Tangled Star

Tangled Star“something that ripples, radiates and blossoms amid a dressage of shimmering keys and softly burnt riff cascades which had us much in mind of Hefner shimmying with the Clientele at times.” – Losing Today

Distilling elements of indie rock and alt country married with Craig Hallsworth’s wonderful dust and liquor coated vocals and twisting lyrics, Tangled Star weaves their own magic place. Through the musics exultant shifts and wandering detours the band manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset.
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Discography

 

Let’s Adjourn To The Garden


June 2013

Let’s Adjourn To The Garden sees Craig Hallsworth’s Tangled Star project shift gears while continuing to distill the inimitable songcraft Hallsworth is so well known for. Let’s Adjourn To The Garden is, in typically contrarian fashion, their least bucolic offering yet, blending more driving power-pop flavours into their distinctive soup of song. Hallsworth’s wonderful dust-and-liquor-coated vocals and twisting lyrics combine with exultant shifts and melodic detours allowing the music to make once familiar territory somehow foreign and offset.

Tracks such as ‘Head In The Sand’ and ‘Hasn’t Made For Freedom’ streamline Tangled Star’s brilliant hooks and melodic turns into immediately addictive and electric slices of slow burn power-pop. ‘Attic Space Conversion #1’ exemplifies the band’s compositional and stylistic shifts even more, stitching rousing ramshackle rock with almost Doors’esque cosmic guitar pop. And there amidst the fuzz and driving drums lay some quiet gems in the beautifully stripped back, drumless guitar pop of ‘99% Ok’ and ‘Someone’s Walking’. Just when you think you have the album pegged, the final track ‘Theme’ takes a left turn employing sweeping synths and electronic percussion in some sort of beatific yet melancholic final postcard to the world.

That Time


June 2009

That Time sees Tangled Star at their most immediately accessible and deliciously hooky. Like a trapdoor spider hidden by a welcome doormat, the band lay an easy invitation to the unsuspecting listener, only to unleash a series of inimitable pop hooks and subtle detours. The EP typifies Tangled Star’s ability to craft songs that reveal fresh dimensions with each listen.

That Time features the stunning single ‘seabirdtown’. The track opens with the expansive open-air sound of Pink Floyd-style organs and spatial guitars before falling into an earthbound shuffle and a taste of a lush, full-band sound for Tangled Star. The song’s gradual build to a towering edifice of glowing overdriven guitar, droning organ and harmony vocals is topped off by an echoed guitar line that sketches glistening arcs in the stratosphere. The single is indicative of That Time’s strengths as a louder, more flowing version of the melodic, evocative spaces of Tangled Star’s twilight pop songs.

Our Man From Eden Hill


February 2008

Our Man in Eden Hill sees Tangled Star building on their wonderfully received debut outing through Hidden Shoal, It’s Now or Later. Musically the EP toys with the frayed edges of country, pop and indie, while in part infusing a sense of space and possibility familiar to fans of the classic Dark Side of the Moon. As with their debut EP, Our Man in Eden Hill’s surface often belies its musical and emotional interior. Through its gentle shifts and directed detours, the EP manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset. As chief songwriter and lyricist Craig Hallsworth explains,

“If these songs are simple, they are only apparently so. To me, they are only beginning to really work when they are able to express a space of becoming… There are strange warnings and advice, mysterious imperatives and entreaties… I see the lyrics as working for and against themselves, as well as for and against the music, generating a plane of momentary, shifting affective states. There is comic desperation folded into offhand profundity. There is something depressing and defeating suddenly transformed into a rare kind of pleasure and privilege. There are secrets with nothing to hide. There is one last chance after another…” – Craig Hallsworth

It’s Now Or Later


February 2007

It’s Now or Later charts a journey across once familiar land yet through its exultant shifts and wandering detours manages to make everything feel new again. The album’s title talks to the wonderful paradox that is infused within each song both musically and lyrically. This is the apathetic’s guide to caring too much.

