Get all 37 Color Theory releases available on Bandcamp and save 50%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Without a Doubt, Disappear, Thoughts Can't Hurt You, Underneath These Dying Stars, Underneath These Dying Stars Remixes, Ghosts Again, Death of You, Just an Echo, and 29 more.
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Welcome back
Put me on the thirteenth floor
Yes the one that isn’t here
A missing button in a box
Distance is to disappear
Thirteen steps up the gallows stairs
The thirteenth guest will die in the year
Thirteen knots in a hangman’s noose
Thirteen cards all share the same suit
Thirteen feet which the guillotine falls
Thirteen witches in a coven enthrall
Thirteen letters in your name
You’re bound to have devil’s luck
Are you a triskaidekaphobiac?
Just another heart attack
Welcome back
Just a number just a day
A baker’s dozen nothing more
A missing button in a box
Seals the elevator door
Welcome back
Fourteenth floor masquerade
I return to face my fear
A missing button in a box
Reappears
Are you ever coming back?
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2. |
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Nothing changes in the day by day
But then we look back
And nothing is the same
What do we cling to at the last?
Boring stories of foolish acts
Enlarged and embellished
Sealed and vacuum-packed
Best friends can't let go of the past
A life in Technicolor
Beyond the ever after
A yellowed Polaroid
Can’t fill the aching void
Of glory days
Glory days
Crushed by the absolute fact
That things can never go back
To how they used to be
Accept wholeheartedly
The glory days
Those were the glory days
Wasn’t ready to come of age
Still waiting for my shot at center stage
Too immature to let it go
I’m inclined to take the longer view
The future me seeking out the future you
Forever hunting high and low
It isn’t all bad, getting older
Waited years to kiss you
Wasted away
And now I do it every day
And if you can’t recall
We’ll just redo it all
The glory days
These are the glory days.
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3. |
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There was a time in history
Your next meal was a mystery
If you were lucky you might catch a fish
But we have Amazon now
No need for brains or brawn now
Your wish list to your door in just one click
Pointless productivity
I sit behind a screen
My fingers span the inches
In a blaze of inactivity
Captivity
For hours every day
I dare to call it work
Relentless innovation
Requires concentration
To thrive in this knowledge economy
My digital creations
Have no physical manifestation
I deal in intellectual property
Our avatars
In silhouette
Addicted to
The internet
We type and type
But never sweat
Our bellies stuffed
Perpetually
Defining sloth
And gluttony
We die too soon
But live like kings
For now let's just enjoy it
No reason to avoid it
Who needs an extra gear to coast downhill?
Succumb, my couch potato
Adopt my humble credo
And watch the world revolve while we sit still
Pointless productivity
I sit behind a screen
My fingers span the inches
In a blaze of inactivity
Creativity
I exercise my mind
And laugh to call it work.
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4. |
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We're private in public
As everyone stares down at their tech
It's hard not to notice
The neon cord dangling from my neck
But somehow this less than subtle clue
Appears to have no effect on you
Don't want to talk right now
Can't you see I've got my headphones on?
I'm pointing at my ear
What was that?
No I can't...
I'd rather not hear you
If I'm being honest
Don't want to talk right now
Can't you see I've got my headphones on?
I'm not antisocial
But usually I'd rather be alone
So if you're looking for conversation
Then maybe it's time to buy a phone
So what if the music isn't on?
I'm sending a signal
Move along
Like I said before I...
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5. |
Sniper (Moonspyne Remix)
03:23
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Rotting in a foxhole
Dying to live
We’re just food for soil now
Nitrogen rich
Pull yourself together
You’ll be alright
Smoking is unhealthy
You got a light?
Are you insane or are you trying to get me killed?
