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Before You Wandered In

by Tess McKenna

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  • Streaming + Download

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

      $5 AUD  or more

     

  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    A limited run of two hundred 12" Black Vinyl copies of Tess' latest album are available.
    Vinyl cover artwork features image of the now extinct Thylacine (Australian marsupial).
    Also includes a printed inner sleeve with credits and original lyrics.

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

      $15 AUD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Clear Tray artwork reveals a hidden Thylacine once the CD is removed!
    Also includes credits and artwork which are specific to this Digipak.

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

      $15 AUD or more 

     

1.
Thylacines 04:56
THYLACINES Words & Music by T. McKenna Thylacines are never seen Except in books and magazines A pile of bones found in a den Won’t ever bring them back again Again. again Remember how we used to meet The hidden rock our sliding feet Counting steps one through to ten We swore we’d do it all again Again. again Badadah-bup-badup-bah Badadah-bup-badup-bah Badup-bah-bah Ooh-ba-da-dah ba-da-dah Ooh-bup-bup-badup-bup-bah Thylacines are in my dreams Beneath the trees that shade the streams And Ancient Owls watch over them ‘Cause in my dreams they’re back again Again. again Ooh Badadah-bup-badup-bah-badop-bah Ooh Badadah-bup-badup-bah-badop-bah Ooh Badadah-bup-badup-bah-badup-bah Ooh Badadah-bup-badup-bah-badup-bah Ooh Badadah-bup-badup-bah-badup-bah Ooh Badadah-bup-badup-bah-badup-bah Ooh Badadah-bup-badup-bah-badup-bah Oooooh Written by TESS MCKENNA
2.
THE HOLY RELIC Hello Sun. I’m glad we’ve come I got it together now we’re a peaceful circle I am tracing the shapes that you make on the wall And there’s some noise in the street They are using the words from a language I do not speak And everyone has come Looking for the fun Big black letters on a box with yellow tape We are lost and we’re hungry and I’m broke And I wanna see your fortress
 So we take the Slow Train from Madrid And study your land And the Holy Relic they cut from your hand And when everyone was done They went looking for the fun When they’d finished what they had begun They went looking for the fun Now I see you everywhere in buildings of stone And ink on paper and walking ‘round in the Sun Yes. here they come. here they come To fill up the walkways of a city that is slowly sinking And to slip into the muddy waters of a lagoon and end up face down in the sea While we sway in the dark and I listen to Blue Monk and Ballad in Plain D And when all is said and done we’re all looking for the fun Even the Broken Ones are looking for the fun Looking for the fun. keep on looking for the fun Just remember how they always come To stop us looking for the fun We will do what we have always done Sorta looking for the fun Yes hello Sun. I’m glad we’ve come Written by TESS MCKENNA
3.
Slow Rinse 08:28
SLOW RINSE Better Slow Down It’s Soo-ooh. it’s Super Sunday And everybody’s got their own way Done washing and cleaning And drying and dealing When’s he gonna give ‘em that bag? He’s got another one down in his pants Oh Better Slow. Slow Down It’s Soo-ooh. it’s Super Sunday But everybody’s got their own day It might look like it’s a party But it’s over once you’ve started When’s he gonna give ‘em that bag? He’s got another one down in his pants Oh Better Slow. Slow Down Better Slow Down When you fill up with anticipation
 Tapping on your phone shifting in your seat Making an art form out of fare evasion Jumping over gates running down the street I feel bad I’ve been holding out on you It could’ve been me-e-e-e-e.e.e.e Better Slow Down It’s Soo-ooh. it’s Super Sunday And nobody’s working Monday I look like your side-kick Wear earphones and lipstick When’s he gonna give ‘em that bag? He’s got another one down in his pants Oh Better Slow. Slow Down When’s he gonna give ‘em that bag? When’s he gonna give ‘em that bag? Better Slow Down Written by TESS MCKENNA
4.
Proxima 05:04
PROXIMA Oh yes one day we’ll surely know If trees and flowers grow
 On the orbiting Seven Sisters
 ‘Cause we’ve imagined their existence And it may be so Did you see. did you see us there? Dancing around in the cold desert air Then we all went back to Janet’s Talking Exoplanets
 And drinking her Belgian Beer Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh Saw a Red Dwarf Star Star-Star. Star. Star-Star Star-Star When we all went down to Hattah-Kulkyne You told me a secret That you liked me and you wanted to be Be here with me Oh yes I remember now you were here You stood out above the atmosphere When I’m near. you say I’m dangerous Like Proxima Centaurus A Red Dwarf Star A Hah Hah Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh Ooh. like a Red Dwarf Star Ooh Ooh. like a Red Dwarf Star
 Ooh Ooh. like a Red Dwarf Star. like a shining star Ooh Ooh. a shining star. Ooh Ooh. like a shining star Ooh Ooh. a shining star. Ooh Ooh. like a shining Ooh Ooh. Ooh Ooh. Ooh Ooh. Ooh Ooh Written by TESS MCKENNA
5.
Chanhassen 03:17
CHANHASSEN When I heard your song On the radio It was three AM on a Friday morning It was When Doves Cry And then he said you’d died In Chanhassen. in Minnesota Who Who-ooh-ooh-ooh It was flesh on flesh. it was bone on bone It was splits and slide. it was Manic Monday And Positivity And your guitar and voice And no bass on Kiss and If I Was Your Girlfriend Who Who-ooh-ooh-ooh Well you blew our minds And rhymed Sign with Times And that was in nineteen eighty seven And as we laid to rest Your best Purple vest I wrote you a song. just to wish you Heaven Who Who-ooh-ooh-ooh Ah Aaah Ah Ah Ah Aaaaah Written by TESS MCKENNA
6.
CASSETTE PLAYER Oh all the trouble that you keep near We’ll leave this town. we’ll leave it here But it follows us down to the street Back to the van. back to the heat So put that tape back on So I can hear that song What’s it called? you know the one I played us yesterday Just leave it on the dash is that ok ‘Cause I found it in The Five Dollar Bin Just press rewind and then play And we’ll hear it as we drive away Into the back seat into the night And up the front another fist fight You won’t tear them apart and just try to explain When there’s no escape and he’s in the wrong lane So put that tape back on So I can hear that song What’s it called? you know the one I played us yesterday Just leave it on the dash is that ok ‘Cause I found it in The Five Dollar Bin Just press rewind and then play And we’ll hear it as he swerves and saves the day Oh all the trouble you bring. and the fear We’ll leave this body we’ll leave it here It’ll swallow us up. it’s too dark and deep There’s all these broken cassettes at my feet So put that tape back on So I can hear that song What’s it called? you know the one I played us yesterday Don’t leave it on the dash ‘cause it’s been Stuck inside here Man for days A-and. and I found it in The Five Dollar Bin
 Just press rewind and then play
 And we’ll hear it as we get away And we’ll hear it as we get away Hah Hah Haaah ooh ooh ooh yeah eh hmm huuuhummm Written by TESS MCKENNA
7.
Track 07: The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll written by Bob Dylan Published by Special Rider Music
8.
More Or Less 06:30
MORE OR LESS They bought a house in Dutson Downs I packed my car and moved to town Before it all got thrown away It took each hill but then it died And once we’d crossed the Great Divide We left it there for salvaging Ooh Ooh Hey Hey On the day that it all came down We all just lay there on the ground Too scared and stoned to move Then I found it in the bin I didn’t know that I put it in They turned the whole place upside down Ooh Ooh Hey Hey That’s more or less the way. Hey I got a job in the Café I lost the impetus to play with them And started up another band And when we heard that he had drowned In the sea but he wasn’t found We all waited on the news and then cried for him Ooh Ooh Hey Hey That’s more or less the way. Hey She wrote a message on the door
 And dropped the needle on the floor And fell asleep on Table One They looked for someone new to blame And caught us kissing in the lane Beside The Esplanade Ooh Ooh Hey Hey That’s more or less the way That’s more or less the way it went for me He poured the Mescal in We drank it at the bar Before you wandered in We’d finished off two more So I left the car in Johnston Street Just like I’d done before And we went to your friends place Instead of fucking in the hall Books that were popular Jeans and binoculars Were lying on his floor Written by TESS MCKENNA

