June 12, 2018: Children of Pripyat (Demo).

Our band put together a couple demos last year to attract a potential drummer. For one of the songs I wrote, "Children of Pripyat," I recently added the lyrics in captions over a photo backdrop and uploaded onto youtube.  I wrote this song nearly a decade ago, and now that I'm in a band I have a chance to have it performed. 

The song waxes metaphoric about nature retaking the old abandoned areas in the zone of exclusion around Chernobyl. Some of the photos taken in the areas around Pripyat are absolutely haunting.  (not unlike some parts of Detroit!)  I'll also post the lyrics below the image.

The lovely Lena Vardy is our singer. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCehm... Tom Oritt on guitar, Andres Villamil on bass, Dan Goldfedder on drums (but not on the demo) and myself on keys. Our band is Left Blank. We'll be performing around Philadelphia soon!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2cl66PCqlI

Pripyat: busted bumper cars


LYRICS:

[Verse 1]

Ghosting through bleak landscapes, 
nothing but empty buildings. 
Roads cracked, split and torn, 
nothing but debris around me. 



Passing by empty homes, 
passing through empty schools. 
Not one child playing near, 
not one soul living here.


[Chorus]

City's dead, but not forgotten. 
Nothing moving, 'cept the wind. 
Always ever reaching skyward, 
children swaying silently. 

City's dead, but not forgotten. 
Nothing moving, 'cept the wind. 
Climbing up through the rubble, 
children dancing in the dust. 


[Verse2]

Stalking like a ghostly shadow, 
down these broken streets. 
Kickin' up dust as I go, 
The eerie silence, deafening. 


Walking through this broken city, 
eyes always gazing upward. 
Seeing arms reaching skyward, 
clawing up through the dust. 


[Chorus]

[Verse3]

(spoken/whispered:) 
Wind blowing up the dust, 
leaves shaking next to rust. 
The hands of children waving, 
silently as I pass by. 

 

Ghosting through these shattered ruins, 
while all about me singing, 
the voices of children making, 
songs silent and deafening.

[Chorus 2X]