Never take the third light from the same match
Carry your own lighter
Don’t be a fool
Disrespecting heroes
Playing it cool
I’ll knock your hand to heaven
If you do that again
We are not immortal
We’re only men
Never trust a sniper
To suffer an itch
When they pull the trigger
They rarely miss
Looks as white as Christmas
Speaks Japanese
Chanting Bloody Mary
Death comes in threes
Soldier lights his cigarette
Sniper spots a mortal threat
Second solider takes a light
Sniper has you in his sights
Third light on a match you’re dead
Sniper shoots you in the head
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6. |
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You caught me walking backward
Counting back from ten
Trying to turn my luck around but failing
And failing again
The trinity was broken
A sacred triangle
Underneath the rungs against a building
I’m building a fall
Walking backward
Under ladders in reverse
Walking backward
Superstition break the curse
Walking backward
This city is a minefield
Duck or hit your head
Working up the energy
For staying in bed
Take me back
To bread and butter days
To simple ways
To words we left unsaid
I’ll never get ahead
Walking backward
Maybe I’m unlucky
Maybe that’s just life
Playing out as karma
As I sharpen the knife
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7. |
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A walk in the woods at midnight
I come to a swimming hole
To stare at a pool of water
And see my mortal soul
Absorbed in youth I’m shatterproof
Right in front of you
A bleeding tooth I’m shatterproof
Bent not broken
Haunt me for seven years
Cover up all the mirrors (1st time don’t repeat)
I gathered up all the pieces
A suicide in reverse
To bury them in the moonlight
And nullify the curse
The kissing booth I’m shatterproof
Right in front of you
The gospel truth I’m shatterproof
Someone’s white lie
Show us how we look
What we really look like
Not what we imagine we really look like
Black as art
Now you’re mine
Show us how we look
What we really look like
Not what we imagine we really look like
How you shine
Stay in my heart
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8. |
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A candid shot
A juggernaut
Crack a smile just to thicken the plot
Bet you wouldn’t hang around with
Someone you didn’t think was cool
But ice will melt
And blood will pool
A parking lot
A juggernaut
Tie my tongue in a half-Windsor knot
Every night you're groping in the dark
For a promise I won’t make
It feels so warm
Can’t stay awake
I know I failed you, but I…
I know I left you to die
I should have screamed at the sky
That this is all I need
That this is good enough
A heavy thought
A juggernaut
Camping out on our burial plot
So I wrote a song to celebrate
What I didn't see back then
Dead to rights
Born again
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9. |
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I lose myself
In beautiful things
Does a butterfly die
If you tear off its wings?
It’s not jealousy
In the classical sense
I’m black and blue
Come tickle me pink
The memories smile
Lift me out of the drink
It’s not suffering
In the classical sense
The wildest extreme at seventeen
Now it’s a classic
Can’t blink out the dust in my eyes
I’m half alive
Marooned in traffic
These streets of old
I wander with you
With a hole in my heart
And a rock in my shoe
But I know the way
In the classical sense
In the factual sense
So dress me down
I’m going out of style
But you’re not coming with me
No not by a mile
You were pretty then
You’re beautiful now
You’re beautiful now
The wildest extreme at seventeen
Now it’s a classic
Can’t blink out the dust in my eyes
I’m half alive
Wrapped up in plastic
The throwaway scene at seventeen
Now it’s a classic
Old classmates name-dropping like flies
The facile lies
Bleeding nostalgic.
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10. |
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Teach me a lesson
A wound at your hands
And justice demands that I
Should pay attention
Vengeance is fine
But who has the time?
Call me a coward
Go on the attack
I won't fight you back
Or grant you any power
An eye for an eye
Leaves everyone blind
A tooth for a tooth
Is dental abuse
No I won't chase down a hit and run
Throw my life off track for anyone
Moving on is the best revenge
A minor uproar
An insult to you
That karma and voodoo dolls
Can not atone for
A prisoner of war
You'll settle the score
A lack of control
That eats at your soul
Stardust falls from the sky tonight
Let your guard down and feel it
Really feel it.
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11. |
The Limit (2DCAT Remix)
04:15
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The fear of falling
And the promise not to fail
Pulling my worlds apart
Hand on my heart
Light the match
And leave me for dead
And everybody said
Isn’t she nice?
Sugar and spice
Just let me go
I'm stretched to the limit
And bones are bound to break
Is that what you want?
A fight to the finish
Will it satisfy the ache?
I watch it happen
I incriminate myself
Flexible as a lie
Reach for the sky
Twisted arms
And sadistic whims
Dislocated limbs
Picking a fight
On a Saturday night
What if I told you
That it wasn’t meant to be?
What if I told you
I won’t be here for the ever after?
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12. |
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Welcome back
Put me on the thirteenth floor
Yes the one that isn’t here
A missing button in a box
Distance is to disappear
Thirteen steps up the gallows stairs
The thirteenth guest will die in the year
Thirteen knots in a hangman’s noose
Thirteen cards all share the same suit
Thirteen feet which the guillotine falls
Thirteen witches in a coven enthrall
Thirteen letters in your name
You’re bound to have devil’s luck
Are you a triskaidekaphobiac?
Just another heart attack
Welcome back
Just a number just a day*
A baker’s dozen nothing more
A missing button in a box
Seals the elevator door
Welcome back
Fourteenth floor masquerade
I return to face my fear
A missing button in a box
Reappears
Are you ever coming back?
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13. |
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How can you lie there sound asleep
So vulnerable atop the sheets
Indifferent to your nakedness
Wide open yet mysterious
Immaculately conquerable
Explicitly consensual
I could touch you anywhere
And you wouldn’t wake up
(Rejoice)
Your body is mine for the taking
But something inside me is breaking
You’re completely untouchable
Who are you?
My finger strokes your abdomen
Our bodies scream for oxygen
The air is thin in paradise
Are you prepared to pay the price?
You gasp and giggle in your sleep
I offer up my soul to keep
The spirits smile on us tonight
My flawless plaything
I worship you
I pray at your altar
Who do you cling to
In the comfort of your mind?