about

Tess McKenna's fifth album is Before You Wandered In
Produced by Tess McKenna and Roger Bergodaz

A guide to Before You Wandered In…song by song

01: Thylacines…explores the recovery of hope and dreams
amidst the darkness and reality of extinction…an uplifting
psychedelic-folk-rock celebration.

02: The Holy Relic…starts out with the attitude of a donkey ride
through fifteenth century Spain and ends up sprawled over an
unmade bed in Venice, broke and on the verge of another panic attack.

03: Slow Rinse…grab a bean-bag and some noise cancelling headphones, lie back and enjoy the trip!

04: Proxima…a couple of stargazing netballers gravitate towards
each other at a party in the desert beneath the Milky Way.

05: Chanhassen…an intimate eulogy to Prince...a three-minute song
written to someone you’ve admired for more than three decades.

06: Cassette Player…a seemingly indestructible five-dollar cassette supplies the soundtrack to an anthemic comedy of errors which engulfs a support band stuck on tour with some recalcitrant headliners during an Australian heat wave.

07: The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll…
written by Bob Dylan...an understated one take groove reminiscent
of the Black and Blue album by The Rolling Stones.

08: More Or Less… the album’s closing statement contains the line
that gives the album its title…inventive and cinematic,
the coda leads us to a major shift and to the microscopically detailed remains of an unfamiliar, post-sex, bedroom floor: ‘books that were popular, jeans and binoculars, were lying on his floor’. (T.McKenna)

credits

released March 1, 2019

Album - Tess McKenna - Before You Wandered In (2019)
All songs written by Tess McKenna (*except)
*Copyright Track 07: The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
written by Bob Dylan. Published by Special Rider Music
Produced by Tess McKenna and Roger Bergodaz.
Recorded and mixed by Roger Bergodaz
at Union Street Studio, Brunswick West, Australia
Musicians:
(all tracks)
Ashley Davies drums,
Karen Rush bass/vocals,
Tess McKenna vocals/guitars
Michael den Elzen guitars (tracks 1, 5 and 8)
Mastered by Amy Marie, Yes Master Studios, Nashville, Tennessee

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all rights reserved

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about

Tess McKenna Melbourne, Australia

Tess McKenna is an independent artist based in Melbourne, Australia.
Tess has performed her songs at festivals, concert halls and pubs across Australia and overseas, from the Byron Bay Blues Fest (NSW, AUS) to Austin’s SXSW (Texas, USA).
She has played guest supports for Lucinda Williams and Nick Cave
...for more info head to tessmckenna.com
... more

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