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Dark Hearts Can Radiate White Light

by The Mark Inside

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1.
I can see them circling Under the water They're getting closer I back myself against the hull They pick me clean Leave me with nothing The heavens hang high over me Feeling no envy Watching this ending I see the teeth and try to scream Where is Van Helsing To kill these demons? No flag to wave no last goodbyes The curtains calling The trumpets sounding Poseidon comes to take me down To the locker Where I'm going I can see them circling Under the water The circles closing I watch in horror the rolling eyes Oh how their teeth gleam Here comes the feeding
2.
Away from everything the view from buildings show I'm high above the scene scratching through my clothes The net is thrown at undertones that bring the world to me Flying so high and sweet With heavy wings that fan But you've got it man, the joke's right here, the master plan And that's just it, you see I quit Either way it is just how it is Try to look past the piss and shit And see the sun where it does shine Hiding behind the blinking skyline alright Pieces on the board inside the universal gist of it You clean yourself the best you can And stagger through the rest of this shit I find myself at loss for wording that could show As generations go and what is left you know You lucid dream and still can't shake the beast of reasoning Like knots tied in your brain that needs some severing But on with the show Don't drop the ball, scream at the globe Don't break the spell or kill the ride You see suspense and riptides occupy my mind and knock me down by clothesline Watching you as I break down my mind and chew right through all my ties Stabbing at my sense of pride you hurl down this here pipeline Catch me at some other time I'll see you all on the other side
3.
I wish I knew Everything about you If I did I'd hold true And release it As it is I'm stuck in shit Staring in at your door frame taped in We all change Day to day At least we think we do Can't start over again As the blood sinks in To the bed that you did lie in I can't stand the clocks That roar with hands Away from your separating Another lamplight Another day end Harming the walls of the beating And what it is to live is to know you'll die And not to stave off the end (If you were here I'd hope you'd say) All in all, it's been a good time And I'd still choose to get high Don't feel bad, for things I'll never have You don't understand what that means I don't hate, I don't bleed Life is more than what you see It's who you are and what you do And where you are pointing
4.
Dead Heart 02:24
Anywhere you go or what you do My dead heart and I can follow through Surface once again when you've got the blues My dead heart and I got nothin' to lose And the choices that you've made are taunting you Things that you thought were dead are haunting you But my dead heart and I got nothing to lose Treat an open window like an open door My jaw dropped down and shattered on the floor My eyes popped out and my brain blew a fuse But my dead heart and I had nothing to lose And the choices that you've made are taunting you Things that you thought were dead are haunting you But my dead heart and I got nothing to lose Nothing to lose
5.
Thunder clap flashing lights Shocks you back to control Now there's death in your eyes And regret in your soul But it's exactly as you planned Because you just couldn't stand Your answer to hold your head in the sand But it will only let you see what in defense you believe How can you not see You're just a flash in the plan Punch clock shooting you down With bottles lining the walls So I can perch near the ceiling And can't believe this is all Isolated alone With too much time on my hands Detecting a glass house stone throw Wings descend from on high Stalling blood through my heart Don't want to remain Just a flash in the plan Apocalyptic cattle prod From the guide that's absurd But you follow their word With your head in a trough Great carcass in the sky Is the sum of rot dreams And I have learned to hate The greasy sheen of us beings Upright and shitting the bed Soul escape when I'm dead Don't want to believe I'm just a flash in the plan
6.
The Heat 03:50
Maybe I've imagined what's really there The forecast the beeline and that deep seated stare That comes and hits me square Even though I know it must be wrong to feel this way I know that I'm hanging on Castrate the minutes of every day So I can hold on to every second of the pain And you in my veins Even though I know it must be wrong to feel this way I know that I'm hanging on And I can feel the heat I can feel the heat heat It's burning up inside of me I can feel it coming off of you Like a dragon breathing on to me Like the sweat pouring off of you I can feel the heat Yeah I can feel the heat heat I can feel the heat You know it's wrong but I can feel the heat's on Stringing me along but I can see what's going on Divide me wide and break me right open Lead me to the source of honey dripping thighs You know it's wrong but I can feel the heat's on
7.
Can't stop at all Street light stumble into dawn We are caught in cross hairs As we brace ourselves in this millennium Coming of age at the end of days At the end of days And I---- I can feel the end of time Am I---- Nothing but a lemming march into line Coming of age at the end of days At the end of days We all just shut our mouths and masturbate until It all goes away You come on out of houses just to realize You're still locked in, in a cage Coming of age at the end of days At the end of days
8.
Balloons 06:34
The mannequin she passes the torch And her world goes dark of course No light sinks in to plastic Anything that you drop trickles down I'm doing the best that I can As the bird flies it touches your ears And the violence made it perfectly clear But you don't believe it's in you Anything that you drop trickles down I'm doing the best that I can I am gonna let go of the strings That are holding down balloons Like so many nightmare dreams Don't toss that coin, don't put it in doubt If you need a hand gimme a shout Until shadows can't follow Anything that you drop trickles down I'm doing the best that I can Oh me oh my I'm so far from home Let me head into my dreams all alone Where the whole world is with me Anything that you drop trickles down I'm doing the best I can I am going to let go of the strings That are holding down balloons Like so many nightmare dreams

about

In late January of 2012, The Mark Inside convened at singer/guitarist Chris Levoir's cavernous and run-down loft space at 652A College St. in Toronto. Chris and his roommates were facing imminent eviction: the space was probably only semi-legal to begin with, and the landlord was planning major renovations.

