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A Small Death

by Samantha Crain

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Lovely gatefold card case with CD of A Small Death. with option for signed by the artist or not.

    *A NOTE ON SHIPPING COSTS*
    I get a lot of emails about the pricey shipping costs so I just want to address it here. I'm not scamming you. These are the actual costs of the US postal service priority mail right now. Especially shipping outside of the USA, the costs are very high, I know. I wish I could do something about it to make this more accessible but I can't. I only send priority mail now instead of a cheaper media mail because I've had so many issues in the past with things getting lost or destroyed if I don't send priority mail and then I end up having to reimburse the cost of the record as well as the shipping and I've lost a lot of money that way so this is really the only option for me shipping right now unfortunately. Just know that all the shipping costs are going towards actual postage, I'm not pocketing any money beyond the cost of the item. I understand if you can't stomach the shipping cost, I don't blame you....love you anyways :)

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Small Death via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $13 USD or more 

     

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 12 Samantha Crain releases available on Bandcamp and save 20%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Time After Time, Pick Apart / Bloomsday (Husbands remix), I Guess We Live Here Now, A Small Death, You Had Me At Goodbye, Under Branch & Thorn & Tree, Samantha Crain/Murder By Death Cover Each Other, Kid Face, and 4 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $60.80 USD or more (20% OFF)

     

  • Handmade Limited Edition Cassette Tape (green) - A Small Death - signed
    Cassette + Digital Album

    hand-drawn limited edition cassette tape. I dubbed this tape at home on a Sanyo RD W49. I listened to Sam Amidon's Juma Mountain while drawing the j-card art. Each j-card is signed inside. comes with a digital download of A Small Death.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Small Death via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Handmade Limited Edition Cassette Tape (purple) - A Small Death - signed
    Cassette + Digital Album

    hand-drawn limited edition cassette tape. I dubbed this tape at home on a Sanyo RD W49. I listened to Lomelda's album, Hannah, while drawing the j-card art. Each j-card is signed inside. comes with a digital download of A Small Death.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Small Death via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Handmade Limited Edition Cassette Tape (blue) - A Small Death - signed
    Cassette + Digital Album

    hand-drawn limited edition cassette tape. I dubbed this tape at home on a Sanyo RD W49. I listened to Eef Barzelay's Bitter Honey while drawing the j-card art. Each j-card is signed inside. comes with a digital download of A Small Death.

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Small Death via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • VERY Limited Edition Test Pressing Vinyl of A Small Death, signed by Samantha Crain
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    1 of 4 existing test pressings of A Small Death on vinyl. Pressed on 180 gram black vinyl from QRP. Signed by Samantha Crain

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Small Death via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • A Small Death 12" Vinyl--180gram--archival quality pressing (option for autographed)
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    12" vinyl version of A Small Death. 180 GRAM. Archival quality pressing from Quality Record Pressing. On original black vinyl for best sound quality. with lyric insert. with option for signed by the artist or not.

    *A NOTE ON SHIPPING COSTS*
    I get a lot of emails about the pricey shipping costs so I just want to address it here. I'm not scamming you. These are the actual costs of the US postal service priority mail right now. Especially shipping outside of the USA, the costs are very high, I know. I wish I could do something about it to make this more accessible but I can't. I only send priority mail now instead of a cheaper media mail because I've had so many issues in the past with things getting lost or destroyed if I don't send priority mail and then I end up having to reimburse the cost of the record as well as the shipping and I've lost a lot of money that way so this is really the only option for me shipping right now unfortunately. Just know that all the shipping costs are going towards actual postage, I'm not pocketing any money beyond the cost of the item. I understand if you can't stomach the shipping cost, I don't blame you....love you anyways :)

    Includes unlimited streaming of A Small Death via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ... more

