The Exile, by Zru Vogue

The Exile

by Zru Vogue

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1.	A Day in the Life of the Zru 04:17	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: This is what it means To desire the truth This is how it feels To deplete your youth This is what it takes To defeat the crush This is how it feels To inhale the rush A day in the life Of anyone else Losing all touch With a former self Spoils from the sea A sack of shells Off the deep end And doing it well Oo – gah – oo – gakka – oocha This is how it feels To reveal the truth This is what it means To require the proof This is who you are When you cease to be you This is what it’s like When you do the Zru This is how it feels To reveal the truth This is what it means To require the proof This is who you are When you cease to be you This is what it’s like To do the Zru Oo – gah – oo – gakka – oocha Back it up Pack it up Crack it up Stack it up Back it up Hack it up Smack it up -- Lyrics ©2006 Andrew L. Jackson
2.	Escape From More of the Same 04:15	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: More of the same More of the same Can’t contain Utter disdain For more of the same Running away Have to escape Getting away Make an escape From more of the same Can’t remain Won’t remain Taking the blame Living the shame Have to escape Make the escape From more of the same -- Lyrics ©2006 Andrew L. Jackson
3.	Octavia Insect Queen 03:57	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: Oh, you must be Octavia ‘Cause I recognize your wings They’re just like in those pictures That we found with ancient things Yes, you must be Octavia Bejeweled in diamond spurs and rings Seeking answers from the one Who makes the crickets sing The rabbit-headed woman said To go down to the water’s edge Where roaches creep with siren’s heads To sing the praises of the dredge The rabbit-headed woman said To go down to the water’s edge Where cockroach people dance in line To honor the new-fallen dead Octavia – sweet Insect Queen Making babies night and day Thirsting for the in-between Lurking in the docking bay You must be Octavia Reveal to me your wicked taste Come for me, Octavia Entangled in your love embrace -- Lyrics ©2006 Andrew L. Jackson
4.	A Happy Near-Death Experience 03:35	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: Like being torn apart Still feel her wings around my heart The subtle scrape of rubbing legs The stacks of bodies feeding eggs Now this won’t hurt a bit she said And then she said, well, so I lied She must’ve left me there for dead Never guessed that I’d survive But I’m happy to be here Just glad to be alive So happy to be here A member of the hive Yeah, happy to be here Working with the team Satisfy my ladyship ‘cause she’s my newfound queen Mercilessly merciful Savagely polite Strangely sympathetic Itching to ignite Oddly empathetic Yet horribly precise Thoughtfully impervious She grips you in her vice But I’m happy to be here Just glad to be alive So happy to be here A member of the hive Yeah, happy to be here A sycophantic freak (re-)born to serve the insect queen Seven days a week Like being torn apart Still feel her wings around my heart… -- Lyrics ©2006 Andrew L. Jackson
5.	Welcome to Oblivion 02:57	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: We welcome you with open arms With open fins and open gills We welcome you with smiling eyes Antennae and tentacles Our castles made of sand and weeds Have slipped so gently out to sea Our underworld is heaven-scent But hellions lurk just underneath So watch your step and give wide berth To anything that seems inert It’s not much different here from Earth Our babies laugh, our ladies flirt And if you find you miss your home Just call up the dial-a-view On those late nights when you’re alone Imaging the chosen few He-ey Ho-oh We welcome you with gritting teeth With fragrant breath and humming lips We welcome you to meet yourself With forking tails and mermaid’s hips Our women want to lure you in To make for them a sacred space So watch your step and watch your back For blinking eyes and bleeding lace He-ey Ho-oh Oblivion, oblivious But relatively harmless Change your world And change your mind Otherwise no change at all -- Lyrics ©2006 Andrew L. Jackson
6.	Ugly To Others, Beautiful To Me 02:42	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: Her hideousness is evident To all who dare to look Her loveliness is more discreet Though hardly by the book To feel the thrill of holding Her soft body in my gaze Keeps me enthralled for hours and hours That turn to days and days She’s hideous to others But she’s beautiful to me I see through her exterior Into her dark beneath I see past all her fallacies Into her deepest soul She takes me in her pincers And relinquishes control She’s hideous to others But she’s beautiful to me She’s hideous to others But she’s beautiful to me Beautiful to me -- Lyrics ©2006 Andrew L. Jackson
