Thursday, February 14, 2013

Unnamed Song

The "Unnamed Song" was the result of what can be best described as "experimental strumming", the first song we ever wrote. For a while we tried to name it and it went through a phase where it was called "Rusty Memoir", but the lack of name reflects the aimless nameless quandary of a warrior without a war that the song is pretty much about... This version was produced by Varun Murali, of Swarathma.


Mixed and Mastered by Varun Murali of Swarathma
Lead Vocals and Lyrics: Manasi Saxena
Backing Vocals and Harmonies: Sruthi Vijayaraghavan

you turn out the light, you sing for the one
the one with whom you must part
you tune out the music, you tune our the world
you tune out the song in your heart

this world is singing a happy song
you shut it out, you don't sing along
you're tired of feeling like you don't belong
to this place, you pray

there's been a war you've lost it all
it's burning down to the earth
you've paid the price, a sacrifice,
you don't know what it was worth

this world is singing a happy song
you shut it out, you don't sing along
you're tired of feeling like you don't belong
to this place, you pray

take me away, to where it is safe
hear what i say, please
you cannot see, what i need to be
alone, wild and free, believe...

you've turned the lock, you've thrown the key
you don't want to hurt anymore
you're walking away, don't look back
as you walk out of that door

this world is singing a happy song
you shut it out, you don't sing along
you're tired of feeling like you don't belong
to this place, you pray

take me away, to where it is safe
hear what i say, please
you cannot see, what i need to be
alone, wild and free, believe...

take me away, to where it is safe
hear what i say, please
you cannot see, what i need to be
alone, wild and free, believe...

Monday, January 28, 2013

Voices (Sunday of Despair)

"Voices (Sunday of Despair)" is a song that has, over the years, been lost, found and utterly transformed. Three of these changes stand out as definitive. The first was the moment that the two parts of the song fit together, when the madness of the first part sort of melded with the melancholy of the second. The second moment was when the second part of the song became especially relevant to a friend of ours, who we have had the privilege of playing with many years ago - which has really shaped what the song means to us. And the third was with Varun Murali, who very fortunately pushed for a final rewrite and brought out the insanity within.

Mixed and Mastered by Varun Murali of Swarathma.
Lead Vocals: Sruthi Vijayaraghavan
Lyrics and Backing Vocals: Manasi Saxena

she can almost see
her long forgotten dream
there's the desert and the see
and madness in between

to the paradise she's looking for
there's another road
no one here will watch her go
to the land of snow... where she

fits perfectly
with the madness in between
the road to paradise
paved with her screams

it's a cold morning in a blue december, a sunday of despair
she stands alone and will not live to remember how the wind tugged on her hair
the snowflakes swirl around her as she closes her eyes and fall
the cold creeps over her bones and heart and she may as well be dead to all...

she'll die alone on this quiet morning, where no one will find her
there's no one here to watch her go, no one to remind her
the snowflakes fall around her soon there will be nothing there
on this cold morning in a blue december, a sunday of despair...

Monday, January 21, 2013

Broken Wings

Presenting the second song on our EP!

"Broken Wings" could be about many things, from being generally rebellious, to being extremely alone... it's about everything from incredible freedom to finding great strength in being broken. Some things in recent times remind us that there is strength in being just that, broken and vulnerable...just as the phoenix is never as powerful when it is most vulnerable, dying and being reborn at the same time. 

Mixed and Mastered by Varun Murali of Swarathma. 
Lead Vocals and Lyrics: Manasi Saxena'
Backing Vocals : Sruthi Vijayaraghavana


please forgive the faith i have in you
i don't really think you will be true, to my
far-fetched ideas and expectations
all these hopes are based on dreams based on you

please believe me i know i'm a fool
i know i am blinded to the cruel and real
honest father, i don't like her
i'm just watching, i'm only passing through
i am searching, i'm trying to be you

it's not a moment, i am not frozen in time
i'm not singing, i just talk in lousy rhyme
i can see my big crime

people forgive these simple words i know
i don't really have a place to go tonight
with my crazy notions, windswept motions
would you, please not send me back tonight?
just let me sink into your light..

it's not forever it is only a moment or two
i'm not waiting i am not singing for you
but i'll wait forever for you

wake up (wake up)
cos everything's changed
grow up (grow up)
so you are not estranged
there's a world that's waiting to be hidden (by the sun)
there's a life out there that has only (just begun)
i'm forsaken... ooh, i'm forsaken,
but i'm not the one on the highway

with broken wings that you don't know can fly
you have learnt to love the word goodbye
here's my unrealistic affirmation 
that i'm living when i'm soaring in the sky
that tears can make my broken wings fly

it's not a story it's a dream, that never was
i'm not sleeping, i am not awake because
i'm asleep in your arms tonight

it's not forever it is only a moment or two
i'm not waiting i am not singing for you
but i'll wait forever for you

Monday, January 14, 2013

04-12

Black Crayon is both proud and atrociously happy to release "04-12", the first song on our EP! 

