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Modern Age

by Vanessa Peters

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1.
Modern Age 03:36
my favorite memories were made on grandma's porch I still look for it when I drive by, but it's not there anymore when she passed on they tore it down poured a ton of concrete in the ground and put up a giant box with fake hardwood floors 'cause a house without four bedrooms, there isn't room enough so build a new one twice as big and fill it up with stuff 'cause that's how it goes in today's modern age as soon as it's made, it gets thrown away we're operating at surge capacity and I really miss the way it used to be yeah, I really miss the way it used to be and I still remember when our phones would get turned off sometimes we'd just be unavailable after ten o'clock and it wasn't any kind of crime if every now and then you went offline and big brother wasn't always listenin' when you would talk now we check our phones and we check the news eighty-five times a day but I don't understand the draw; there's nothing good there anyway and that's how it goes in today's modern age as soon as it's made, it gets thrown away we're running on a drained battery and I really miss the way it used to be yeah, I really miss the way it used to be and I really miss the way it used to be
2.
the sky is just as gray as when it started and some things never change but I'm not so brokenhearted I can't rearrange these deck chairs one more time and I woke up this morning to find the world on fire but the burn was controlled and we all just went to work like it was fine like it was fine 'cause most of us are as happy as we wanna be oh what a curse, that I can never decide 'cause I've considered every possibility now if I could just make up my mind tell everyone what I'm worth punch above my weight stop being afraid listening for the crowd's roar and wondering where it's at take the bully straight down to the mat 'cause most of us are as happy as we wanna be oh what a curse, that I can never decide 'cause I've considered every possibility now if I could just make up my mind and I woke up this morning to find the world on fire but the burn was controlled and we all just went to work like it was fine like it was fine 'cause most of us are as happy as we wanna be oh what a curse, that I can never decide 'cause I've considered every possibility now if I could just make up my mind
3.
Crazymaker 03:45
been chewing on this bitter pill for so long but it's a jawbreaker well all that I did wrong was let myself get strung along it's too easy to make excuses for a faker but I do you the favor, forget your bad behavior we'll just chalk it up to my failure to see you were a crazymaker, a bomb about to crater I was looking for a savior, shame on me shame on me shame on me shame on me and I'm the easy thing you reach for when you need something to hold yes I know what's good for me I just pay no mind and time and time again it gets so old but I just do you the favor, forget your bad behavior we'll just chalk it up to my failure to see you were a crazymaker, a bomb about to crater I was looking for a savior, shame on me shame on me shame on me shame on me knowin' I've been taken for a ride but takin' the ride anyway what will happen when the bomb goes off? will I find another reason to stay? I do you the favor, forget your bad behavior we'll just chalk it up to my failure to see you were a crazymaker, a bomb about to crater I was looking for a savior, shame on me shame on me shame on me shame on me
4.
wasting all my time away sitting by the door waiting for the bell to ring and pray for something more the last time that you came to call I tried to explain the way you make me feel inside is making me insane reaching for the bottle to fill the empty glass nausea up inside of me I wait for it to pass you say you're coming back this way you won't say when you say you're coming back but I'm afraid to ask I'm afraid to ask I'm afraid and I'm watching headlights coming round the bend and I'm waiting for you to come around again and now come back to the valley of ashes to the valley of ashes you love me like an object addiction you won't quit you swear to me you cannot stop a sickness you can't fix and you can't live forever that's what I told myself I climbed into the taxi and turned into someone else turned into someone else turned into someone that's watching headlights coming round the bend and I'm waiting for you to come around again and come back to the valley of ashes to the valley of ashes to the valley of ashes
5.
born with a shirt on your back, born at third base acting like you hit a triple you've got a choir of yes men to sing all your praise I'm stuck here playing second fiddle if it were easy anyone would do it I've worked so hard to get this far but when it really gets right down to it the old boys are standing guard they cross their arms, the door is barred they're standing guard rolling stones uphill, tugging at my bootstraps I take a break, they crash back down trying to catch my breath, running on the treadmill I'm never covering new ground if it were easy anyone would do it I've worked so hard to get this far but when it really gets right down to it the old boys are standing guard they cross their arms in the schoolyard they're standing guard took my place up on the stage at the big event all alone in a crowd of men one of them looked me up and down and said -- I thought you were the hood ornament if it were easy anyone would do it but why's it gotta be so damn hard and when it really gets right down to it the old boys are standing guard they cross their arms, the door is barred the old boys are standing guard the old boys are standing guard
6.