7.	Pagoda Mother Fish 03:03	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: Pagoda is the mother of The fish who sailed to sea Investigate the rumors and In time you’ll come to see That every motivation has A secret underneath A dirty little happenstance To drag you down beneath Pagoda finds her memory Lost long ago at sea Beaten down to half an inch Of all she used to be Recovering her instincts She hovers near the beach And all those little memories Are suddenly in reach Poseidon is her nemesis And Neptune wears her emphasis It’s all a tangled seaweed mess A Hollywood adventure quest In love and life she has been blessed But satisfy her emptiness And you alone will warm her chest As she fills her esophagus The Mother Fish, The Mother Fish Mother of all that you wish The Mother Fish, The Mother Fish Say hello to Mother Fish The Mother Fish, The Mother Fish Mother of all that you wish The Mother Fish, The Mother Fish Ovoviviparous Mother Fish -- Lyrics copyright 2006 Andrew L. Jackson
8.	Garbage In Garbage Out (Insect Kiss) 04:14	lyrics	buy track
It’s been so long I can’t remember How long has it been? Serendipity is taking My heart for a spin Don’t remember anything Or who I used to be Been gone so long That goddamn knows It feels like forever to me Disappearing memories fade Into a great abyss Garbage in, garbage out Give us an insect kiss Reminiscing of a time That I don’t recollect Mystery is calling So I place my calls collect Been so long I can’t remember How I used to look Short and fat or tall and thin Straight-laced or off the hook Memory is fickle Mind plays tricks on me Garbage in, garbage out This one plays for free Disappearing memories fade Into a great abyss Garbage in, garbage out Give us an insect kiss Zero here reporting from dimensions off the map Found my voice then lost it in the trees that drip the sap It’s cold as hell I might as well curl up with a witch’s tit Got this GPS but goddammit that don’t work for shit My heart is feeling heavy as a sack of sod and bricks My mind is working overtime, hallucinating tricks But this shit’s real and all I feel is numb from head to shoes Garbage in garbage out, got the head-and-thorax blues Disappearing memories fade Into a great abyss Garbage in, garbage out Give us an insect kiss -- Lyrics copyright 2006 Andrew L. Jackson
9.	The Deep End 02:56	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: Beat the clock, invite the crunch No remorse and no regrets Out the back door, out to lunch Leave behind enormous debts In too late to turn back now Can’t turn back the hands of fate Off the deep end anyhow Aphrodite came too late Off the deep end catching flies Down and dirty, old and wise Off the deep end, deaf and mute Pluck all that low-hanging fruit Onda bubl fezng nurt Plezma boddle frazng blurt Solda bubal flowdum hi Arf-2 konga helltoo pie Off the deep end anyhow In too deep to turn back now Where have you gone? What have you done? Where have you gone? What have you done? -- Lyrics copyright 2006 Andrew L. Jackson
10.	Un-returning (Overflow) 03:53	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: Sleep infinite sleep Dream infinite dreams Stay a while until you no longer Know what it means Feel a little chill Running through your soul Icy tingles down your spine As you regain control You can’t go back You have to go back You can’t go back You have to go back How to get back? Just one way back How to get back? Just one way back Shake off all you feel Shake off all you know Un-remember everything Until you overflow Until you overflow Until you overflow Experience the undertow Until you overflow -- Lyrics copyright 2006 Andrew L. Jackson
11.	Drifting/Heaven Wants Me 03:32	lyrics	buy track
Lyrics: Heaven wants me I can feel Angels calling Me -- Lyrics copyright 2006 Andrew L. Jackson

about

Zru Vogue created this concept album with an insect queen, a mother fish, a rabbit-headed woman, and lines of dancing cockroach people to explore notions of reality, the self, and existence. The protagonist, Zero, is the artist as everyman, drudging through the daily grind until he escapes into an alternate reality. His dreams may be coming true, or his nightmares may be just starting.

Musically, The Exile finds Zru Vogue going simultaneously more electronic and more tribal, layering e-bows and tribal rhythms over insect-like synthesizers and drum machines. It’s more surreal, more existential, more Zru than ever before.

credits

released December 5, 2006

Produced by Zru Vogue. All words by Andrew L. Jackson, all instruments and vocals performed by Andrew Lawrence Jackson and Rick Cuevas, except electronic drum kit on "Un-returning (Overflow)" played by Patrick Coyne. Composed and recorded by Rick Cuevas and Andrew L. Jackson.

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about

Zru Vogue San Francisco, California

Avant-pop, art-funk, post-punk from the San Francisco Bay Area. Zru Vogue's first single "Nakweda Dream" (1981) is a dark-wave classic. Band members are Andrew Lawrence Jackson, Rick Cuevas, and Patrick Coyne.