

Two years in the making, desperate, redemptive, its contrast of light and shadow favoring the latter, Dead Kids, R.I.P. City is like no other album in the genre, a kind of doom pop Drugstore Cowboy featuring the brave and abandoned, the tender and the afflicted, all teetering in memory on the edge of the city. For all the sadness and pain of addiction haunting it, however, the record, by its very existence, proves that hope doesn’t necessarily win but that, even if at great cost, it can. It’s what makes Dead Kids, R.I.P. City so powerful beyond just the scope of its dark luminous sound and indelible melodies, and is one of the many reasons you’ll carry it with you.

This is Cercle Social 023.

Physical copies available via the link in our bio.

credits

released November 20, 2020

Conrad Vollmer: Electric & Acoustic Guitars
Daniel Valadez: Drums & Percussion
Tobias Grave: Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Bass, Synth, Vocals & Lyrics
Owen Glendower: Bass on 2, 6, 9 and Piano on 10
Adam Klopp: Backing Vocals on 3
Tamaryn: Vocals on 4
Dave Trumfio: Synth & Percussion
Nicole Colbath: Additional Lyrics

Recorded at Kingsize Sound Labs & Chateau Trumfio.
Engineered by Celso Estrada.
Mixed by Dave Trumfio.
Produced by Dave Trumfio & Soft Kill.
Mastered by Howie Weinberg.

Cover photo by Megan Tvedt.
All art and text by David Rugh.

license

all rights reserved

Dead Kids, R.I.P. City, by Soft Kill (2024)
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