I buried myself in sunshine I had to break through the clouds so I played happy pop songs and turned them up way too loud and yes I got a bit sunburned but it's a victory I earned so what else are we gonna do? we can't give up just 'cause the bastards won I'm going down with the ship and they'll say the band played on, the band played on the band played on and the band played on we should've sounded the alarm much sooner 'cause we held on too long thinking things were gonna turn a corner it looks like we were wrong 'cause we were seeing things for what they weren't and that's a lesson we gotta learn so what else are we gonna do? we can't give up just 'cause the bastards won I'm going down with the ship and they'll say the band played on and the band played on the band played on and the band played on the band played on and the band played on and I don't care if my back's against the wall I'm coming at 'em like a cannonball 'cause what else are we gonna do? we can't give up just 'cause the bastards won I'm going down with the ship and they'll say the band played on and the band played on the band played on and the band played on the band played on and the band played on the band played on and the band played....
7.
it feels good to push the bruise and realize it's gone it's just skin, there's nothing bleeding underneath nothing damaged or torn and I don't trust it yet but I stuck a toe out on the ice maybe coming back didn't make it crack it's clearer in hindsight that I was never really gone I carried it inside always afraid to lose what I had I came back to find that I was never really gone and I'll never forget the fortune that brought me on this path all the people I'd have never got to know if I had let fear turn me back and I left some signs along the road I traveled from here to there and back again and again and again maybe I left home, but in the end I was never really gone I carried it inside always afraid to lose what I had I came back to find that I was never really gone never really gone maybe I outgrew this place or maybe I just thought I did maybe I just needed to spread my wings and fly around a little bit 'cause I was never really gone I carried it inside always afraid to lose what I had I came back to find that I was never really gone never really gone never really gone
8.
I don’t need you to be apologetic I need you to be decisive and make the final cut you're not saving anything by giving it a softer landing no amount of pretty words can cover up the constant lo-hum buzzing of regret inside my ears it's got my balance all worn out and I’m tipping toward my fear 'cause we can't forget the things we've done and we can't forgive who we've become and the weight of this weighs a ton and it crushes us ‘til we are numb well maybe if I could have stuck the landing there'd have been a better chance for you to understand me but I’m unable to stop playing this in reverse and all the mistakes caught on tape only make it worse 'cause we can't forget the things we've done we can't forgive who we've become and the weight of this weighs a ton and it crushes us til we are numb so now that we broke free and dodged the bullet tell me why it’s so hard to just let go of it and we can't forget the things we've done we can't forgive who we've become and the weight of this, it weighs a ton and it crushes us... and we can't forget the things we've done we can't forgive who we've become and the weight of this, it weighs a ton and it crushes us til we are numb
9.
Yes 03:36
I'm so tired of smiling and saying yes of always being passed up when I was clearly next but I don't have the courage to put my anger to the test and I know that this ain't fair I've heard it all my life but that won't get me anywhere so I keep turning on the knife but I'm so tired of smiling and saying yes of always being passed up when I was clearly next but I don't have the courage to put my anger to the test and I know that I don't play all their silly games I just do it my own way but I'm angry all the same I just take it all in stride try not to quit the fight I keep my fists balled by my side and my lips pulled back real tight but I'm so tired of smiling and saying yes of always being passed up when I was clearly next but I don't have the courage to put my anger to the test and I'm so fucking tired of saying yes
10.
The Try 03:36
it's an uphill climb for our heroine the sun is setting, the air is growing thin and I can hear the cheers from all my friends from the safety of base camp but I don't know how everyone else carries on well I don't know what they have figured out and maybe it's not that hot, and we're not about to die and we could save ourselves if we'd gather up the try and avoidance of regret is what i'm working on a life lived without it, or to just move on to let it go and really, really mean it to open up my hands and free them for receiving but I don't know how everyone else carries on well I don't know what they have figured out well maybe it's not that hot, and we're not about to die and we could save ourselves if we'd gather up the try and the wound I carry tonight is heavy and it won't stop bleeding no matter how tightly I wrap it up it's always open, a constant needing but I don't know how everyone else carries on well I don't know what they have figured out and baby it's getting hot, but I'm not afraid to die and we could save ourselves if we'd gather up the try oh we could save ourselves if we'd gather up the try
11.
well get a hold of yourself 'cause the world isn't ending yet -- what about all that rain they forecast that never came? and get a hold of your fear 'cause it's the only thing that keeps you here just take a deep breath, and go outside! 'cause you've still got time as long as you're hearing this you've still got time to shake off your loneliness you've still got time to make your own happiness you've still.... you've still.... 'cause you can master your circumstance you're the one in control of drawing your every breath and choosing your starring role so get a hold of your feet and use them to carry you right into the street and do something you'd never do! 'cause you've still got time to patch up your brokenness you've still got time to fix what you haven't yet you've still got time as long as you're hearing this you've still.... 'cause you've still got time to shake off your loneliness you've still got time to make your own happiness you've still got time as long as you're hearing this you've still.... you've still got time!

