We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Circling

by Unwoman

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

    Also includes pdf of full lyric sheet & 4-panel digipack.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • USB Flash Drive + Digital Album

    Crystal USB with red LED and 8GB capacity. Shiny clear acrylic & brushed steel, laser-etched with Unwoman logos. Contains 24+ hours of Unwoman's music including Desire Paths, Uncovered thru Volume 7, Selected Songpoems, both regular & instrumental versions of four original albums, several other original and covers albums & EPs including Everything Is Awesome and Snuggle, the dark-ambient EP IDTWS, and bonus tracks not available anywhere else. Does not contain the newest subscription-only songs or anything that was up temporarily on bandcamp.

    Files are very high quality 320 kbps mp3s. If you would prefer FLAC files, please purchase my complete discography on here and arrange to pay $12 + shipping for the USB -- write orders@unmediated.net

    I don't ship anything outside the US.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Circling via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

      $50 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 35 Unwoman releases available on Bandcamp and save 75%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Music to Pine for Your Old Lady to, The Lemon Blossom, Desire Paths, Instrumentals: Of My Own Space and Time I Am Queen, Wallflower, Everything Is Awesome, Music to Snuggle Your Old Lady to, Uncovered Volume 7, and 27 more. , and , .

    Excludes subscriber-only releases.

    Purchasable with gift card

      $45.25 USD or more (75% OFF)

     

