Listen
by Colin Nicholls, 1998

Colin Nicholls: Guitars, Stick, Keyboards, Drum programming, Vocals
Walter Nicholls: Keyboard solo

An attempt at a progressive rock epic. I'm still not entirely happy with this version, mainly due to a nasty tempo glitch during the transition to part 3, but it is certainly good enough. Lyrically this song is a warning about the fascination of modern society, how we clutter our lives up with technology for its own sake.

I. Introduction

II. Listen to the Sound
Listen to the sound coming through your window
Listen to the sound across the floor
Listen to the sound, a mystic sibilance
slips the bolt, unlocks a sliding door
Listen to the sound coming through the doorway
Listen to the sound you can't ignore
Listen as the sound of information
tricks the mind, exploits the hidden flaw
Listen to the sound coming through the airwaves
Listen to the sound across the web
Listen as the sound that's in the carrier
throws the catch and slips inside your head

Listen to the sound coming through the network
Listen to the sound in every nerve
Listen for the sound to set the programme
View the replay, hearing every word

III. Interlude

IV. We are Talking
We are talking Life Blood
We are talking pain
We are taking the test of life, Only tears remain
We are talking Life Times
We are looking for blame
It's a mystery of life, and we can't explain
We are talking Life Lines
We are taking the strain
Ignoring the rules of life to play a different game
We are talking Life Blood
pounding with your fear
With a cellphone held to your ear, it's hard to keep listening
We are talking Life Signs
we are looking for space
impossible to find a place where we can start listening
We are talking Sound Bites
and we are over exposed
There's too much noise from the road and we've stopped listening...
V. Coda

Painting Abstracts
by Colin Nicholls/Walter Nicholls, 1995

Colin Nicholls: Vocals, Guitars, Stick, Fretless Bass, Keyboards, Drum programming
Walter Nicholls: Keyboards, Drum programming

Chorus in 7/8 time, verses in 4/4. Pulsing guitars, sustaining keyboards, offbeat bassline. We collaborated on the lyrics, which are perhaps a little too busy. The song is a fairly obvious warning about denial and regret. Carpe diem and all that.

Across the room I saw your face
You caught my eye in a net of desire
Some other time, in your embrace
I remember your words, you said
I'm Painting Abstracts on location
Faking a picture and signing my name
Painting Abstracts, no salvation
from the painful pictures that collect in my brain
Painting Abstracts, my vocation
Is the one way I know and it's never the same
Painting Abstracts, one solution
is disolving the memories - and forgetting the shame
Across the crowd I hear your voice
Caught my mind in a web of a memory
Words in my head give me a choice
I lose my mind, the moment slips away...
(solo)
Across the years I see my past
Trapped by fear, as though it seemed at the time
I never knew time went so fast
Was it yesterday, I said,
I'm Painting Abstracts on location
ignoring reality, and enduring the pain
Painting Abstracts, like Monopoly® -
you rob from the bank to keep playing the game
I'm Painting Abstracts, my protection
When the colour's so vivid, you don't have to explain
Painting Abstracts on location
I'm taking a remedy, that is keeping me sane

Prodigal Sounds are: Colin Nicholls (guitars, Stick, fretless bass, keyboards, vocals), and Walter Nicholls (keyboards). When not holding down day jobs in Nevada, USA and New Zealand respectively, we are hard at work collaborating long-distance (thank goodness for the Internet), writing tracks for eventual release in CD format.

[web site] (More info and song previews)