Australia Council – Arts Projects Support Material MARCH 2023

Artistic Support Material (Audio & Video)

Ruth Hazleton – Second Album Project – ‘Portmanteau’
Aphelion

Written by Ruth Hazleton

Ruth Hazleton: Vocals/5-string Banjo/Electronic Programming:

Luke Plumb: Electric Bass & Programming:

Fiona Steele: Electric Guitar & Backing Vocals:

Mattie Foulds: Drums


Mixed by Luke Plumb & Mattie Foulds

Arranged by Ruth Hazleton & Luke Plumb

Produced & Engineered by Luke Plumb

Mastered by Mattie Foulds at Caribou Recording (Scotland)

Released November 2022

Lyrics:

In the stillness of dappled sunlight,
Flickering memories, like chiming bells,
I am watching from a distance,
The lingering carousel, never standing still,

When the autumn sheds its burdens,
Skelton leaves feed the dirt,
In the winter, the aphelion,
My heart strays furthest from the sun,
Furthest from the earth,

          Just like the winter that has ended
          Lay down your troubles to the spring
          Aching hearts, they can be mended
          We will see what the summer, it will bring

I would beg you for forgiveness,
But it fades when I close my eyes,
In a moment, an accidental burden,
Released by conjuring spells, grace in disguise,

I don’t care for gilded secrets,
Extracted from shallow cracks,
When the sun meets the aphelion,
My feet move closer to the earth,
Never looking back,

          Just like the winter that has ended
          Lay down your troubles to the spring
          Aching hearts, they can be mended
          We will see what the summer, it will bring

Shackled (Song for Nudem Durek),
from Daisywheel (2019)

Written by Ruth Hazleton

Ruth Hazleton: Lead Vocals/Electric Guitar
Luke Plumb: Electronic Programming

Paddy Montgomery: Yayli Tambur

Oscar Neyland: Bass

Justin Olsson: Drums

Arranged by Ruth Hazleton & Luke Plumb

Produced & Engineered by Luke Plumb

Mixed by Luke Plumb & Mattie Foulds

Mastered by Mattie Foulds at Caribou Recording (Scotland)

Lyrics:

Black the night, I am bound
A silent bird in a foreign cage
March of men, the bells are ringing
Poets shackled in iron chains
 
Hush child and halt your singing
Dark eyes turn to the ground
Whispers of truths, deceiving
Ghosts, echoes and chanting crowds
 
            Rivers and mountains, sickle moon, snow
            Shackle the dancers; an ancestor’s woe
            Militant daughters and absent her sons
            A mother is grieving, the damage is done
 
Murmurs of a thousand voices
Song the needle that weaves the thread
Weave and spin the ancient stories
Word for which your daughters bled
 
The mother tongue of stateless pilgrims
Threaten the pillars of prison walls
Guards lay siege to the songs of children
Fettered by thieves as darkness falls
 
            Rivers and mountains, sickle moon, snow
            Shackle the dancers; an ancestor’s woe
            Militant daughter not silent by choice
            Shackle my body, but never my voice

The Killing Times

Written by Ruth Hazleton

Live Performance January, 2021

Lyrics:

Blood is thicker than water
On the wattle it was shed
The empire’s ‘fairest daughter’ stole country
And nobody counted the dead

This Southern land of silence
This broken history of pain
A frontier born of violence
The truth of white man’s shame

          These tainted shores call for mercy
          The rise and fall
          To recognise the killing times
          And tell the story over and over again

Do we dare to beg forgiveness?
And face the sins of yesterday?
To the dark work of man bear witness?
To the thousands of fallen; our dues and honours pay

The time has come for listening
Time to break apart the stone
To repair the broken heart of this country
And a people who never should have been left to grieve alone.

          These tainted shores call for mercy
          The rise and fall
          To recognise the killing times
          And tell the story over and over again
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