about

Weaving thoughtful, introspective lyrics with irresistible melodies, Vanessa Peters has been releasing album after album of well-crafted folk/rock gems for more than a decade. She has played thousands of shows across the US and Europe and has recently opened for artists like Josh Rouse, 10,000 Maniacs, John Oates, Matthew Sweet, Mikaela Davis, and Lucette.

Peters's new album, Modern Age, presents 11 tracks of energetic, guitar-driven pop/rock. With recording plans thwarted by the 2020 pandemic, Vanessa decided instead to build on a series of demos recorded on the road in the Netherlands and Germany during her last tour. Vanessa and the band holed up in a farmhouse in Castiglion Fiorentino, the small town in Italy that Peters had once called home. Over the course of 10 days, the band worked to finish the songs they'd begun the year prior and to tackle the batch of new songs that Vanessa had written in the meantime.

Peters's previous album of original material, Foxhole Prayers, was a successful and critically-acclaimed folk/rock endeavour that put Peters on the national stage with a glowing 4-star MOJO review plus invitations to perform at NPR's Mountain Stage, 30A, and AmericanaFest. Foxhole Prayers was a deeply introspective album, very much in line with what reviewers and fans have come to expect from Peters.
Modern Age turns those expectations upside-down. From the opening power chords of the title track, it's obvious that this album is headed in a new direction: collaborating closely with her band brought a fresh, raucous energy to this collection that has rarely surfaced before outside of Peters's live shows. Songs like "Crazymaker" are rich with driving electric guitars atop 4-on-the-floor AC/DC-inspired drum beats, while the insistent, pulsing keyboards and angular guitar riffs on "Hood Ornament" call to mind bands like Spoon and LCD Soundsystem.

Yet despite the shimmery pop-rock packaging these songs are wrapped in, Peters doesn't shy away from pulling the lyrical punches she is known for. She's downright angry on "Yes," unleashing a tidal wave of frustration at being written off as a "chick singer." On "Make Up My Mind," she wrestles with indecision and self doubt, channeling 90s-era Smashing Pumpkins grunge, while "Never Really Gone" is a luminous, Fleetwood Mac-esque take on the joy of discovering that you can, in fact, go home again.

For years it's been too easy to casually lump Vanessa Peters into a kind of generic Americana category, when in reality her records have run the gamut from indie-pop to alt-country to experimental folk to 70s-era throwback singer/songwriter rock. But in Modern Age, she has stripped away all songwriterly pretense to build a modern/classic rock album that reveals a steely defiance. In the midst of a truly dark year, she and the band have conspired to make an album that is simultaneously powerful but playful; intense yet sensitive; both angry and hopeful. In Modern Age, we find Peters once again writing and delivering songs of exceptional lyrical and musical power, further cementing her reputation among the new generation of American songwriters.

credits

released April 23, 2021

Vanessa Peters: acoustic guitar, vocals
Federico Ciancabilla: electric guitar
Andrea Colicchia: bass guitar
Matteo Patrone: keyboards
Rip Rowan: Drums

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Idol Records Dallas, Texas

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