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Power Trip

by Chris Ballew

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noem
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noem Thank you bandcamp friends, for Chris Ballew. :D
A unique and lovely listen.
"Turn Into the Tree" reminds me of what I love about Chad VanGaalen, but something about Chris's music feels more rooted in the ground, sunnier, but also with a different kind of quirk with his background writing for a range of ages. I love it. Favorite track: Turn Into The Tree.
ehSteve
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ehSteve I just found out about Chris' solo outing, and as a long-time PotUSA fan, I purchased every album before even listening to a single one. I'm glad I did, because I still would have after listening to them. Thank you for your art. Favorite track: Save Me.
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1.
POWER TRIP I got a lightning bolt bouncing up and down in my head burning up all the fear and the tears and the dread poisonous parts that worked before being perverted no damage done that can not be reverted swallow my power trip and we will be forever connected tethered and swaddled we disinfect the newly infected I'm gonna run out of life like in an 80s arcade I was the thief in the family addicted in the video game I got low so I could get high I went blind so I could grow eyes I got tight so I could unwind I unplugged so light would be bright I'm loosing my power trip I'm loosing my power trip I'm loosing my power trip cutting the wires but the current can deliver a shock live down electric lines light up every house on the block I needed to be right like gravity needs a rocket now I am electrical hot like a fork in a socket
2.
GONNA GO HOME I am stuck in a shape I am stuck in a form a trap made out of clay a trap so smooth and warm I am an embryo I am a forming face I am not what I know I am not from this place I don't know when I'm gonna go home I don't know when I'm gonna go home I don't know when I'm gonna go home but when I do I'll surely let you know home is an empty sea all of the water gone home is an in between wake up and carry on home is a ticking bomb a clock upon the wall we are already gone I hear your signal call I am stuck in a shape I am stuck in a form a trap made out of clay a trap so smooth and warm I am an embryo I am a forming face I am not what I know I am not from this place home is an empty sea all of the water gone home is an in between wake up and carry on home is a ticking bomb a clock upon the wall we are already gone I hear your signal call
3.
TURN INTO THE TREE I feed love so fear will starve mark the time and carve a heart I was tall and I was twisted slowly like I never existed grown in dirt by father and mother roots held fast to one another plant the seeds and life will flower stillness is my super power day by day I'll turn into the tree living 'till I die so patiently nothing but a spacious vacancy day by day I'll turn into the tree love is flowing through my roots chop me down and cut me loose always here but not alone bark and wood not flesh and bone dreamed a dream 'till it came true branching out as it grew my old friends are here in spirit if I fell would they hear it?
4.
CRASHING WAVE I hear a bird sing with a broken beak I feel the floor falling out from under me I spread my wings at the edge of the roof I'm full of flaws I'm not shatterproof riding high on a crashing wave riding high on a crashing wave riding high on a wave my blind eye still tries to see the shore gasping for air I can't breathe anymore gone upside down I will search and find crawl through the dark not to be outshined been lost and found and then lost again crushed by that wave but I dive back in I feel the my pulse growing cool and slow I feel the love as the waves explode
5.
Save Me 03:17
SAVE ME when the cool of the ice is the thing that will burn me when the heat of the flame is the thing that will cool me when the story is real in a violent movie when I'm wiggling free into a cage that will hold me maybe the things that I'm good at make me selfish and lazy maybe the things that I'm bad at are the things that will save me save me when those eight inch heels twist and fracture my ankle when the promises atrophy and all end up in shambles when my life is electric and all I have is a candle when the mansion is empty and left to all of the vandals when the voices are muted they still flutter and drift when the soul is the peach and the self is the pits if I can't see the signs I'll be surprised by the cliff when my army's assembled I'll go and blow them them a kiss
6.
Dry Worm 02:51
DRY WORM I found a beautiful worm in a terrible state what a dehydrated invertebrate come on dry worm well the rain never came to moisten the coast and when the sun came out that worm was toast come on dry worm try to move just a little if you think that you can here's a drink of cool water from a puddle in my hand come on dry worm if you got no legs you can still do a dance but I don' think this worm stands a chance come on dry worm someday someday someday I'm gonna be a dry worm (on my death bed like you know I think I'd like to go out present I think) too happy to help too sad to cry I wanna moisturize this thirsty guy come on dry worm well the summer sun could not be more hot and I'm wishin' for the water that I have not got come on dry worm all the clouds in the desert all the wet in the sky I hope a storm will form and keep it alive come on dry worm that's it that's all nothing more to do I gotta keep on trukin' I'm thirsty too come on dry worm someday someday someday I'm gonna be a dry worm
7.
BROKE MY BRAIN then I wash away the dirt from all that matters then I slip and learn to fly then a ghost of me flickers by and scatters then I pass out and thank you 'cause you know you broke my brain then a lightening bolt splits the sky and shocks me then day and night combine then I wake up and there's nothing's left to stop me then I pass out and thank you 'cause you know you broke my brain don't wanna talk about how good I feel then the earthquake stops but I can feel the motion then a landslide takes it's time then a molten river hits the cooling ocean then I pass out and thank you 'cause you know you broke my brain then a phantom comes and hooks up my connection then I leave everything behind then I sense a sort of new wave of creation then I pass out and thank you 'cause you know you broke my brain don't wanna talk about how good I feel
