PORCH LIGHT · Unmarked Records · UR-098

PORCH LIGHT — Unmarked Records UR-098 A psychedelic dub reggae with bright fingerpicked banjo as the crossover instrument — the Appalachian-Jamaican collision where banjo picking through heavy dub delay transforms from bluegrass to something psychedelic and new. Deep heavy bass guitar thumping riff opening alone massive before anything else, banjo entering through dub delay and spring reverb with each picked note echoing and cascading into a shimmering wall, clean electric guitar skank with dub delay, one-drop drums with heavy kick matching the bass and dub echo on snare, warm organ bubbles. Warm raspy male vocal from intimate and aching to raw and open. About driving three hundred miles back to where you grew up after twenty years away — the city still in your jaw at mile one, the clenching softening by mile two hundred, and the porch light on the whole time. The mother calling supper's ready from the kitchen like three hundred miles and twenty years is just a long walk to the mailbox. Listen on all streaming platforms: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/unm... — Genre: Dub Reggae / Psychedelic Dub / Appalachian-Jamaican Fusion Mood: Aching, homecoming, raw, patient, permanent Era influence: Dub reggae bass tradition meets Appalachian banjo picking Sits alongside: dub reggae, psychedelic dub, Appalachian fusion, bass-heavy reggae, roots music — Lyrics: (Verse 1) Three hundred miles from the city and the city's still in my jaw Feel it in the clench at every red light like the light is stealing time I don't have But somewhere around mile two hundred the clenching starts to soften And the softening is the first sign that the ground already knows I'm coming (Verse 2) The trees get thick around the county line like a welcome that doesn't need a sign And the radio drops the city stations one by one like a hand letting go of cards I can smell the dirt through the vent and the dirt smells like the first sixteen years And the first sixteen years smell like everything I spent the next twenty trying to outrun (Chorus) Porch light's on, the porch light's on Three hundred miles and the porch light's on like it's been waiting since I packed the car Porch light's on, same bulb same porch same crack in the second step And the crack is the most permanent thing I've ever known and I wouldn't fix it if I could (Verse 3) I used to pick a banjo on that porch when I was fourteen, didn't think about it Just something my hands did while the evening got dark and the crickets started up Haven't played in twenty years but my fingers still curl in my sleep Like the muscle in my hands remembers a home my brain spent two decades trying to forget (Chorus) Porch light's on, the porch light's on And the light don't care how long I been gone or what I did or what I became Porch light's on, it doesn't ask for the story It just says the door's unlocked and the hallway still knows the sound of your feet (Bridge) I turned the engine off and sat there for a minute in the dark Same driveway, same gravel, same sound the gravel makes under the tires My mother didn't come to the door She just called from the kitchen Supper's ready Like three hundred miles and twenty years is just a long walk to the mailbox Supper's ready Like I never left (Final Chorus) Porch light's on, the porch light's been on this whole time Twenty years and the bulb never blew and the switch never tripped and the woman never stopped believing I'd need it Porch light's on, and I'm sitting in the kitchen now And the kitchen smells like Tuesday and the Tuesday smells like ten years old And the supper's on the table and my mother's acting like I just walked in from the yard Porch light's on Porch light's on (Outro) I'm home — Unmarked Records is an independent music label. New releases regularly across all genres. All music made with AI. https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/unm...