How the Dead Live

Track 4 (The Dead) MP3
Track 2 (The Witness) MP3

"In a town so small it barely had a name,
the fates weighed quiet anchor on the shore.
While ancient trees stood darkly in our way,
the tide went out". So begins Reynes' new CD "How the Dead Live" due for release in New Zealand in December this year, and in Germany in January 2009. The album was funded by the New Zealand Arts Council in aid of promoting the expression of New Zealands history in artistic form.

As part of the Wild Creations programme, Reyne journeyed to Karamea, where she spent her childhood, to research the stories of the pioneers. She came accross letter from one Susanna Hawes, one of the first women to arrive in New Zealand from Gravesend, London- on a ship called the Michealangelo. She arrived more than a hundred years before Reyne herself was born. At that time, there were less than 80 settlers in the town, whose only connection to other towns was by boat or by foot.

"Even history is surprised that she should be here
And her footprints look like questions in the sand
She looks at Death and wonders what he He'll give her
And the tide goes out again"

For Reyne, the isolation of the west coast is at once beautiful and frightening. Not so much has changed there since Susanna arrived. The planned road to Nelson was never made. The ships slowly stopped arriving at Karameas port and it remained an outpost until the few brave tourists began the treck there over the narrow road in the early 2000s.

"And duty takes my hand and wears me grey
while clouds make weightless exit over sea
With all the letters never sent, yours never came
And the tide goes out.
The tide goes out again"

Susannas life story was put together by Reyne from a mixture of records and musical licence. She uses farming machinery from the time as percussion on this mainly acoustic album which has a eerie and desolate feel to it. Dark and brooding and beautiful - like the west coast itself.

lyrics

From Gravesend

In a town so small it barely had a name
the fates weighed quiet anchor on the shore
while ancient trees stood darkly in our way
the tide went out.

Even history is surprised that she should be here
And her footprints look like questions in the sand
She looks at Death and wonders what he ll give her
And the tide goes out again

And duty takes my hand and wears me grey
while clouds make weightless exit over sea
With all the letters never sent, yours never came
And the tide goes out.
The tide goes out again.

Oo the smell of winter
Isn't one I used to know
Oo all the trees retain their colour
Even though
The endless rain
Should wash them through

The Dead

I'd pay the wind
To turn it off
You make an ice age
From a dry dock
Yeah I just sit here
And wait for steamers to sail

The quiet earth
Turns in its sleep
And mountains fall
Into the sea
And there is nothing else but
waiting. Waiting.

As history shook her tired head
I spoke with a man who was already dead
Through yellow clouds of nicotine
He waved dismissive hands at me
He said:
You don t know that you re nothing.

I don t like words that hint at pain
And I'm really only waiting.
But it feels like something.

Blood
[History talking to Susannah]

This is where the waiting stops and I get to move again.
Like the ribs of wrecks worn bare by sea, you will be forgotten

This is where the smell of blood on the air runs like music through me
And a thousand men will meet their deaths when I take them down with me

I wish you wouldn't wait Susannah, cos the ships don t ever come
Hope is something that will drive you twisted in the end

Now I get to steal the shattered stories from Boers  dead -
And mix them with the graves and names of lives so bravely wasted

This is where I laugh at gestures I never understood
How could you have let the quiet sink so deeply into you?

I don t have to wave Susannah, but I'll smile instead
Then I'll throw away your name and the names of all your kindred.

Jordan Reyne would like to acknowledge the film In My Fathers Den for lyrical content in the song "From Gravesend".