Biography

In the late 90s, Outstation (Craig Hallsworth, guitars and singing; Jim Butterworth, bass; Jamie Hamilton, drums), a sonic monstrosity, began playing a lot of quiet tunes, and eventually turned into Tangled Star. Lorne Clements (Hammond Organ, Piano) became involved. Then Jamie Hamilton left, and was replaced by a drum machine, and Jim became its programmer.

The T-Star quietly went about its business for a few years in Jim’s back shed and in Lorne’s living room. They played only a handful of live shows, but recorded two albums with Alan Smith from Bergerk! Recordings – the self-titled debut, and It’s Now Or Later (to be released through Hidden Shoal Recordings November, 2006).

Craig Hallsworth:
Born 1964 in Collie South-West Western Australia – land that belongs to the Noongar People. Fatally infected with AM radio that plays constantly throughout childhood, in the house and in the car. Begins playing guitar and writing songs around 8 or 9 years of age. Magazines and records. Sitting alone in a room playing and singing into a cassette recorder. String of bands. Loses virginity after a gig at the Narrogin Hotel. Moves to Perth in the mid 80s upon completion of welding apprenticeship in the coal mines. Over next 15 years or so plays in The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, Tangled Star, as well as many solo performances and recordings. Currently writing an experimental book-length poem and playing in The Slow Beings.

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Lyrics

 

Let’s Adjourn To The Garden

Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth

 

Crazy Bit O’ Truth

so don’t build a stage so high
way up to the sky
and expect me to climb up there and play
like a dream it’s crashing down
way down to the ground
in the middle of the night I heard you leave
you can’t see where you’re going
who’s tugging at your sleeve
a sorcerer of death’s construction
baby you’re the last to know
hard won insights turn into throwaway lines
well dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world
then a cold calculating slob
meets a bitch with no illusions
atrocious pessimism
well I’ve never heard it called that before
maybe I’m the last to know
it’s not so wonderful anymore
so sorry children
life’s not beautiful anymore
your inheritance is grief
you might want to borrow a handkerchief
oh
so they say they’re searching for the one
whose signs are in disarray and fading now
so they say there are ten bottles of champagne
in the car but we can’t remember where
we parked it now
so they say they’re searching for the one
whose signs are in disarray and fading now
so I say I’m cool with it
I’m not trying to make the pieces fit
I got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye …

 

In Bed With The Averys

do you want to know what’s stronger than death
what always wakes up with wonderful breath
and do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction
and the facts of life put together?
out of focus autumn branches
rubbing against the sky
she’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger
he’s out catching a lady’s eye
the fricassee is burning
and you’re in bed with the Averys
ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh
in bed with the Averys
they’ll introduce you to Figaro
his friends call him Mike
then you’ll meet Susan and Lydia
what’s not to like?
there’s nothing they can’t study your face
and not hint at
nothing they won’t exactly deny
until your mind is reeling
coz something in this world wants to kill you
you have no defence
it gets in your head like the man said
it makes perfect sense
it’s black and white
it’s as clear as it can be
then somehow it’s incomprehensible
and you’re in bed with the Averys

 

Someone’s Walking

someone’s free and someone’s got it together
someone’s lost in someone’s head forever
someone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number
someone’s dreaming someone’s coming
someone’s passing someone’s staring
someone’s waiting someone’s walking home
someone’s turning away
someone’s just walking home
someone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen
someone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching
someone’s bad and someone must be joking
someone’s crying someone’s changing
someone’s begging someone’s smoking
someone’s searching someone’s walking home
someone’s running way
someone’s just walking home

 

