Parlour Tricks, by Alcoa (2024)

1.

I’ve got these pains I keep in my chest with the smoke I keep breathing in. Old habits I can’t seem to quit.Like trying to stop my heart, keep it from beating. I start then I stop and I start up again. I’ve got theseempty hands, can’t hold on to nothing. Strike a match and to my lips, old habits I can’t quit. Like my oldparlour tricks to catch your attention. We start and then we stop, and then we won’t ever talk again.I’ve got secrets I couldn’t keep and all the pretty girls want to take them from me.

2.

All dolled up with no care in the world. Found my place in the arms of a girl. Let them wrap around me& I’ll sing you to sleep. Darkest of days and meanest of times ain’t no match for the greenest of eyes. Letthem see through me, all the curses I keep. Take me out, we’ve got nowhere to be. Drink me up, make a foolout of me. Didn’t have much until us fools fell in love. Second guessing, never questioned it except the softglow of a cigarette. About the only thing I will let myself quit. I breathed you in each time our lips met.

3.

You’ve got secrets that you never meant to keep. You couldn’t hold them, so you gave them all to me. I’ve got them lockedaway and I threw away the key so they’ll never find their way into the hands of our enemies. Too bad Bletchley Parkcouldn’t use you now, comes easy anyhow. Little codebreaker, first to call me out, doesn’t matter any how because not aword of truth ever leaves your mouth. Speaking of enemies I’ve come to make a few. A long list of dates and names and atthe end is you. I must have been an open book, too easy to read. A double-cross, cut-throat and it all ended with me.

4.

Just look at the way she dances, how her eyes bend the light. Look how she’s got it all figured out, but I don’t pay nomind. Because I know it won’t get better in time, so just take me back to your place tonight and I will leave at sunrise.Morning coffee, cigarette blues. My half a pack, black lungs don’t have you. Don’t tell me you love me, just say you’ll spendthe night. Don’t tell me you love me, just turn out the lights when you leave and I will be alright.

5.

You know I’ve always been scared of you sneaking up on me. You’re always taking the ones I loveto dark, dreamless sleep. I always feel you on a night like this, cold wind in the trees. I alwaysfeel you breathing down my neck, I hear you grinding your teeth. You chase me down nearlyevery night and every morning I leave you unsatisfied. My blood longs for a poison of any kind.You know I’ve always been cheating you, stacking the deck on me. I’m always digging that hole Iclaim that I pretend not to keep.

6.

I’m sleeping in, in my summer skin. And it’s fall again with the trees bending from the come andgo. Why’d you come and go? I should have asked you that when I had the chance. But I don’t wantto know; Who you’re sleeping with, who you just met. Did you let him in to that place you keephidden? Now I sleep alone, except for when I don’t. A little company never hurt nobody.

7.

My head on the door, don’t know where to begin. Dreamed up in a hallway, aching needlesand pins. There were mistakes between the sheets. Cloaked and covered, above and beneath.Share a smoke and our secrets, keep dragging me in. Our heads entangled, in circles talking.I have a sweet tooth and I am a sucker for a poison acquaintance with my head in the gutter.Keep me from sleeping, live out your lies. Keep me from talking, skeletons every night. Afterthe bars close, you follow me home. How quickly I’ll forget the mess we got in.

8.

I drove for what seemed like all night just to lock it in a drawer and hide at your bedside. Ihad Mr. Conley to keep me company. I was so lost when you found me. Or did I find you? I can’tremember it clearly. Either way, the mess I made deserved a trophy. Boys and girls fall inand out of love so quickly. All your plans fell through before you had the chanceto tell me. While I was so hung up on a ghost that kept me haunting all the same corridorsof one or two or more’s. Now we’ve moved on, all grown up, thirteen years bad luck. Everylie I told, heart I broke, name I didn’t know. The mess in me deserved a trophy. I still have Mr.Conley to keep me company.

9.

Fall twilight, the dread in my steps towards the loneliest night. Cold and empty, the snowed in streetskeep me company. Wrecked and restless, my head in the clouds and my hands left helpless. Shamed andshaken, the grief in my guts keeps the pain in my chest aching. You say I’m selfish, I only care to care whenconvenient. You said you loved it when we held each other close like a secret. Thought you meant it but youdidn’t. A sick conviction when I lie to the doorman and sneak into your apartment. Ruined moment, if we laiddown now it would be sad and defected. I thought you lived and died by your word. Your word ain’t worthnothing no more.

10.

Going it alone was your first mistake, stepping on the backs of the friends you hate. Burning every bridgewhile you’re under it. Quick to judge and fast to forget a name. Walk away before you slip up again. Burndown every bridge and open every vein to see what you’re made of. You’re rationing the pills, the poisonspick themselves. Finger is on the trigger of the pen in your hand. Take away the pain, you never asked for it.Always got the right thing on the tip of your tongue, it’s nice to be thought of.

11.

Do you have any famous last words that somebody famous said? Before you walk out the door can youexplain yourself a little bit? I know you’ve always had one foot out, I had one dangling in a grave. Wherehave you been the last few nights? Who’s bed have you been sleeping in? I bet you haven’t been sleeping much,too busy falling in love. Those bags under your eyes, they don’t lie. You used to ask me; “What’s the point ofwaking in a stranger’s bed? Someone new each night, when it’s always raining in your head?” Small talk, toomuch to drink and legs intertwined. Come and gone too quick, and an awkward goodbye.

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The sophom*ore full-length from Alcoa, 'Parlour Tricks' arrives upon a very new and invigorating chapter in Derek Archambault's life. The singer and guitarist, who also fronts rising hardcore punk act Defeater, has had an intense time since 2013's 'Bone & Marrow': He got married, for one thing; for another, he had major surgery with a hip replacement after a debilitating injury. After a successful campaign on crowd-funding site PledgeMusic (resulting in the covers EP, 'Thank You'), he had the imminent surgery, got back on his feet, and immediately began working on new music with both Defeater and the more laid-back, alt-country-leaning Alcoa. Recording near his home provided a warm and familiar environment with bandmate and engineer Mike Moschetto, etching out a slightly twangy and honest sound with shades of wistful, jangly '90s alternative rock acts.