8.
EMPTY BOAT 
 I'm alone in an empty boat skin and bones in an empty boat lost my body lost my brain pull the plug go down the drain drifting trapped inside of me on this self indulgent sea stars tell stories in the sky backwards at the speed of light outwardly my love still shines from the lighthouse in my mind broken leaking dreams inside my head that's ok I will soon be dead a fantasy of warm dry sand a fantasy of some dry land land land land some dry land land land land land land someday sure I'll reach the shore when myself is here no more but for now I'm wandering sinking in a sea of me the radio died two days ago I can hear the foghorn loud and low on the rocks I cease to care people stand on shore and simply stare
9.
Radiant Baby 03:24
RADIANT BABY she's a radiant baby warming everybody heart's an open flower when she shares her power she's a radiant baby loving every being feeling all the feelings seeing more than meaning she knows life's electrified before you feel it she knows the mind is like a flower when you feed it she's a radiant baby on a long warm swim fish live in the water call her nature's daughter she knows being born is lucky times a billion she knows life is just a doorway made of feelings she's a radiant baby born to light the void born to strike like lightning always new and beautifully bright and blinding she knows every cell is straining for a purpose she knows nothing of the fear that makes us nervous nothing of the fear that makes us nervous
10.
Memory Ball 03:24
MEMORY BALL suddenly I had all my memories rolled up in a ball all the short important ones all the silly ones laid out flat suddenly the rain beat on my windowsill first snowfall always marks a year photographs can't crash that's impossible tomorrow whispers in my ear I don't know if I could hold myself in a memory ball roll over me I don't know if I could hurt myself in a memory ball roll over me roll over me did ten thousand loads of laundry took twenty million little pills wore out six hundred pairs of brand new shoes I got a tattoo of a haircut present time smiles threatening my memory ball memory ball memory ball memory ball memory ball memory ball whoah roll over me I don't know if I could hold myself in a memory ball roll over me I don't know if I could hurt myself in a memory ball roll over me I don't know if I'll delete myself in a memory ball roll over me I do not know if I could loose myself in a memory ball
11.
CONNECTED FOREVER
 my left side is my right side my right side is my left side my inside is my outside my outside is my inside my light side is my dark side my dark side is my light side my up side is my down side my down side is my up side connected forever forever connected connected forever forever connected connected forever forever connected connected forever forever connected connected forever forever connected my low side is my high side my high side is my low side my cool side is my warm side my warm side is my cool side my good side is my bad side my bad side is my good side my loose side is my tight side my tight side is my loose side
12.
Busy Signal 03:52
BUSY SIGNAL used to hang on the telephone I could hear you breathe used to have to hang at home it was too risky to leave used to long for those long goodbyes they could take all night used to concentrate and picture your eyes we used to tie up the line now all I hear is a busy signal droning on and on now all we are is a busy signal the emptiness is gone my favorite sound was the one that you made when you had nothing to say my favorite space was the one that we made when we could not separate my favorite place was the kitchen at night locked in a land line chain my favorite memories are brittle and weak your ghost is all that remains (all I hear busy signal on and on and on miss you I miss you miss you I miss you)
13.
Meltdown 03:51
MELTDOWN I keep reacting to the pressure I did not mean to let it go so high it's better better better better in my head I'm gonna meltdown stay in bed I'm gonna meltdown stay in bed I'm gonna meltdown this world can be weird and vicious what I can't change I bury deep inside and I don't wanna let the needle hit the red I'm gonna meltdown stay in bed I'm gonna meltdown stay in bed I'm gonna meltdown I'm gonna meltdown down down down I was only sleeping when you bothered me now I am nowhere man the night before was long long long I've got a feeling it's all too much for me so I'm gonna meltdown you would have thought I'd learned my lesson all of that fallout would feel wrong wrong wrong no no no I'll do it again and again and again and again I'm gonna meltdown stay in bed I'm gonna meltdown stay in bed I'm gonna meltdown stay in bed I'm gonna meltdown down down down down
14.
SMILING AT THE SCAR I remember being kind of happy with the hurt broken hearted I decomposed and turned to dirt I remember I wishing I knew what I could say what a pleasure to feel the sting of yesterday now I am smiling at the scar now I am smiling at the scar now I am smiling at the scar these injuries (theses injuries) are invitations in disguise its all blurry (it's all blurry) misplaced years of happy times my body (my body) is always able to rewind my story (my story) is in the love I left behind

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released January 12, 2024

Written, recorded, performed and produced by Chris Ballew
Co-produced by Pete Droge and Mark Heberlein

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Chris Ballew Seattle, Washington

Chris Ballew is the songwriter and lead singer of the Seattle rock 'n' roll band The Presidents of the United States of America. For 10 years Chris made music for 0 to 5-year-olds and their parents as Caspar Babypants. Now chris makes fuzzy psychedelic meditative fun loopy music for grown-up brains to chill out and do tiny dances and take naps to. ... more

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