    Sold Out

1.
An Echo 03:48
An Echo Somehow between us, the air became so thick we couldn’t reach to the other, an insurmountable divider. And I clawed at my throat, thinking Hera must’ve cursed me. I can’t say the things I need to. I am just an echo bouncing off your forehead that’s tilted down and to the right. You can’t even look me in the eyes. And so we stay this way through Easter, as we drive up 35 in dark to go visit my mother at the prison in Topeka. She is asking what’s the matter, as we stare into the vending machine, I can’t say the things I need to. I am just an echo bouncing off the glass into our likeness, whatever that is. Could someone look me in the eye? But then became the summer when my hands appeared so useless I felt like a little baby and my pride evaporated like the water in a skillet and you softened like some butter. We never said the things we need to but an echo fades eventually and this is such a likeness, that is what it is. You don’t even need to look me in the eyes. You don’t need to look me in the eyes.
2.
Pastime 03:27
Falling in love was a pastime. I practice every chance I got. If you’re buying into it, let me cosign. I’ve got the best bet on the block. See it’s just the feeling I was waiting for. I know you’re talking but I shut you out. Blacked out on something out of nowhere, and we’re not even worried about it. And it feels like It feels like It feels like you were always there I’m looking for you with the circle of a flashlight. Who knew the city could get so dark? We’re out at 4am on Wednesday. Tomorrow morning’s gonna hurt so hard.
3.
What's that silence inside me that expands into the dark? With the traffic lights all changing for no one any more. The karaoke laughter tumbling out the door. My eyes well with contemplation of the pleasures I endure. Holding to the edge of night My deepest true desires interrupted with the dawn. A bar tab, a parking ticket pull me back down from beyond. I have searched for her in morning but she’s quiet and austere. And as the moon floats above her, she unfastens all the fear. Holding to the edge of night The smell of pine through the air vents, I know its it's there during the day. But as the sun sets around me it strips the other scents away. I am a legend of this land here; I am a keeper of this life. So when I die, however that is, I'll just say “evening was my prize”. Holding to the edge of night
4.
High Horse 04:12
Late in the evening I, I got lost in a drawer of names. Names on letters and photo booth strips, stubs from movies and baseball games. From the cracks in my textured walls, weeps a loneliness that falls into the pit of my stomach. Endless black like a new 8 ball, but at this point I've mapped it out. I know the shape of a great heartache I know the weight of a big mistake I know the sound of a warm crescendo falling away “We could’ve made it last”. I tell myself that when I’m talkin’ to myself. A disagreement seems as natural as a plant bending toward the sun. From the high horse where I sat, you were also up there on your own ride. An emergency and we both were in shock but these days I know the drill. I know the shape of a great heartache I know the weight of a big mistake I know the feel of a magical moment fully explained And so do we just act normal? Do we smile even now? So many years past but I know, man, I know too much now So many years past but I know, I just know too much now I know the shape of a great heartache I know the weight of a big mistake I know the depth of a sinking love you couldn’t persuade
5.
Reunion 03:00
Stone cold eyes like the rainy curbside. I was gonna be, be somebody. Bought the dress, brought the booze. I guess I’ll try to be, life of the party. Make the rounds, everyone’s still in town. They were gonna be, be somebody. Wallet pictures and tv dinners. Tell me all about how it’s working out. And we all had this look like “Could you give me a break?” I’ll give you one. How could we ever know it’d be this way? He’s in jail, she’s out on bail, I’m fitting in, my accent’s back again. Watching exes eye the spouses but I came alone. I think it looks glamorous.
6.
Joey 04:40
Joey, why don’t you come around and see me? Got plenty of room now that I live alone. Last time I saw you, you were walking in the meadow, your face was sweaty and your outfit was gone. I don’t mind if you spill your wine like you used to. I know it's different but we’ll figure it out. Sometimes I feel like my memories never happened. Could you remind me, take me back for a night? Was it ever real? I don’t even feel like that girl anymore Was it heavenly? I don’t even see through those eyes anymore A hundred small deaths, a hundred before I am a revolving door, I am a revolving door Joey, I’m working at a shop down on Main street. It pays the bills and keeps my head screwed on tight. But I feel astray cause we were never for staying so narrow, so straight, and unwilling to fight. So what is time but a thief among men? Just a robber who moves on out of view? Forget the time, it’s a watery friend. It moves on and it streams as it wants to. Joey, I need you more than ever before now. You are the gentle only key to my past. I want to reminisce, remember my springtime. I can rewind but I need you to playback.