Hasn’t Made For Freedom

it’s been all right for a change
but it hasn’t made for freedom
they’re hitting the bottle about it at least
you and I were restless dreamers
in another life
to tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus
and it feels like someone else’s life
and it’s all about capitalism
it’s been all right for a change
but it hasn’t made for freedom
as far as impulsive gestures go
taking your hand as we ride
gazing out the window
is right up there
with jumping off at a random stop
as if I’m being followed
and it’s all about patriotism
just another eerie dawn
I know what you mean
but how’re you gonna mean it all day?
oh yeah I know what you mean
but how’re you gonna make it pay?
just another spooky coffee break
takes a plant to understand your longing
and your pain
oh well I know what you mean
that doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane
it was all right for a change
but it didn’t make for freedom
it was the sun now it’s about to fall
it was just an optical illusion
and it wasn’t really there at all
don’t feel bad
and don’t get crushed in the rush
for the experimental poem
my guess is it’s about capitalism

 

Painted Days

painted days have found us
in some seaside town
with the blinds pulled down
lying low
supposing we mustn’t have died
at 27
we must have lived
oh we must have lived after all
painted doors have opened and closed
and packages have arrived
there’s something mysterious about it
but ours is not to reason why
ours is but to squeeze the stuff
out of a tube
until it’s all used up
painted whores have loved us
and worried about our health
when we didn’t deserve them at all
they never pushed us away
and the things we would say
were just the things we would say

 

Attic Space Conversion # 1

send a beam of light into the world
and pour the tea
all your heroes were so lost
without your penury
and you were just this skinny little girl
who dug the sound
audacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round
not everything with rings can be called hoop-la
and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Anastasia
are they with us or against us?
send a ray of hope into the night
and scrub the pan
keep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can
but to be more beautiful you have to concentrate
on the mystery
like a revolutionary becoming escaping
all the failed revolutions of history
hundreds of smiling people
rode the silver tinselled escalators
one was a soft metal killer
I remember I wasn’t feeling well
I want to lose you in the morning
in the deserted city
I want to lie down any place
and slowly forget your face
I want to explain all of this
but not if it takes all night
this darkness is not endless
only everyone you know
filling their pockets full
this darkness is not endless
only anyone who knows you
flying out for …

 

99% OK

it was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air
99% OK sounded better than only fair
but what about the darkness that spreads her wings
and what about the darkness that makes her sing
so what about the darkness that sips her wine
so what about the darkness that makes her shine
in a galaxy of faces
in love and out of line
the vandal and the valentine
forget that you and I were one
forget what’s wrong with having fun
here’s to the tears that burn
we’re never to return
don’t break a heart and drop a hat
they’ve got servants here for that
and though the names may change
a thief will call
just to bring back the crystal ball
don’t you feel like a weathervane
that’s never known the wind and rain
but even psychics make mistakes my dear
and bones point the way out of here
forget that you and I were one
forget the places in the sun
here’s to the tears that burn
we’re never to return
forget when you and I were one
those days were like shots from a gun
here’s to the tears that burn
we’re never to return
go find someone to park your car
and tell these dead men who you are

 

Head In The Sand

so dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore
listen to all my outlandish proposals
smile when you slip through the cracks
take an abyss for a walk and never look back
you’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day
how many mornings are fresh and new
and here you are wondering what to do
shall I go against all my principles for you
shall I draw a diagram or something?
how many nights do you feel like praying
but you never learned how to pray
how many nights do you feel like praying
but you wouldn’t know how to pray
like a rich man washing his hands
you had an hour to kill in the heat of the day
an hour to kill in the heat of the day
like a daughter of this holy land
but don’t sleep with the messenger you understand
the carotid artery is severed as planned
I can say I’m not burying my head in the sand
I can say I’m not burying my head in the sand

 

Theme

now the wind picks up
the door creaks I think my cup
is overflowing
a triumph of the human spirit
to wake at 7
and lie in bed until 11
bring me your altered states
and what exalts
and bring to me your heaven
don’t wait for the ironic undercut
nobody wants to wait for that today
for all anyone knows you really are
passionate and driven
you’d go all the way to the mountain
if only you could leave the room
now everything’s changing
it’s like gazing through a splotch
on the window
is anything behind everything
is it wrong to wonder
is it just to keep from going under?
embrace the worthless life
if it falls into your arms
let it reveal its charms
so slowly
you’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things
and I’ll go hungry analysing things
I might decide to take up the guitar
and there you are
let’s adjourn to the garden