A plot had been hatched: assemble every relevant piece of recording equipment in our possession, set up the drums in the warehouse-like middle room, guitar amps in the adjacent bedrooms, and channel more than a decade of recording experience into making our band's third LP, the follow-up to 2011's Nothing To Admit. After many frustrating years spent in label & music industry purgatory, we'd decided to take matters into our own hands and record our music with the same fire and urgency with which it was written and performed.

The recording sessions were almost derailed after the first take, on the very first day. We knew from the beginning that we were running the risk of pissing off the neighbours; sure enough, the moment drummer Reade Ollivier's cymbals stopped ringing, there was an insistent knock on the door. Apparently, the customers at the cafe below couldn't hear themselves speak, and we were told to stop. We laughed and apologized, but were genuinely worried that our plans were dead in the water. Chris, however, very calmly suggested that we break for an hour, and then he would go down and speak to the cafe owners. He must have worked that strange charm of his to perfection, because he came back up with a smile and a nod. We were good to go: we'd simply started too early, interfering with the cafe's lunch rush.

Recording continued almost daily for the next few weeks (working title at the time: Exile On College Street). Reade finished all of his drum tracks, 18 songs in total, after the second day (playing through a very painful thumb injury, to boot), with Chris and bassist/vocalist Geoff Bennett playing ghost tracks along with him to ensure the songs retained a live feeling. Reade's work speaks for itself: he plays with a musicality and controlled fury that brought out the best in our songwriting. From there, Chris and guitarist/vocalist Gus Harris dutifully dialed in their alternately filthy and beautiful guitar sounds and set to work meticulously adding layers of melody and noise. After it was discovered that there were intonation problems with Geoff's bass guitar, he came back a few days later, picked up a borrowed bass, and re-recorded his parts on all 18 tracks in one evening; business first, and the beers were getting warm.

While there was a palpable sense among the four of us that we were creating some of the best work of our illustrious career, the sessions were infused with an unsettled poignancy and a haunted quality. Chris' roommate and friend, Daniel, had passed away quite suddenly in his bedroom a month prior. We were all deeply affected by Daniel's death, particularly Chris. He used music as therapy and catharsis, and immediately wrote the Dark Hearts track "Don't Wake Daniel" in tribute. The sense of anguish and urgency that permeated all of his performances was audibly amplified and refocused. Most of Chris' vocal tracks were recorded, at his insistence, by candlelight in the room where Daniel had died. This could certainly be read as a questionably morbid move, but it was simply a genuine gesture of tribute and cathartic release for his fallen friend. The proof was in the digital pudding: those throat-shredding screams Chris was known for were downright terrifying on some takes.

Chris was the Mark Inside's lyricist and voice, and with Dark Hearts he continued to expand on the themes he'd been working with for over 10 years: fear mixed with bravery, victory after defeat, pain and pleasure, love, sex and music. All with an eye toward simple human behaviour, extracting the profound from the mundane. He used to say that he didn't have it in him to write a happy song, though his energy, particularly while performing, was generally boundless. He certainly found personal joy in all music, regardless of its subject matter.

Musically, Dark Hearts Can Radiate White Light is the sound of the Mark Inside at the peak of their powers. The addition of Reade behind the drums brought a powerfully fierce and nimble backbone to the songs we were writing; Chris' and Gus' guitar work is as beautifully snarling and intertwined as ever, and Geoff's bass sails along underneath it all with measured intensity and secret hooks. While a lot of our music has come from improvising and texturizing over simple two- or three-chord progressions, the past few years have seen a much heavier emphasis on songcraft and arrangement. Dark Hearts tracks like "Whatever Doesn't Kill You Can Still Leave You Crippled" and "Balloons" are almost exclusively focused on melody, structure and hooks, without sacrificing the meaningful lyrical prowess to which Chris had dedicated himself from day one.

Needless to say, there are dark and tragically ironic parallels between the recording of Dark Hearts Can Radiate White Light and the sudden, shocking and untimely death of our best friend and bandmate, Chris Levoir, on June 1st. However, he was immensely proud of this record, warts and all. We're all proud of it, and we hope you enjoy it.

credits

released July 4, 2013

Dark Hearts Can Radiate White Light

All music by The Mark Inside
Lyrics by Chris Levoir

Produced by: The Mark Inside
Engineered by: Adam Fujiki
Mixed by: Alphonse Alixander Lanza III at Parkdalian Sound Space
Mastered by: Milan Julius Schramek at Lacquer Channel

Recorded at 652A College St., Toronto (January - February 2012)
Additional recording by Chris Levoir at Horny Goat Studios & Gus Harris at Golden Egg Studios

Listen, enjoy, remember.

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The Mark Inside Toronto, Ontario

The Mark Inside is dead. Long live The Mark Inside.

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