Anything Can Be Left Behind, by Michael Cormier-O'Leary

Anything Can Be Left Behind

by Michael Cormier-O'Leary

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Full Digital Discography

6

releases

Get all 6 Michael Cormier-O'Leary releases available on Bandcamp.

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Anything Can Be Left Behind, Heard From The Next Room, More Light!!, Brief Hold: Instrumentals Vol. 1, M-F, and Days Like Pearls. , and , .

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1.	Here Comes Spring 05:08	lyrics	buy track
Here comes spring There go joggers Glistening By the water Cold enough still To see their breath Rising up like smoke Here comes spring There go black birds Scavenging Through the dark woods Pecking like mad For grubs and worms And one unlucky mouse Here comes spring There go neighbors’ Ungloved hands Wielding scrapers Clearing their cars Of April snow That caught us all off guard Here comes spring Catching everyone off guard
2.	The Tyranny of Our Beating Hearts 04:13	lyrics	buy track
We fell in love Were you doing me a favor? Push came to shove Then you stayed out even later Were you lost, white dove? No sign of land? Looking from above On top of our tower of sand, I felt lonely but I felt grand A pillar of salt Shook by the tyranny of our beating hearts You up and split I combed violent dreams for meaning My therapist Said it’s only me I’m maiming Would I call it quits? It’s gonna hurt Getting over this Went sniffing for clues on your shirt Like a dog for bones in the dirt The hunt was for not Dug up the tyranny of our beating hearts Last time we spoke I cried into my Old Fashioned By the glowing Sixty four-inch flat screen playing Late-night TV shows ‘Cold Case’ re-runs We may never know The extent of the damage done Traps are laid out for everyone We fell for them all Fell for the tyranny of our beating hearts
3.	Impossible as a Postcard 02:35	lyrics	buy track
I see the town all lit up Parked atop the hill Pretty as a postcard And as impossible I see the bars at night The bile and the swill In flickering light The putrid and the ill I walk barefoot down Main St. A heel in either hand I hear a generator I hear an old brass band’s Undead processional A funeral for the damned Wailing until The night comes to an end In the park you tell me Forever and a day I feel it in my stomach I feel it in the way Your finger down my back Is lightning snapped awake A thunderous clap Preceded by the rain I watch you in moonlight Silhouette in frame Beneath the twisted oak trees Beside the crackling flame I see it all so bright Your beauty and your pain The whole of your life The well of everything
4.	Letter From Alan 01:59	lyrics	buy track
His letter said: “It’s your friend Alan Greetings amigo From Pamplona, Spain Didn’t run with the bulls If that’s what you’re thinkin’ I can get crazy But I’m not insane! Life here’s different Everything’s old and lived in You used to say ‘We could live anywhere and be okay’ How you been, man? Okay?” My letter said: “I miss you Alan! Been back in Lima Since after Mom’s wake First Lutheran caught fire At 14th and Lansing We set up lawn chairs In view of the blaze Life here’s the same A bit surreal and a little mundane You used to say You couldn’t wait to get out of this place It’s not bad though, It’s okay.”
5.	Anything Can Be Left Behind 04:54	lyrics	buy track
Grass-stained hands Milk mustache Cheap sunglasses Backwards hats Skating in the street Velcro shoes Everything to gain Nothing to lose Boy, Robert We got fat You have a kid I’ve never met Same age as we were When I moved When I cried and cried “What will we do?” Old house new house Red car white car Trees with pink flowers Trees with none at all Everything’s before us Surging and expanding Anything, Anything can be left behind Our shit jobs In those days You sold paper I spread mayo On sandwiches “Chips or Fries?” The tips were lousy That’s no surprise Sandy said You quit school IT training Sounded cool I was in Ohio Jumped around Made a lot of friends We’re elsewhere now Old house new house Blue car gray car Trees with red berries Trees with none at all Everything’s before us Surging and expanding Anything, Anything can be left behind I’m engaged To be wed Our apartment Fits a bed, A couch and TV Christmas lights Way too many books Not enough time We make plans How ‘bout you? Job still suck? Our’s do too We’re getting older Serious, Fixated on the news, Delirious Old house new house Green car black car Trees bending in the wind Trees getting blown over Everything’s before us Surging and expanding Anything, Anything can be left behind
6.	Obtain 04:00	lyrics	buy track
You own the house now The one you grew up in I say it’s got charm You say it fell to shit And anyway You need the cash No keys in the fake rock Or underneath the mat Your Mom changed the locks The time she caught your Dad Out with the girl From Auntie Anne’s Your brother rolls up In his green sedan Weed smoke and leather, Two of his bonehead friends Stare at your ass Honking the horn Start in on the kitchen Sanitize the sink Decades of neglect Are caked on everything Impossible To scrub off I label the boxes That you stole from work: Keep, donate, landfill, Old precious heirlooms, and burn. I’m trying to Help how I can Everything we want Becomes another thing we have Becomes extra weight to carry Becomes something else to move We were once as light as air We live and we obtain We live and we rapidly accumulate Then we buckle from the load We live and we obtain
7.	Hurricane Valentine 02:07	lyrics	buy track
You stormed out of the den And vanished mid-scream Stuffing cash in your pockets In the light of the street Your path of destruction Was raw and pristine Like the ice storm of ‘98 Met the drought of ‘03 When you came to town You took branches down Left the power lines Snapping on the ground Like a bad dream Sticks to the morning Hurricane Valentine Hurricane Valentine
8.	Newest Oldest Punk 03:31 video	lyrics	buy track
I’m aware Of my growing Limits As I stare At my third beer And gag Push past people on the stairwell clutching their Natty Bo’s My skin’s turning green I’m puking off the balcony I’m right back in it Though a little bit different The newest oldest punk at the show The newest oldest punk that you know I am wrecked By a glowing Tension Down my neck, Through my shoulders And spine Can I bum one while this band’s on? Maybe one more to go? They sound kinda good I’d be in there if I could But I’m right back at it Cutting through the static The newest oldest punk at the show The newest oldest punk that I know
9.	The Door 02:37	lyrics	buy track
I’d been holed up for most of my life Locked away unseen Until your axe came down, crashing through Was it the smoke billowing Or are you just all-knowing, Somehow able To sense life Stirring? Now we sit out on the porch I don’t hide much anymore The old hinges Will not be Put back on The door
10.	Old Mike 02:26	lyrics	buy track
Like an action flick We burn out quick Nothing lasts And nothing sticks Going out tonight Avengers V Popcorn bag And king-size Sprite Death-defying scenes Surprise ending People clap Excitedly A group of prepubescent Boys freak out over What we’d all seen. How was it so much better than Any of us thought possible? For one minute, I feel like the Old Mike For one minute, I feel like my old self For one minute And then it’s gone Our lives keep ending up redrawn Tying and untying knots Around and around