7.
Bring it on down then, never lucky anyway. But who needs luck? Here’s to hoping. She can’t find the 20 she put in her wallet. She asked me about it but it’s loaded. “I didn’t steal your money! I didn’t steal your money!” She located the bill on the floor of the pickup. I circled my thumbs and I clenched my jaw. ‘Cause see trust is heavy, broken piano. You’d have to pay someone to take it off your hands. To put it bluntly you make me feel so crummy. So I’m making a plan. Can I get to the gold mine? I gotta love myself more than I need you near. I’ve got the resolve and I’ve got the conviction. This is one constructive eviction.
8.
Garden Dove 03:50
Been working hard to be up front. All I wanted for Christmas was your love. Ride the bus a hundred times for fun. I’m working hard, my garden dove, to keep you up and all at once. And it is so good around you Your skin is so delicate and wild, (you) care so much you’ll have a child. Wash your hands all through the night. Please don’t look down when you smile.
9.
I bit through my top lip when I was a kid and a ball of scar’s still there. And I remember so clearly the blood everywhere. A quivering chin and a single tear. I wanted to be tough for you. I was planning to be changed the darkest day of the year as we parked near the Christian thrift store. The smell of the downtown feed mill, the popcorn and the rain. I wanted to bow out, hesitate some more, but I wanted to be tough for you. Watching the prairies from the Yellow Head Highway, scrapping the frost from the glass. My head filled with a puddle, my heart sank like a stone. I couldn’t bear a thing, I needed to go home. I wanted to be tough for you. My silence feels like a victory, but a tenderness is inside of me, some program bestowed upon me that I want to be tough for you. Tough for you.
10.
Okla e maya momakma, tamaha chito okla imihaksi tuko i foni aiyokli ahoba hapiachi kiyo. Okla e maya momakma, napakanli, micha iti, micha nan vpi ahoba osh ohmi tamaha chito okla imihaksi tukon okla il vbachike. Yakni i natanna ibachvffa hosh okla il ilai achonli tuk. Hapi fiopa ya, shotik chinto okla il itibani tuk. When we remain, we will not be like the beautiful bones of a forgotten city. When we remain, we will be the flowers and the trees and the vines that overcome the forgotten city. We have woven ourselves into the cloth of the earth. We have mixed our breath into the expanding sky.
11.
Little Bits 02:04
I’ve gotten over the shame in little bits. Fewer moments where I start humming out loud to drown out the replayed uncomfortable past, as if to change the subject, as if to change the way it all went down, as if to dance the thought right out. I think I’ve told the story a little different, become the great mother of invention. I wanted people to read me as measured and wise, as if to change the record, as if to change the way it all went down, as if to dance the thought right out. Oh yeah, it’s possible to run out of space. For lies and pride to overflow the tank. You can open up or keep it secret if you want, as if to spurn the weakness, as if to change the way it all went down, as if to dance the thought right out.

about

This is my 6th full length record. It was recorded at Lunar Manor Studio in Oklahoma City, OK in the spring of 2019.

credits

released July 17, 2020

Produced by Samantha Crain
Engineered by Brine Webb
Mixed by Erik Wofford
Mastered by Jeff Lipton and Maria Rice at Peerless Mastering Service
Master lacquers cut by Bob Weston at Chicago Mastering Service
All music and words by Samantha Crain, except for "Garden Dove" by Samantha Crain, Henry Baker, and Ben Wigler

Paintings by Amanda Maciel Antunes
Design and Layout by Fudgegraphics

Samantha Crain: acoustic guitar, keyboards and synths, percussion, vocals
Brine Webb: Bass guitar, bgvs, sound effects, tape loops
Paddy Ryan: drums
John Calvin Abney: Piano, acoustic guitar
David Leach: upright bass
Kyle Reid: pedal steel, MPC programming
Dan Walker: accordion
Trevor Galvin: saxophone and clarinet
Garrison Brown: trumpet
Joanna Grace Babb: bgvs

license

all rights reserved

tags

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