About the song: "04-12" is a song about a relationship gone awry, out of sync, no longer "in rhyme" - and about saying goodbye. It is named so because that was a date when something happened that we can no longer talk about. And for all you curious souls, guess away, but stay content.

Mixed and Mastered by Varun Murali of Swarathma. 
Lead Vocals: Sruthi Vijayaraghavan
Backing Vocals and Lyrics: Manasi Saxena

and here's to lonely nights 
when i would fight the emptiness within
and to those tears i cried 
to fill that hollow nothingness inside

we must weep
for all those hours we couldn't sleep
and all that time that is now gone
and how we didn't move on

let's drink to our foresight 
of how we'de hurt and ache so we didn't try
and all those pleasant times 
of song and laughter it's passing us by

before our eyes 
though we've been far too blind to see
been quite scared you and me
to think of all eternity

the songs we wrote together
the ones we've known forever
are out of rhyme
and all those dreams now broken
so many words unspoken
so many times

it's time to say goodbye
to hold back tears and smile and let you go
like being hung out to dry 
all wet but getting drier... 

don't you know? it's alright
i'm not sad though i must cry
for all those times i've let you go
i wish that i could see you grow

Monday, May 23, 2011

Black Crayon and the Mumbling Revolution of the Monosyllabic Tongue

The songs posted below were recorded over December 2010, though they were written a long time before that. The lyrics were composed by Manasi, but the songs wouldn't have come to life without Sruthi, whose voice pretty much lends the depth and meaning to the songs and words. Sruthi and Manasi are, together, Black Crayon.

In December 2010, Black Crayon collaborated with other musicians, in a project called "Mumbling Revolution of the Monosyllabic Tongue", a project that involved:

  1. Sruthi Vijayaraghavan (Vocals, Rhythm Guitar)
  2. Navtez Singh (Lead/Bass/Rhythm Guitar)
  3. S.R.K. Raman (Lead/Bass Guitar)
  4. Deepan Dasgupta (Drums)
  5. Manasi Saxena (Vocals, Lyrics, Rhythm Guitar)

This project was located at the very end of a very, very narrow road, in Tarang Audio-Visual Record Studios, on Dimna Road, near Jamshedpur -- a fantastically obscure location which was haunted by these five young, spry and extremely enthusiastic people, stretching the imagination and patience of the owner and technicians of Tarang. What emerged from this has been linked (along with the Creative Commons Licenses) below.

Three covers were also recorded, and they can be found here: Black Crayon Youtube Channel

"Voices" - by the Mumbling Revolution of the Monosyllabic Tongue



01 Rusty Memoir by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Raman (lead guitar), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (backing vocals), Manasi (vocals and rhythm)
Creative Commons License
01 Rusty Memoir by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.


02 Your Easy Smile by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Navtez (bass), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (lead vocals), Manasi (backing vocals and rhythm guitar)
Creative Commons License
Your Easy Smile by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



03 Instrument to Your Bliss by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Raman (lead guitar), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (backing vocals), Manasi (vocals and rhythm guitar)
Creative Commons License
Instrument to Your Bliss by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



04 Unrequited by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Navtez (lead, rhythm, bass guitar), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (vocals), Manasi (backing vocals)
Creative Commons License
Unrequited by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



05 Broken Wings by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Raman (lead and bass guitar), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (backing vocals and rhythm guitar), Manasi (vocals)
Creative Commons License
Broken Wings by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



06 Voices by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Raman (lead guitar), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (vocals), Manasi (backing vocals and rhythm guitar)
Creative Commons License
Voices by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



07 Shattered Dreams by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Navtez (rhythm guitar, lead), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (vocals), Manasi (backing vocals, rhythm guitar, off key whistling)
Creative Commons License
Shattered Dreams by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



08 04-12 by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Navtez (lead guitar, bass), Deepan (drums), Sruthi (vocals), Manasi (backing vocals and rhythm guitar)
Creative Commons License
04-12 by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.



12 Hang On (Secret track!) by Black Crayon Thing
Credits: Manasi
Note: This track is purely raw, and was recorded more for the sake of recording. It needs a hell of a lot of backing and fine-tuning, but here it is anyway.
Creative Commons License
Hang On by Black Crayon (Sruthi Vijayaraghavan, Manasi Saxena) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.


All lyrics and music by Manasi. The guitar lead in all songs except "Shattered Dreams" by the lead guitarist specified, either Raman or Navtez.