Our Man In Eden Hill

Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth

 

tosleepingpeople

Don’t say goodnight to sleeping people
Tell your secret to sleeping people
Never wave from the platform to sleeping people
For all this may convey

Don’t hang on the sighs of sleeping people
Try to open the eyes of sleeping people
For that train is bound for sleeping people
Many miles away

There’s a naked stranger stranded in the light
Of the refrigerator in the dead of night
Too strung out for an epiphany
And a far-off whistle blowing

So don’t measure your dreams against sleeping people
Sing this song to sleeping people
Never paint the faces of sleeping people
By the light of the moon

Once I met a punk rock girl with psychic powers
She told me that I had a lot of work to do
That this would eventually provide me
With a wealth of some description
But she didn’t say
I’d give it all away
To sleeping people
To sleeping people
To sleeping people
To sleeping people

 

The Skaters

And it’s oh so pure I know
A chapeau of snow
So we melt away the hours
Come to in a pool on the floor

I no longer recall the song
But I can’t forget that introduction
There’s a name going around tonight
Taking women and men
Don’t you wonder how?
As if they want the same things

Lovers caught in a shower
Stepped out of a life
They no longer recall
What they expected to find here
What they dreamed of
What they hung on the wall
What they sang about
What they sang about
What they sang about

 

Sunny Day Losers #12 & 35

Courageous Cat lay around watching television
Everything was all about how he just didn’t scare and
Brother Ray and Miss Torso went out and got hammered in some dive
See them slumped on barstools
Their cowboy boots and long hair
Stanley and Oliver got divorced on a night in June
Beulah peeled a grape and shut up shop for the afternoon
Gilles Deleuze was flying over an unheard-of Paree
He never lost any sleep over the likes of you and me
Thin Lizzy laughed and turned her face away
Once upon a time in the underground
You knew more people than I’ll ever forget
We passed it back and forth
Perched upon that gentle mound
Oh we were feeling bad
About a sunny day
Because the land needs rain …

 

Turn Me

No one to lock the door
If it wasn’t for these tattoos
Wouldn’t get anything about me

Riding around’s the harder part
And the sweeping views
Someone has no sense of mystery

How could I always be on this side?
As if there’s everywhere to hide

From a glance before it’s lights out
Up ahead before it’s lights out
Show me again before it’s lights out

Tell me why
The blind eyes couldn’t turn me
Tell me why
The blind eyes couldn’t turn me

How could I always be on this side?
As if there’s nowhere left to hide

In this dream before it’s lights out
Steal you one before it’s lights out
Before it’s lights out
Before it’s lights out
Before it’s lights out
Before it’s lights out

The Waiter Is Deceased

Kids will play with a ball by the busy road
Who’s that shadow boxing under the streetlight?
My cousins Desley and Altina are coming to stay for awhile
Thanks for last night
If anything it wasn’t dark enough
It wasn’t dark enough

A conversation between the unheard and the unseen
When a world butts in

Audrey Hepburn was the last to sing Happy Birthday to JFK
Not Marilyn Monroe

Janet Leigh was the last to sing Chariot Choogle in the shower
But baby you know who you are

All the barnyard academics that never waste an emotion
Never waste an emotion
Never waste an emotion
Never waste an emotion

As the mist leaves no tip on the bright pink hill
So my body irons a shirt

Oh where is the city we loved that made us pay
So dearly for one small mistake

So we live and learn that there is always more to earn
That there is more in a foreign bank account

Can I pinch another beer oh lugubrious beauty?
Can no one else show me?
Can no one else show me?
Can no one else show me?

What is this thing called paparazzi?
What’s its shame? What’s its claim to fame?

Shall we leave you in the parking lot pushing coins into a slot?
It’s no crime take your time

But the news travels fast that the secret of a man is nothing
In truth nothing at all

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Licensing

Tangled Star’s music is  available for licensing (master & sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please contact us with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.

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