1.
We take another turn On piss-stained marble floors Outside the world burns The empire runs its course Yet here we are safe In long-abandoned halls We only have to wait Until the morning calls But will dawn come? Will we see it? Has the Earth stopped turning Or is the air just full of soot? There are flowering vines Winding their way around our hearts If we stand still Have we run out of time? Time is the one thing we can’t make But we can kill Dancing our only revolution Drinking our best solution There is dust here and danger and fear of discovery Trust among strangers protecting some mystery If we are are the saviors please tell me what we’re saving Lost in the labors of simply misbehaving Yes we have killed the cops in our heads, but what’s next? We're free or we're trapped, what does it matter if we're dead? Flowering vines, winding their way around our hearts We’ll run out out of time, if we continue to play our parts Yes we have killed the cops in our heads, but what’s next? We're perfectly free, but what have we left our children?
2.
Specimen 04:29
Specimen I am ripe, full, swollen You examine my body where it has fallen You have a habit to feed -- and this fruit Seems like the sweetest poison I am supine, passive, silent I long to be used used in the way I was meant Obscene fertility in casual beauty My blood spilled, my seeds spread This is the natural way I exist for you to evaluate Shat out or systematically bred Or carefully preserved but dead “My God!” I hear your voice, “such an unusual specimen” I am gutted, taxidermy-stuffed, mended, gutted again I am supine, passive, silent I’ve earned my place among men of science My likeness described by poets and painters The jewel of your collection Such an unusual specimen Gutted, stuffed, mended and gutted again To those of independent taste The height of fashion -- perfection!
3.
Lullaby 04:45
I can hear your voice whenever I want to But it’s not the same as when we were alone That night in the second bed they bought you Because you were the star and I was the girl backstage And you would sing to me The song that would have been a lullaby, a lullaby Till fingers to my mouth They reached in and pulled out such a sigh I can see your face whenever I want to, on glossy paper But once I really saw your eyes Through the windows of the windows of your soul Then all the oracles, they warned me not to prophesize So I went on a simple quest And there was no where I wanted yes But it was such a joy to know I have known you Better better better than they do Yes once you sang to me The song that would have been a lullaby, a lullaby But when it’s at your fingertips You don’t have to try
4.
Silence 05:08
I drive by your mother’s house Though she’s asleep, and you are out Two thousand, eight hundred and ninety eight miles away To be precise Just to smell that air again To feel nostalgia mixed with pain For the days when you were here And I would come when you’d call In a parallel world I am a much more lovable girl You’re reading me new pages from your great novel You’re holding my hand as if you need it But here, I only ever fell in love So I could play the game of Long-dead poets called genius As only men and suicides can be called So that when our bodies are Dust specks in the beams of unnamed stars The words I’ve assembled for you Will still exist I write songs for you but you don’t listen Worse than judgment, silence means indifference But someone will hear them So they will live forever Though you and I will never be young again I keep driving I keep writing I am circling I may never land
5.
I Could've Killed the King I awake in strong arms and soft sheets I lay in bed with the king I don’t know how I got here My head on his left shoulder, he’s still asleep When palace guards enter: “I’m a lover now, not an assassin,” I say They laugh, roll their eyes and walk away As if I were never a threat As if I couldn’t have done anything As if I couldn’t have killed the king I could’ve done something I could’ve killed the king My only hope was to seduce Poison hidden in my tooth, and I immune And I would play at helpless And never confess And I'd be rescued the damsel in distress But our hope that this kingdom Could’ve been all of ours seems a delusion And to be a royal concubine may be my best option He covers me with kisses, tells me what a lucky girl I am To use my only power to destroy Or to be power’s toy If I stay and pretend to love him Everything is tinged with disappointment Whether or not love is ever real I could’ve done something I could've killed the king
6.
Intertwined 04:56
Last night we slept with our fingers intertwined I’m in love in a city that will never be mine All our moves are impetuous But your spell was cast before we were us In the moment I’m head-over-heels with this And I promise I won’t mind missing it And I could hurry back, or try to stay Or I could trust nothing good ever gets away We walk on a warm night down your block Always with arms or eyes or lips locked We are the worst at hello and goodbye That heavy feeling -- tomorrow I fly And how can we sentimentalize The wind whips the tears out of our eyes
7.
The Sirens of Titan It's not that you loved too much It's that love alone is not enough I didn't set out to break your heart I wonder, why did I follow this far? We ate and drank the very finest Walked in gardens and sunned by the sea Scaled walls, danced till covered with sweat Found rapture in each other's bodies and yet I can't wait to be far away I can't wait to drop this façade The joke that I would want to tend to yet another lost boy Was I simply doing as I was told Loving you because you were around Once I was lured by the promise Your eyes across the distance Still photographs of statues You cry of the sky falling And the wolves at your heels You beg for comfort I can't give I myself am desperate to be loved I can't wait to be held, but not like this I asked you to tell me When you said you were reading it What you thought of the ending But you never did What's the point of even talking If we never dive in deep Why have I entered your orbit If I cannot land safely
8.
Civilized 05:10
If only we could live on hunger If only we could be sustained by being desired It wouldn’t be such a tragedy That you’re so goddamn civilized You haven’t used those eyes on me in years But I remember when you were wild So I am making peace with the emptiness, the hollowness, oh Because I refuse to fill it with lies Do I wish for the young rogue back I used to hope you would grow up I always knew you sort-of loved me But it would never be enough All the threads pulling on my heart, leading nowhere (Cut them) I don’t need their ties All the torches my hands strain to carry Drop them -- I don’t need their light
