Unfuture – "Masks" out now

Stream "Masks" — released November 2024

Icebreaker (3:43)

Lyrics

Verse one

A superficial lightness
A bitterness that lingers in the air
You pivot and divide us
There’s a line to conquer first

An arbitrary violence
A growing pain that thrives on every word
In uneasy silence
Still the only thing you heard

Bridge

Cut from the cloth that you tried to refuse
Dive under oceans to gather the news
Shouting at shadows asleep in their screens
Cracks that you fell in between

Chorus

Icebreaker / you’re ploughing on regardless / melting points
Icebreaker / crushing all before you / it’s cold comfort

Post-chorus

Fields of frozen tracks of where you came before
Nothing left to find but ghosts and metaphors
Fighting just to prove that you could do it first
Stranding yourself on the edge of Earth

Verse

Blinded by your rightness
A conviction you won’t have to serve
Temperatures in minus
It’s a strength you can’t conserve

Spreading like a virus
Infiltrate and replicate the grief
Made it in your likeness
What a legacy to leave

Bridge / Chorus / Post-chorus

Verse one

The smack of seafoam in the street
Taste the salt that’s on the breeze
They’re selling ice cream made in Rome
How’d you get so far from home?

Ships set sail to pleasure cruise
Tourist prices keep ‘em crewed
Like a crab caught on a line
You found me in the nick of time

Post-verse

Faded glamour / I’m still enamoured / with everything you do

Pre-chorus

Step under the boardwalk / and brush sand from your feet
Hold onto the bright shells / let ’em whisper in your ear
Each ocean can meet here / it’s deeper than you think
Tides change to remind us / that we swim rather than sink

Chorus

Time’s a straight line / and it runs out fast
As the crow flies / on the swiftest path
We’re a river / on our way to sea
Keep your head up / as you swim back to me

Verse two

They’re making hay while the sun shines
Mending roofs and wasting time
Carving flints and working earth
The old world struggles to give birth

Post-verse

Pre-chorus

Chorus

Bridge

They can’t fathom what it means
but we’ve got wind that’s in our sails

Chorus

Verse one

Fog is on the hill tonight
I can’t see the lights reflected in your eyes
Pictures fade to black and white
Frame the question like a portrait in still life

Verse two

Wild things call out in the night
Waking restlessly to check we’re still alright
Hunters leave before it’s light
Leave the evidence of what they couldn’t hide

Chorus

And still I look out
Past the signs and symbols crowding out the view
And I / I know it’s there
An open window waiting for the dawn

Verse three

Question everything I write
Second guessing till there’s nothing that feels right
Like a risk that’s still in flight
Take a chance on me and stick around to fight

Chorus

Middle

Trees stand on ceremony
No time to wait for evergreen
Broken wishbones learn to fly
It’s still uncertain if we’ll try

Verse 1

Piecing back the sanity
There’s nothing left to say
I don’t like the words you used
Cheaply given away

Chorus

I don’t like the sound of this
Plain for all to see
I don’t like the sound of this
And I wanted to be free

Verse 2

Guilty like the thieves we caught
Crouching in the dark
Holy lights and liturgies
Faithless miss their mark

Open up to close it down
Don’t deny you tried
Who will own the evidence
With such an alibi?

Chorus

Verse 3

Fables fall like Avalon
Rotten on the branch
Fortunate in providence
Toxic in your hands

Piecing back the sanity
There’s nothing left to say
I don’t like the words you used
Cheaply given away

Verse 4

Clearer now with every line
Cultivate and grow
Patterns blur and dissipate
Tell instead of show

Chorus

Verse 1

As we disengage / and the fuel ignites
Try to reach forever in the fading light
Caught between collision and escape
Radio to help us navigate

Past the boundary’s edge and we’re burning fast
Separation comes as they broadcast
Tell us how you feel, tell us what you see
Vital signs are freed from gravity

See the dying light of a burning sphere
Jettison the things that brought you here
Gearing up to try to reignite
Find the fuel to elevate this flight

Bridge

And the pull is strong like gravity’s hold
Feel the confidence and take control
Ancient orbit of a broken star
Left afloat forever in the dark

Chorus

For the last time / say it
Ever after’s over

Verse 2

Burning solar time / till there’s not a trace
Never linger long in a single place
Termination shock just passed us by
Latitudes and lines can still divide