Choke down my pride
I’m better than this
But I can’t deny myself.
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14. |
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Grew up absorbed in New Age schemes
Astral projection and lucid dreams
Believing every word I read
How you could leave your body in your bed and
Explore the world invisibly
Just think of all the things that you could see
The answer key, the locker room
Turns out the book author was sniffing glue, but
Being with you is an out of body experience
There's a buzz in my head
And a vague sense of dread
Then the vibrations start
And I'm coming apart
Paralyzed locked in place
As I'm floating through space
Unconfined yet connected to you
Tried a few times to no avail
Before I let go of paranormal fairy tales
I'd breathe so fast I'd sweat and shake
Probably started to hallucinate
I never thought I'd relive that thrill
Like drinking caffeine with a sleeping pill
But here you are and now it's back
Between a coma and a heart attack.
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15. |
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I am a non-critical system
Stuck on an overcritical rock
Lacking the skills, knowledge or training
To qualify as an astronaut
But could I be a passenger?
Stowaway or cargo?
Baggage?
In space no one can hear you cry
I smile and mouth the word goodbye
I’ll seek out a colony
Whichever one will take me
Take me to the stars
An object in motion stays in motion
An object at rest stays at rest
Sound waves can't travel in a vacuum
And nobody passes my empathy test
But I don’t need an audience
Loneliness beats ignorance any day
In space no one can hear you cry
A satellite to resupply
I’ll survey the galaxy
Hitchhiking from rover to rover
Take me to the stars
In space no one can hear you cry
Self-conscious of their naked eyes
If you join in my fantasy
I promise to accept you.
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16. |
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This is my unfinished symphony
Yes it's a little pretentious
But humor me
Try not to laugh
I'll fix it in a second
In the second draft
Like a promise from a lifelong friend
The process has a beginning but no clear end
This isn't math
It's hard enough to collect my thoughts
With all the rules of behavior
The shoulds and oughts that guide our ways
Confused like hamsters circling
In a dead end maze
Wrapped up in cosmic uncertainty
Our actions trailing off into infinity
Like summer rays
We're still imperfect but we've grown
A broken contraption
Flesh and bone
Making it up as we go along
In formless fleeting moments of magnificence
Remember nothing we are is set in stone
We're still imperfect but we've grown
Homeless at heart
Everything is temporary
Chasing perfection on the road to damnation
Without a script or storyline
Forever a work in progress
Sometimes I catch myself mid-mistake and wonder
"If I twist this that way will it break?"
And then it does
Don't ask me why I did it
I'll say "just because"
Failure to act or participate
Is like expecting to high five the hand of fate
In latex gloves
Better to ask for forgiveness than permission
Better when faced with a proposition
Start with yes
There will be time to question
Time to second guess
Sometimes the mind has to disengage
Or fear will rattle the bars of your mental cage
And stage your death.
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17. |
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Go on ahead
Don't you wait for me
It's too late for me
There's no guarantee
How I'll feel
There's something wrong inside my brain
Something that I can't contain
Wish I could explain
The radio
Argues with my inner voice
Nothing more than background noise
Funny what the mind enjoys
When it's wild
Panic at the grocery store
Everything is a such a chore
What was it like before?
I pretend to hide
A light inside
But it's just one more lie
Don't give a damn about me
My eyes have dried
Mourning the light inside
I smile and say
Everything's alright with me
So if you want to fight with me
If you want reality
Get in line
Stuck on every simple choice
Things that used to bring me joy
Now just broken toys
Can't fall asleep
Can't focus on TV
But it's even worse for me
To let my mind run free
An empty man
With time on his hands
If there's something I could do
To make things easier for you
Nothing's too much
For someone I love
Yes I can still love
Yes I can still love.
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18. |
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Color Theory Huntington Beach, California
Somehow I never outgrew the 80s.
Color Theory recommends:
Slow Jams
by Robots With Rayguns
This massive collection of glistening synthpop ballads includes a collaboration with yours truly!
go to album
Hidden Memories
by The New Division
Two parts synthpop, one part synthwave, and a dash of progressive house. For reasons I can't quite put my finger on, it reminds me of Cause and Effect.
go to album
The third part of an incredible trilogy. I grew up on Nine Inch Nails, and Delta-S takes that sound to the next level. Cinematic, dark, and beautiful.
go to albumIf you like Color Theory, you may also like:
supported by 6 fans who also own “The Lost Remixes, Vol. 3”
I like the progression from the earlier albums, especially the introduction of guitars. A contender for my list of albums of 2014,
go to album
Post-Punk (Genesis)
by Various Artists
supported by 6 fans who also own “The Lost Remixes, Vol. 3”
Excellente compilation, très bons groupes dans l'ensemble !
go to album
The German band COMA writes music for the smoky, 3am cocktail bar, when the atmosphere gets strange and surreal.
go to album
