A Thorn, A Sliver

by WORN THROUGH

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1.
Moonflower 02:10
moonflower wakes, the evening muse ensnare the heart, a most beautiful bloom stand-in for ruins it has consumed thrive on decay, cycles begin anew always wanted to follow you down the spiral efflorescent and elegant, become a gutter angel pulverize, capsulize and swallow, capsize at the end harbor grace until it breaches both the eyes moonflower makes sense of all smothered in poison, still crawls laid down roots with room for two never again be without you
2.
secrets divulged post-mortem tales a life untold no one would have ever known about the flesh that never felt like home in death there is no shame nothing to hide from no one to escape in death there can be no shame finally, you are freed but it doesn't mean anything make peace with yourself while you are still here the things you so desperately held within will all disappear and you will pass from this plane having lived only as an empty shell you will be remembered by people who never really knew you and burned or buried under a name that never really fit quite right make peace with yourself
3.
cut back it cannot be halted, it cannot be stopped threatening to overtake, it pierces winding flesh grows round and becomes you intertwining and enclosing your wounds bursting free once more, oh god it hurts but it's free oh god isn't it lovely? twist your knuckles under your eyes cry cry cry cry why are you still alive? why not be nutrient through which the vine can further thrive you have to decide - your life or the vine
4.
found the words found the wherewithal to sing them to you but you've become ash there is no you to sing them to would a hollow shell feel any better? would pretending you were still there inside feel any better than this? while fully knowing everything that made you you has died too? heart sick stomach burns with jealousy when anyone speaks your name their grief could never feel like this they don't know what it is to have the life wrung out of them so thoroughly just want to start over shut down, shut out everything else repaint with intention admire neglected sparks make certain you know how loved you were
5.
Phytolilith 03:17
believe in the mountains of broken glass and not in the basement current of crushed up nothing growth in the strangest of places roots that feed nothing at all couldn't remember the drive back home it could have happened then but you survived somehow you sat right in this house and swallowed them all been feeling ever so tired the weight of all these sins burden enough for two in the hands of one should know enough ghosts by now to not feel this alone two bags of dust are all that's left here both immutable companions permanently bound to one, hand-in-hand the other always just out of reach return to the miles of glimmer in each direction before memory began to blur a recursion of sharp refractions where it's unclear if, or how long, you've been away before the distance between reflections grew and grew while you were forging tungsten into nightmare deep-seated tendrils mirrored a pestilence within half-hearted attempts to get out of this goddamned place the stumbles, the falters, the ever-fading grace no one's to blame, it's not like you ever wanted to stay
6.
Ophanim I 02:00
there you lie closed off for the last time on the roadside wrapped up in plastic it happens once: a car sits adjacent to the road crumpled, smashed to bits windshield run through by branches the trees fight back when they're threatened stoic, standing their ground your punctured lung still yet breathes modern medicine forgives but the capitalist scum never did they took your livelihood while you were away but oh, it happens once more: a car sits beside the road overturned this time there is nothing left inside a body bag sits to the right or maybe it's stage right everything feels wrong and stage fright takes center as you maintain radio silence the despair of half-made things washes over everything you will never finish, or start only to stop short remnants of your essence left trapped in layers of silicon are the only assurance that you did once live
7.
Ophanim II 01:53
a dead doe sit and rots for weeks on the shoulder staring vacantly up at the coward who couldn't bear to look for months dancing mockingly for the aberrant who now desperately collects photos from the scene arranged in rituals meant to deny you rest look away, shut out the laughter eyes fully rotted away days ago but still pierced by her gaze she knows what you are make it stop fight back throw up the leaves, cough up the vine ingest razor blades and fire, burn out the sickness inside breathe deep the smoke, swallow the ash, plant life anew let Eden roam free in the embrace of Saint Ends
8.
Wormwood 01:36
within these clutches, all disintegrates even the silica, buried unto itself sand upon sand upon... self filled with self, but never tempered temper your expectations you always said "reality is unrealistic" subsist through the eyes of something long dead bless and renew the circadian eroded memories dream something better spirited odyssey freakish oddity hold fast and press on lined your path with golden thread distinguished and dazzling is the lead though it twists and winds round all the bends all will be able to see there is a way out place faith in the incandescent glow
9.
At 9 A.M. 05:27
this is the cruelest fucking place it's so hard to imagine things will ever change there is a fog that never leaves uncaring industry fills your bloodstream with plastics and a creeping dread slithers, surrounding all conversation but there is hope in every sound you make, every utterance this does not have to be the way things stay the end could look just like the start flourishes of life and color hearts bound within each other remember how it once felt to love another it didn't have to be like this by the morning this will seem rash, so incredibly senseless stilted words are used to build up, to tear apart to conjure, to perpetuate these hardships there is no permanence no feeling cannot be erased if only you could have stayed a little longer when the sun bathes the world in its radiance at 9 A.M. you're gone, there's nothing left this was all temporary just a fleeting feeling how much are you supposed to take? when you're too anxious to sleep for days to eat, to get out of bed so you just lay and rot it's hard to ask anyone to stay ousted by austere eyes which see nothing in the darkness lie all alone until someone else comes so come angel, come back some things never change this struggle is and shall ever be eternal but one day you'll figure out how not to feel scared of everything how not to be afraid it's too late at 9 A.M. someone's lost everything

about

WORN THROUGH
Aster Lyra Scott - vocals
Edie Quinn - guitars, bass, drums, vocals

Aster's vocals were recorded by her. The rest was recorded by Edie at Yoguwit Studios II, Lafayette, IN. It was also mixed and mastered there by Edie in February/March 2025.

Album art and design by Edie.

THIS ALBUM IS DEDICATED TO ALL OUR TRANS SISTERS, BROTHERS AND SIBLINGS WE HAVE LOST AS WELL AS THOSE OF US WHO ARE STILL HERE FIGHTING FOR OUR RIGHT TO MERELY EXIST. WE LOVE YOU AND NEED YOU HERE.

The instruments/gear used on this recording were as follows:

GUITAR:
Epiphone SG into Crate GX-1200H (left speaker)
Epiphone SG into B52 AT100 (right speaker)
A boss tuner was the only pedal used going into the amps.
The guitars were lightly compressed and EQ'd in post but no other effects were used.
BASS:
SX Vintage Series bass with Basslines pickups
Line in direct to firepod. Transamp amp sim. Medium compression and EQ.
DRUMS:
4 piece Ludgwig Accent Combo kit
DW Iron Cobra kick pedal
22" Meinl dark crash ride
Paiste rude hi hats
RECORDING EQUIPMENT:
Dell desktop computer from 2007
Presonus firepod 8
Sampson C01 condenser mic
sm57 mic
Shure drum pack mics

All of this gear combined cost me less than $2300
This is not a small amount of money but accumulating these things a piece or two at a time has enabled me to record more records than I can count offhand. It shouldn't stop you from doing the same.

credits

released March 7, 2025

license

all rights reserved

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