9.
I wasted so many years Seeing myself as no more than a prize Hoping someone could win me, lift me up Until I decided to climb Now it’s been lonely here Feeling so superior Thought I’d seen it all No one would induce me to fall "I choose to love this time for once With all of my intelligence" Those eyes, that smile, the signs All flashing yes, yes, yes Illuminate how much I was missing When I was mired in indifference Now this time, at least, my self-sabotage Is excessive hope I might get what I want If you return all the breaths you’ve stolen It won’t be for nothing that my heart was broken
10.
My many admirers bring me flowers But I spend my nights alone They promise me diamond rings I prefer to wear rhinestones It’s your light on my face Your carefully chosen hues You know the stories behind my words You know me far beyond my cues But the loneliest place is on this pedestal All these eyes upon me, and I just want you Limn me in pinks and golds and reds The colors of the flowers they send Bathe me in the softest warmth In this secret duet we perform I don’t need any more roses or rings But I need the stage like I air I lament the distance But you and I both need me here Are you just a beacon, or are you home? If you only asked me, I would go and come All the wants and shoulds and maybes Of my idiot heart are not what you want to hear Can you bear it one more time Illuminate the longing I feel
11.
We hear the beauty Over the sounds of industry All this technology Can't supplant humanity Abandoned factories our Fallow fields what will we sow They may have cities but We have something they can’t control We write past wrongs not to repent That is what we want to prevent We dream better worlds not to escape This is what want to create And there is no hope without hope We write past wrongs not to repent That is what we want to prevent We dream better worlds not to escape This is what want to create We have we have the power We have a responsibility We are the ones who see the Past and future brightly This is the tomorrow they warned us about But our eyes are open A vast network of roots and we are growing And there is no hope without hoping
12.
I'm in the land of sunlight And long, long shadows And I am listening To slow, sad echoes Pay no attention to lover death She has come to seduce you again Let us distract you with sex and violence They are your best friends She comes to you with promise of sunsets So sweetly she promises, but all she leaves are regrets It won't be a wake but a tidal wave of grief You don't think about that, you only want relief
13.
Bred for the Bounty Am I making up a breakdown For the art that is a symptom Breeding problems like rats For the bounty their tails fetch Parading my damage A perfectly cultivated wreck And all the voices begging “Let us have our beauty Sing no more of tragedy All your crises” There is real danger in this Because I can’t gain without risk I am queen of such fertile ground I can’t keep all the weeds out There is no way to keep it safe but I will harvest anyway And all the voices begging “Let us have our beauty Sing no more of tragedy Or your crises” And all the gods are saying “We don’t require an offering We just want you to sing We’ve had enough of martyrdom You can keep your head on Now we need you to be strong”
14.
The Treacherous Sea I can wash you off of me But I still smell of the treacherous sea Which threatens to transform me Into a creature I don’t want to be All wetness and slime, the color of a bruise All darkness and regret, the things that sailors lose The only one of my kind, alone on this island My only contacts the desperate and violent I still have this: If I can speak, someone will listen If I don’t lose my voice, I will find power again I can cut you out from inside But I could never regain my pride It was sunk in a deep dark cavern Only ancient reptiles can find I don’t recognize myself in the mirror But I am not lost, I am getting clearer I ask powers beyond me and all that they say is You have control. Use it. Keep it.
15.
Nightmares 04:14
Nightmares All I wanted was to be Heard over the crowd But I did not recognize My voice that loud Wishes come true with lies How can I rest when I must keep spinning To stay upright And is the best I can hope for Nightmares to fill my mind? I embody powerlessness: surprise, it saps my confidence Putting hopeless faith in the divine in the mundane Listen to everything at once -- you will know why I am going mad Crossed by my imagination -- my future darkly envisioned Now I am a cold and lonely queen Ruler of all I see Tired of my looking glass I climb the highest tree But I can’t take my eyes off the moon, still above me, distant Maybe she can teach how to balance madness and strength
16.
Hunger 07:51
I could warn you of my hunger Scare you further away But all I want is to circle your feet Listen, and obey How can we meet as equals When I am full of such destruction And you have mastered stillness and peace And claim no desire for disruption Must I dress as a lamb to get close to you? Will the creature I am ever know you?

about

Written between late 2012 - early 2014. Recipient of the 2015 Steampunk Chronicle Reader's Choice Award for Best Album of 2014 (and Best Solo Artist.) www.steampunkchronicle.com/SPCAwards/Winners2015/tabid/655/Default.aspx

credits

released July 24, 2014

Unwoman is Erica Mulkey
All music written, performed, engineered, and produced by Unwoman.
Photography by Audrey Penven
Digitally mastered by Da5id Din at Corrosive Audio
This album was funded by listeners like you.

license

tags

about

Unwoman San Francisco

Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Unwoman is a self-produced cellist-singer-songwriter. Layered with skillful cello, rich vocals, and electronically arranged beats, her solo music is a futuristic homage to her classical training. Unwoman has been featured at steampunk, goth, and sci-fi-related events all over North America and has collaborated with many notable acts. ... more

contact / help

Contact Unwoman

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Unwoman recommends:

If you like Unwoman, you may also like: