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Dreamers & Runaways

by Sci-Fi Romance

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  • Streaming + Download

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

    All downloads include a 15-page digital booklet PDF, and a digital copy of the comic created for the "Voices" music video.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $7 USD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    12" vinyl version of 10-track album on black vinyl with full-color packaging and insert. ***NOTE: This is a custom, short-run vinyl pressing with robust low-end frequency response. As a result, it may experience playback issues on discount turntables or players such as the Crosley Cruiser.***

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

      $19 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Compact disc in full-color, four-panel, eco-friendly Digipak.

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

      $10 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 12 Sci-Fi Romance releases available on Bandcamp and save 35%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of From the Plague Year, The Rain Becomes a River, Dreamers & Runaways, When the Levee Breaks, A Burning Ember to a Grove of Trees, Dust Among the Stars, October, God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen (single), and 4 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $26 USD or more (35% OFF)

     

1.
So much undone But we packed her car "Maybe I'll come back" She said with a bitter laugh But we're still here You and I, you and I Our story still unfolding here Among the fault lines Los Angeles A siren's song For dreamers and for runaways Beckoned by Pacific waves But everyday It all goes wrong For waitresses and millionaires Who disappear into the desert air Broken glass Ground into The sidewalk gleams Like so many buried dreams But we're still here You and I, you and I Like flames on the mountains And haze in the sky Los Angeles A siren's song For dreamers and for runaways Beckoned by Pacific waves But everyday It all goes wrong For waitresses and millionaires Who disappear into the desert air We're still here you and I, you and I...
2.
There's an old man screaming at a young mother next to me She steps in between him and her child instinctively She didn't ask to come under this fire Riding on a subway car shouldn't draw this kind of ire I told her I was sorry after he got off the train She said "Sometimes it happens and...It's ok." But I know and she knows that it's not Add it to the list of things that somehow we forgot We all get our wounds that just won't heal We all get our scars we know Nobody else can feel So much we thought by now that we'd outgrow But we've still got a long ways, a long ways left to go There's arms locked across a road and tension in the air They've all lost so much and still nobody seems to care They've all been called anarchists and frauds They've been called most everything except a child of God We all get our wounds that just won't heal We all get our scars we know Nobody else can feel So much we thought by now that we'd outgrow But we've still got a long ways, a long ways left to go The long arc of history Bends, they say, to justice But it takes its time There's a pair of tired eyes staring out into the distance Where they thought they were heading to didn't look a damn thing like this They never saw their bridges burning bright Until the day began to die and they lit up the falling night We all get our wounds that just won't heal We all get our scars we know Nobody else can feel So much we thought by now that we'd outgrow But we've still got a long ways, a long ways left to go
3.
You said your life is your own But is it? All the stories you told Did anybody listen? Everything that you've known Now it's gone do you miss it? In a beautiful prison And there's no way home You're surrounded by strangers Who number you as their own They watch you stare out to sea A mystery Every face in the street Says you just need convincing All they want from you is peace But you can't stop resisting In a beautiful prison And there's no way home You're surrounded by strangers Who number you as their own They'll be, they'll be, they'll be seeing you Disappear Disappear into the crowd You're just one of the crowd You'll see, you'll see You're just one of the crowd You'll see, you'll see But you're not one of the crowd And maybe they'll see In a beautiful prison And there's no way home You're surrounded by strangers But still you're always your own...
4.
The mask I wear, I wear for you So afraid of what you'd do If you saw me for all in all All my scars, and all my flaws The war, the war you see in me The moments I can't breathe I try to hide all this darkness inside And keep it behind a façade, but it's destined to break And that's a chance I just have to take When the lights are turned this way It always feels like somebody's mistake Another day and all its doubts How long, I wonder, will I live under this cloud? The war, the war you see in me The moments I can't breathe I try to hide all this darkness inside And keep it behind a façade, but it's destined to break And that's a chance I just have to take And I know that I'm hardly alone In search water among these dry bones In the dark, you say it's all right But how, I wonder, would it be in the light We are none of us a masterpiece Just works in progress still...
5.
Voices 03:08