When the uplink comes it’s a sudden dream
Are we lost or just don’t want to hear?
Satellite it spirals to the earth
Everyone is begging to go first

And the light years wax as the darkness wanes
Tearing up our skin like gamma rays
Meridian of arbitrary lines
We do our best to hide the warning signs

Bridge

Chorus

Verse one

I woke up with the strangest thought today
Like something good could counteract the hate
The charlatans and chancers cast aside
Rejected by the ones they’d tried to bribe

Bridge one

And I hate to be the one to celebrate
A reckoning that’s almost come too late

Chorus

SINK! Fade away to grey
SINK! No respects to pay
SINK! Who’ll mourn your demise?
SINK! Watch as you capsize

Verse two

Digging your own grave is thirsty work
When you haven’t found a duty you won’t shirk
And the sweat you stole from someone else’s brow
Won’t wash your dirty hands clean of the doubt

Bridge two

And I wonder if you ever realised
The degree to which you truly were despised?

Chorus

Middle

Stick around and try to catch an eye
Are you thinking what that look implies?

Verse three

I fell asleep with dreams of something new
A world where things I back don’t always lose
The architects of misery cast aside
Subsidence crushed them all in a landslide

Bridge three

And I know I’m not naive enough to think
That the shit from the incumbents still won’t stink

Chorus

Outro

Oh yeah (x3)
And you’ll sink / Yes you’ll sink (x2)

Verse one

I’ve got fifteen names for Jesus
Got ‘em written on my list
They’re the names of all my enemies
And I want him to assist

Chorus

And I’ve sent a lot of letters
That I’m sure that you’ve received
But I guess that you’re ignoring me
‘cause you’re seen to be believed

Verse two

I’ve got fifteen names for Jesus
Of the people I have wronged
I don’t hope for forgiveness but I
want him to respond

Chorus

Verse three

I’ve got fifteen names for Jesus
‘Cause I heard he’s taking sides
And I’ve never cast a stone for him
If you’ve nothing else to hide

Chorus

Verse four

I’ve got fifteen names for Jesus
When I curse him to his face
‘Cause the gods are ten-a-penny
And he’s easy to replace

Chorus

And I’ve gave up writing letters
And I don’t need deities
My enemies are mine to duel
And my sins for me to grieve

Verse 1

Calling your name
Standing upon the shore
Recalling the shame
Never attempted to

Share the blame
Ask for only the
Things you kept for / yourself in the silences

Verse 2

Staking a claim
Speaking with broken teeth
Things we became
Flinch from the touch of the

Fears we’d tame
Wrapped in honesty
Run like deer in the / grey of the morning

Chorus

“What could be” was the song that I sang
Pictures falling that we used to hang
Roads that lead to a future of one
Don’t you know we’re supposed to be gone?

Verse 3

Ears to the ground
Listen for honesty
Waver like sound
Straining to hold your tongue

Rumours abound
Leaping over the
Walls we built from the / bricks of our silence

Verse 4

Kings that we crowned
Ruling with golden fists
Clocks that run down
Time that we chased after

Routes we found
Followed endlessly
Searched for clarity / hiding in bedclothes

Chorus

Bridge

Birds are calling / singing warnings / to fly
Trade our secrets / waking sleepless / ohhhh

Ink and paper / wasted labour / dead lines
Golden circles / dress rehearsals / for life

Verse 5

Shouldn’t have cried
Wake with the morning’s tears
Raining inside
Wait for the dewdrops to

Clean the air
Wash the words of the
Dust that grew on the green of our garden

Chorus

Icebreaker (3:43)
As The Crow Flies (4:05)
Fog Clouds Love (3:37)
Little Bird (3:34)
Spirit (4:04)
On The Vine (2:49)
Gravity’s Hold (3:40)
Sink! (3:46)
Names For Jesus (3:02)
Picture Hooks (3:46)
Masks (6:10)

Watch album trailer on YouTube

Unfuture discography

Check out the rest of the Unfuture albums and singles below:

Seasons Delayed

single / March 2023
Lend An Ear

single / March 2023
I'll Go With You

single / April 2023
Words And Ways

album / June 2023
Masks

album / November 2024

Stream "Masks" — released November 2024

Watch album trailer on YouTube

Unfuture discography

Seasons Delayed

single / March 2023

Lend An Ear

single / March 2023

I'll Go With You

single / April 2023

Words And Ways

album / June 2023

Masks

album / November 2024