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American Dreams

Patience

by Devin Shaffer

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1.
Intro 00:56
2.
Forever 03:27
Trees Don’t play with me I need you to bloom And stay that way forever Don’t play With my heart I’m too weak I can’t take another start To the spring Head Underwater River You can pull me down now And I’ll move With the current I am soothed By the cold, it’s ok I am strong in that way I’m forever
3.
Cool 06:06
When the waiting days are over And the days of acting cool When the river lush and rushing And the place inside us too Maybe we could take a walk late some night In the fireflies and dew I don’t want to make anything too real I just want to be with you Mmm paranoia Look into my eyes I’m a stranger Lonely in my mind Like in anger Wasting all my time You’re an angel Can’t you read my mind I don’t want to be a woman I just want to be the lake And I want to pulse whenever breeze blows on me I don’t want it to be fake Tell me honest do you ever sweet talk to me Do you like to play pretend Do you want to take a swim late one night We could do it just as friends Mmm California Crying all the time By a mountain Right between my eyes Like my mother Trying to get by I am scared, baby Lonely in my mind In the fall I read your letters From the box under my bed When I knew you I was too young To understand your love It went right over my head
4.
I’ve been looking at the time For so long I think it’s mine I’ve been watching the big fly In my room Wondering if he’ll die soon All my dreams are coming true Tell my parents I’ll come home soon I’ve been pacing back and forth For so long I think it’s a sport I’ve been living in a screen Where I can disappear and everything All my dreams are coming true I don’t even think about you And I can’t feel a thing Can’t feel anything No I can’t feel a thing Can’t feel anything
5.
Interlude I 01:14
6.
Anyone 02:39
I’m choked up again Not for anyone I’ve left behind in the pouring rain Think I’m gonna change Not for anyone I’ve lost before but I’m in the gain Here’s to anyone That can change my mind again I’m in the spring of my time I won’t go back to when Glory to the gift Here for anyone They told me once and I won’t forget Things are gonna change now for everyone I’ll walk and walk until the end Here’s to anyone That can change my mind again I’m in the spring of my time I’m in the zone again And time feels right Oh time is ripe The day feels right Oh I am ripe
7.
Night 02:59
Baby bird of life Born in my hand Fly into the night I wanna be free More than anything More than right I can feel us orbit round the light From beyond the axis brings the night Creature of the dark Like the shadow moves Beneath the beauty of a lark You with your long hair Like a meteor, love We’re barely even here I can feel the spirit the divine I can hear him laughing all the time Ha ha ha ha ha
8.
Interlude II 01:17
9.
Who’d believe we’re done Who’d believe I won In the end, I won Who believes the cold under the ice sheet on a lake Who believes a prayer by the bedside for prayers sake I guess I’m crawling there The broken bridge, trapped in a snare Late night train, rotten air I guess I’m crawling One day back to dust but before we find a home I believe in patience, it’s the only trick I know Do you believe in me 50 paces up ahead Trudging up a mountain Broken body, quicksand bed I guess I’m crawling there A pain to rise, took a year off Drink my coffee, fall in love I guess I’m crawling If I’m ever driving I know it’s a dream Weaving through the back roads I’m dying to scream Tell me if you want you can go up ahead I’ll wait for the wind I hear round the bend I guess I’m crawling there I guess I lay down by the pond Joy in music, all night long I guess I’m crawling I guess I’m crawling I guess I’m crawling I guess I’m crawling
10.
Stranger 04:07
Stranger You look like a cold meal When I’m lost And I’m hungry Hungry in the moonlight In a new place Oh it’s funny how I’m still the same Still the same Touch me Like I’m your hero Like I’m a shark Swimming in your belly Oh it’s funny how I never change Never change Smoke Fills the room I’m in Blank eyes and jokers Traded youth for tokens Move for nothin No way I could never play the game Play the game Oh it’s funny how I see your face Even in this place

about

“I keep thinking about this idea that once you think you’re on the path, you’ve lost the path,” says New York musician Devin Shaffer, explaining the ethos behind Patience, her first studio album. “There is no certainty, there is no knowing. It’s all about surrender.” Written between 2021 and 2023 and Shaffer’s move from Chicago to New York City, Patience mirrors life’s highs and lows on the search for spiritual meaning, purpose, and connection. For the first time, Shaffer leads a group of sensitive instrumentalists—Lucy Liyou on piano, Sarah Galdes (L’Rain, Bartees Strange) on drums, Marilu Donovan (LEYA) on harp, and Mari Rubio (More Eaze) on pedal steel—through a stirring, hushed collection of folk songs. On Patience, Shaffer challenges both herself and the listener to find peace in the unknowing and comfort in the surrender.