The rain comes On its own In spite of all our plans A shadow moves And fear takes hold No matter what we tell ourselves And right now a mother's singing to her baby She can't take away the pain But she knows that maybe We may not have much power in this world But friends, we've still got our voices Some endings Are written much too fast And not how we imagine them Memories Can disappear so soon Like footprints lost beneath the tide Maybe all we love was never meant to last. But the better part of me's saying, "Not so fast." We may not have much power in this world But friends, we've still got our voices The truth is It's out there But more delicate than I could know Our blind spots We hold so dear The swords on which we throw ourselves I can fill your heart with neither love nor rancor But I can tell you stories of Forgiveness and of anger We may not have much power in this world But friends, we've still got our voices...
6.
The Fight 04:10
There's so much they say that we can't do That we may try but we're bound to lose Brushed aside as simpletons and fools We're told our places, but our hearts they blaze and we Stand up anyway Stand up anyway And the fight May be one that we cannot win But that don't mean they're right And if we take this one on the chin That don't mean we won't be Getting right back up again Is it naive to dream of change When the world's favorite refrain Is "In the end, what difference can it make?" To fight seems crazy but still these days we Stand up anyway Stand up anyway And the fight May be one that we cannot win But that don't mean they're right And if we take this one on the chin That don't mean we won't be Getting right back up again We may see that what they say is true And history won't tell of me or you Our legacy, it may only prove Yeah, to be that in the end we stood So we stand up anyway We stand up anyway And the fight May be one that we cannot win But that don't mean they're right And if we take this one on the chin That don't mean we won't be Getting right back up again
7.
Gone Wrong 03:22
Well I guess we both got what we asked for So why then does it feel like a car crash? The gears and the springs of this broken machine Just glittering mute on the pavement Hold on Where'd we go so wrong? Well I guess I was blinded by victory And somehow I lost who I was The lies, the misdeeds I should've foreseen And words that I only regretted Hold on Where'd we go so wrong? It's not enough to say, "Mistakes, I guess, were made." Cause we learn from the past or repeat it Maybe we just were too different Or maybe we both could've changed But that ship has gone by and all that's left behind Are rough waters and too short a memory Hold on Where'd we go so wrong? It's not enough to say, "Mistakes, I guess, were made." Cause we learn from the past or repeat it
8.
Wooden Jesus 02:47
9.
Sunrise 04:33
Seventeen after three a.m. A single light burning brought me out of bed Found you outside wrapped in an old bedspread I asked what was wrong and you said I don't know the last time I saw a sunrise And I can't think why I never seemed to mind It's a shame, all the days I never realized All the ways that there are to be blind Said you woke up from a dream Of younger days and outworn identities You forgot, you said, so many things "How'd this life get so goddamn distracting?" I don't know the last time I saw a sunrise And I can't think why I never seemed to mind It's a shame, all the days I never realized All the ways that there are to be blind I slip my arm around your waist As you turn east Waiting for the light of day Together at least Cause we can't sleep anyway Cause we can't sleep anyway...
10.
Every night it's the same thing You try to sleep but your mind's racing Trying to keep a job, trying to keep a home It feels that way, but you're not alone I wish I could tell you that we're all free, free And maybe someday we'll be I wish I could tell you we're all seen, seen Until then, just give your hand to me And we'll sing, Lord, how we'll sing Our voices will rise and ring From roadside to hilltop A chorus they can't stop Our stories told on the wind You're adrift and can't make sense Of worlds inside and out full of turbulence You try to laugh, you try to keep it inside But you know some things a smile can't hide I wish I could tell you that we're all free, free And maybe someday we'll be I wish I could tell you we're all seen, seen Until then, just give your hand to me And we'll sing, Lord, how we'll sing Our voices will rise and ring From roadside to hilltop A chorus they can't stop Our stories told on the wind A single candle It don't burn too bright But there's not a fire A million can't light We'll sing, Lord, how we'll sing Our voices will rise and ring From roadside to hilltop A chorus they can't stop Our stories told on the wind

about

The fourth full-length album by Los Angeles alt-folk band Sci-Fi Romance

credits

released October 19, 2018

Vance Kotrla: Vocals, 6- & 12-string, bass, & baritone guitars. drums, vibraphone, percussion, piano, theremin
Jody Stark: Cello
Mr. Mike: Drums
Dylan Kotrla: Piano
Johnnie Kotrla: Bass

Produced by Vance Kotrla
Recorded & mixed by Tim Moore at York Recording, Los Angeles
Drums on “Sunrise” recorded by Jaron Luksa at the Rattle Room, Burbank
Piano & vibraphone recorded by Andrew Bush at Grandma’s Warehouse, Echo Park
Mastered by Jaron Luksa at the Rattle Room, Burbank

Cover photo by Vance Kotrla & Sean Jacobs
Band photography by Eric King & Sean Jacobs

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Sci-Fi Romance Los Angeles, California

Sci-Fi Romance is an independent folk band from Los Angeles that blends unique arrangements and a dark, percussive take on acoustic music into a sound that has been labeled "steamfolk." It began as the solo project of singer/songwriter Vance Kotrla.

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