I recently discovered a husband and wife group that calls itself
The Handsome Family. Their music and lyrics are quite unlike anything you've ever heard, haunting and other-worldly.
You can listen to some of their songs
HERE. I particularly recommend "Tesla's Hotel Room" and "Weightless Again". Lyrics below.
TESLA'S HOTEL ROOM
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
where we sat holding hands
In half-darkened rooms
Nicola Tesla
In the hotel New Yorker
nursing sick pigeons
by the open window
dreamed of a death ray
To disintegrate matter
detected Morse code
From faraway planets
he couldn’t stand the touch
of hair or of skin
but stroked feathers gently
on trembling wings
and drew plans for a camera
To photograph thoughts
Vacuum tube lights
Wireless phones
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
Round bubbling test tubes
In half-darkened rooms
Edison and Westinghouse
in silk brocade
ate oysters Rockerfeller
with French champagne
But Tesla grew thin
eating only saltines
going days in his lab
Without any sleep
dreaming of god
as an X-ray beam
he was hit by a cab
while crossing the street
lying on his bedspread
he struggled to breathe
the light bulbs exploded
the air filled with wings
In the last days of wonder
When spirits still flew
Tesla vacated
his half-darkened room
WEIGHTLESS AGAIN
We stopped for coffee in the Redwood forest.
Giant dripping leaves.
Spoons of powdered cream.
I wanted to kiss you,
but wasn't sure how.
Like those indians lost in the rainforest,
forced to drag burning wood wherever they went.
They had all forgotten how to start a fire.
This is why people OD on pills and jump from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Anything to feel weightless again.
Those poor, lost indians
when the white men found them,
most died of TB; the rest went insane.
In our motel room you're drinking Slice and gin,
reading Moby Dick on the other bed.
Remember the first time we slept together?
You said it felt like when you learned to float.
This is why people OD on pills and jump from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Anything to feel weightless again.