anthony parks is a songwriter and sound programmer in the greater boston area. by day he works as an audio software test automation engineer, and at night he works on songs and sounds, working with software instruments and effects, drum machines, sampling and re-sampling, guitar, and voice. his music synthesizes post-punk, psychedelia, jazz and tropicalia, and electronica, making creative use of effects and emulations of old media like cassettes and vhs to resurrect the past. lyrically his work has tackled the tensions between reality and romanticism, emotion and reason, the past and the future.

magneto is a collection of home studio experiments. what does it sound like? while influenced by more polished sounding acts like AIR, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Stereolab, Elliott Smith, Ariel Pink...it is invariably a homemade and DIY sounding affair, sounding a bit more like 80s deathrock and more post punk sounding stuff like Robin Hitchcock or Julian Cope. theres even a little Morrissey vibe in some of the delivery.

artist statement:

overall, the lyrics are me figuring out how to live and compose outside my comfort zone. a few songs are attempts musically to be unbridled in sonic intensity, others are me not being afraid to be sad and confused without being ashamed of appearing sentimental. writing in particular has been a way to reconcile various cognitive dissonances in my waking and dreaming lives, affirm my commitment to loving in spite of the many intense bouts of growth and discomfort that i feel when showing my true self to others.

credits:
anthony parks - all songs, acoustic guitar, vocals, sampling, softsynths, vsts, ableton.

lyrics:

want to last

want to last
but im fading too fast
i dont want to be alone
thought i got it right
when i moved so slow
but you understand
how i wade in and out
somedays i am gone
my heart is trying to get stronger
thats right

my love burns anew
when the moon rises up
do you hear me through these walls?
i send these songs right up to you
because you showed me
there is more in store
for those who grow
and nothing aint set in stone

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magneto

magneto (x8)

as he makes his entrance
the world looks down their shells
he needs no shield around him
he's invulnerable as hell
suddenly he draws them in
has the crowd at his command
with the force of steel

well who decides who has the right
to magnetize the world away?
if you're satisfied well who am i...
when worlds collide
no telling what
material will reveal itself
is it his will to destroy?

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i want you (i know it)

we two seabirds walkin' on the water
summer's eve reflected in the moonlight
blue and white casted by the lamplight
paints the palette of this night

so serene this moment i could freeze in
time will tell what this love will bring
i dont care what as long as i have you
swear im not together as it seems

i want you
i know it
i want you to know
that i want you and i know it

salty breezes blowin' through the seasons
we endure by burying our heads in sandy beaches
world of our own making
love we share is reverie from the ticking
clock keeps turning in spit of our frequent
protests seem to not be quite effective
i am ready to keep moving
to discover what our love will bring us
what our love will bring us

---------------------------------------------

my total devotion

waited for years for her to come
now she's arrived and something's still wrong
i never knew i'd still feel this way
the promise of love comes with a side of pain

scent of the future hot on my brain
remembering yearnings i couldn't shake
you taught me patience when i had none
yet i keep searching on for the flame

you run the show
the circus comes out to play on my pillow
my total devotion
is light and shadow

---------------------------------------------

in my dreams

i've never found what lurks behind the sound
of an oft-repeating drums
maybe it's wrong
this long parade of doubts
i would stop it if i could
each time i place
this psychic barricade
flood, quake, the fire and the flames

she left town without a trace
the moon went down without her face
she left alone to start anew
i was left without a clue
in my dreams i'm very frightened
overcome with superstition
hope the past is not repeating
hope my feelings don't lose meaning

(how much it goes, run around, ready to roll)

i can't contain this circus in my brain
won't tame these clowns who want to play
ready or not, i sense they're losing power
reclaim, this world is ours to keep
society, my mind belongs to me
you won't have me anymore

------------------------------------------------

under the spell

so uptight i've been keeping it for a while
i don't know what piece remains of
innocence is fading off into the distance
so i've tried to remain like a steady light
but i see when i look down
my remains tumbling into an endless shadow

how can i feel so real again
when i'm under the spell of loving you?
summoning your strength, you conjure
why is it hard to wake while under the spell?

so it stands to be determined what will end up
will i return to the surface level
upon which i'll dive again into the cycle?
no more depression, no more depersonalization
i mean it in spite all prevention
i want my head on straight, right
no more, no more

--------------------------------------------------------

maps

when i was a walking
never too much talking to myself
so late into the afternoon
was i supposed to be having the time of my life?
nobody ever told me
you surely could've fooled me
there's no plan to follow
we make it (up) as we go along
and with a bucket of luck
you'll be alright

we'll find ourselves, eventually
or so we think often enough
'cause i know a boy who can't read maps
and he has taught me oh so much
in desperate attempts to find me
i failed to not become cliche
despite the red x in plain sight

when i was thinking
prob'ly was a drinkin'
by myself
so late into the afternoon
was i supposed to be having the time of my life?
succumbing to the pressures
wishing they would vanish
taking out the last days of my youth
like a candle burned out
without a scent or sight

--------------------------------------------------

in the cinema eye

relentless doubts
to mind them all for not
the tapes were running round
in the cinema eye
the spiral turned
delayed and feeding back
to reinforce the loop
in the cinema eye
descending down
and sleeping all the time
certain impending doom
the apocalypse now
to reprogram, to learn to analyze
the differences between

the sun was burning up
and darkness filled the sky
so was it with i
out of touch with reality
the circumstances of
genetic mutation
environment or chance?
a puppet of my chemistry?

------------------------------------

highway patrol

never turn your back on them
never know when they're looking for you
never know when they're out on the road
highway patrol, highway patrol

fever flashing red and blue
spotlights turned on you
pulled over on the side of the road
highway patrol, highway patrol

maybe i don't need to feel guilty after all
'cause i don't make the rules
breaking down these walls
maybe we don't need to feel guilty after all
whose kind of freedom are we truly fighting for?

---------------------------------

neon nod

in a foreign land, for all to see
the heads of state conspire secretly
i had suspected before, they swiftly showed me the door
they utter secrets from behind their masks

one hand provides the other
with the power to discover
in the name of new world
oh yes it's quite disruptive

they speculate on the fate of all
who would resist to justify their aims
how some had survived before
they won't exist anymore
their unrest met by the handheld tv