Patience takes on the hushed intimacy of songwriters like Vashti Bunyan, Sibylle Baier, and Linda Perhacs and updates it for the twenty-first century. After releasing her debut LP, In My Dreams I’m There in 2021, Shaffer found a discarded Martin acoustic guitar on the side of the road with a note that read, “This is for you.” “In the past, my songs were very much woven into this greater ambient soundscape,” explains Shaffer. “Songs would emerge from ambient drift and archival audio. When I had more traditional songs, I never really let them sit on their own.” But she took the guitar as an invitation to strip down her songwriting practice. Shaffer began writing a series of whispered folk songs from her bed, tracked vocals and guitar with Michael Macdonald (The Slaps, Tenci, Mia Joy, Tasha) at Bim Bom Studios in Chicago, and invited her collaborators to record on them. After arranging their contributions, Shaffer brought the music to La Frette Studios in France, the esteemed 100-year-old mansion-turned-recording studio, for mixing sessions with engineer Anthony Cazade (Fontaines D.C., Ballaké Sissoko) and Jordan Reyes (ONO, The Ark of Teeth).

Patience foregrounds Shaffer’s acoustic guitar and voice—tender, haunting, and controlled—using her arrangements to conjure atmosphere. The opening track, a near-silent field recording taken from the windowsill of Shaffer’s Brooklyn bedroom, fades into the first soft fingerpicked notes of her guitar on “Forever,” bridging the gap between Shaffer’s earlier work and the clarity of Patience. While Shaffer yearns for permanence in the first few lines of “Forever,” as Liyou’s twinkling piano emerges, she changes her tune, instead finding comfort, even strength, in accepting change as it comes. “All My Dreams Are Coming True” unifies biting sarcasm (“I’ve been pacing back and forth for so long I think it’s a sport”) with an upbeat, folk rock beat, before transitioning with an interlude to “Anyone”: a waltz with a Galdes shuffle, light piano flourishes from Liyou and lyrics that are gentle yet defiant (“I’m in the spring of my life, I’m in the zone again”).

Patience oscillates between high and low, between certainty and uncertainty. The penultimate track, “I Guess I’m Crawling,” acts as a thesis statement. Shaffer’s guitar is right up front, her vocals gentle, like she’s singing a lullaby. But she sings of inconveniences, mistakes, shortcomings, unfairnesses, doubts herself. “Do you believe in me, fifty paces up ahead?” she asks. “Trudging up a mountain, broken body, quicksand bed.” This is where patience comes in: as she sings, “it’s the only trick I know.” By the end of the track, a deal is made: “I guess I lay down by the pond. Joy in music, all night long. I guess I’m crawling.” All of these supposed failures, Shaffer suggests, lead you to where you’re supposed to be. Though her newest songs navigate optimism and pessimism, hope and defeat, frustration and acceptance, on Patience, Shaffer has never sounded so sure.

credits

released November 7, 2025

Written by Devin Shaffer

Mixed by Anthony Cazade at La Frette Studios

Mastered by Felix Davis at Metropolis Studios

Vocals and guitar performed by Devin Shaffer, recorded by Michael MacDonald at Bim Bom Studios (tracks 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 9, 10)

Drums performed and recorded by Sarah Galdes at Synthia Studios (tracks 4, 6, 9, 10)

Harp performed by Marilu Donovan, recorded by Sarah Galdes (tracks 3, 7, 8)

Piano performed and recorded by Lucy Liyou (tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7)

Violin performed and recorded by Devin Shaffer (tracks 3, 9)

Pedal Steel performed and recorded by Mari Rubio (track 9)

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Devin Shaffer New York, New York

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Photography by Jordan Reyes

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