about

The idea of a persistent identity was percolating through Michael Cormier-O’Leary’s brain as he began writing his fourth full length album Anything Can Be Left Behind. As conditions change, relationships evolve, and surroundings adjust, what parts of identity are preserved and what parts aren't? The multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and member of Friendship and Hour didn’t have the answer, but these reflections propelled him into a kind of experiment: how much of a persistent self remains when we improvise, react purely in the present moment and contort our expectations? The result is a collection of songs that stretch across fact and fiction, coating the world in cartoonish color to offer a new perspective, away from the constraints of who we think we are.

Cormier-O’Leary founded Dear Life Records, where he released his debut solo albums Days Like Pearls and M-F in 2019 and More Light!! In 2021. They presented an artist steeped in textural dexterity, where unexpected melodic arrangements and clashing chords dance alongside stories of anxiety, apathy and existential thought. While these previous releases relied upon a more diaristic outlook, where Cormier-O’Leary searched through the pages to form some sort of self actuality, Anything Can Be Left Behind is steeped in exaggerated story. Navigating a move from Philadelphia to Maine, a new marriage and the unpredictability of self-employment, the album points towards ambiguity and improvisation, where the act of transition is celebrated by succumbing to its incongruous nature. By turning to fiction, Cormier-O’Leary is able to parse an unprecedented reality.

Take the distorted tones of “Obtain,” where jarring, expeditious guitar and mountainous percussion mimics the hairpin bend of clearing out a childhood home after a parent’s death––something Cormier-O’Leary has never actually experienced. “Doing it in fiction feels like a dress rehearsal,” he explains. “Trying to predict what can go wrong and what will be hardest.” The lyrics for “Obtain” were written on the train as he traveled to a winter rental home in Westport, MA for a three-day session with Lucas Knapp, Bradford Krieger, Frank Meadows, Erika Nininger, Sam Sonnega and Courtney Swain. Cormier-O’Leary had most of the songs of Anything Can Be Left Behind in his back pocket, but he didn’t share them with the band until the very beginning of the session. Much like the uncertainty of our every day, where something can gut-punch us right out of the blue, the intention was to figure it out in the moment, and write songs in real time.

Shedding the rigidity of structure or the confines of control, and embracing a playful, experimental approach gives Anything Can Be Left Behind a child-like, giddy glaze. Leading up to the session, Cormier-O’Leary had immersed himself in the work of Mary Margaret O’Hara, and her 1988 album Miss America. “I feel like she made an alien's version of pop music,” he says. “She creates these other worldly versions of each kind of genre.” O’Hara’s work urged Cormier-O’Leary to try anything, to test out every color in the box of crayons. “Why not go ahead?” he says. “There's still gonna be this scrap of persistent self waiting for you when you're done.”

The sonic world of Anything Can Be Left Behind teems with the vitality of open collaboration, and points towards a convivial outlook, where pop songs are created purely for the fun of it, and Cormier-O’Leary can make fun of himself through a compelling fabrication. The glittery, choir-like opener “Here Comes Spring” revels in the joy of warmer weather; the lo-fi gulf-and-western indie of “Letter From Alan” immerses itself in a sweet correspondence between two old friends and “Newest Oldest Punk” laughs at the absurdity of passing time and crappy show beer, that culminates in a frenzied, instrumental exasperation.

Anything Can Be Left Behind submerges itself in uneasiness, but Cormier-O’Leary’s endearing narration encourages a jovial, ever-curious attitude. The album’s ambling title track crafts a cinematic inventory of everyday monotony, as Cormier-O’Leary sings “Everything’s before us / Surging and expanding / Anything / Anything can be left behind.” While we can leave situations, people and places behind, what impression do we leave in our wake? The conclusion is irrelevant. Instead, Anything Can Be Left Behind highlights the nonsensical, goofiness of existence; our only constant is change, so we might as well lean into it.

- Sammy Maine

credits

released May 5, 2023

All songs written by MCO (BMI)

Personnel:
Michael Cormier-O’Leary - vox, guitar, percussion
Lucas Knapp - mix, synth, organ, bass, vox
Bradford Krieger - engineer, drums, lead guitar, vox
Frank Meadows - vox, bass (electric and upright), rhodes, organ
Erika Nininger - vox, rhodes, synth
Sam Sonnega - guitar solo on ‘The Door’
Courtney Swain - vox, organ, synth

Mastered by Heather Jones

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about

Michael Cormier-O'Leary Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

INQUIRIES: michael.cormier.oleary@gmail.com

songwriter
•
producer
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improviser
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drums in Friendship
•
compositions as Hour ... more

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