Ivory Circle is an indie-alternative band, started by singer-songwriter Connie Hong, who uses whimsical melodies to create an environment for the listener that is both intimate and universally relatable. Mixing heartfelt and story-like lyrics with her uniquely expressive vocal style, and with the help of producer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Beeble, Ivory Circle draws comparisons to artists like Regina Spektor, Florence and the Machine, and Sufjan Stevens.
Lyrics:
I close my eyes and the world is so dark and so heavy I open my eyes and I see that I was not ready For the smoke through the floorboards and the fire that began to start For the shapes of the figures and the towering weight of my heart CHORUS We will run as the temperature climbs Fall to the other side We will fight, fight for our lives But to fly, we must open our eyes With a rush to the door, the earth slips out from underneath her So weightless she feels and unsteady for the child was not with her Hurry, she calls, before the fear settles into the part Of the girl whos aware of how much she must trust with her heart CHORUS We run past the trails, past the signs Past the posts, past the line of revival of hope Past the black, orange, red of the looming, glimmering light Lies beneath us, around us, surrounds us in the night Here are the words, here are the songs we could not remember The tune is the light is the light is the color of ember, of emberLyrics:
Tell it to me slow Find the breath you need to make The choice whose life to take Or heart you want to break I wont hear the words Baby, wont you say goodnight Why dont you pick up the phone Tell me youre home so I can sleep tonight Instead I just lie awake and dream Suddenly in-between the life you want and the one you cant erase And I, Im fraying at the seams Trying to keep a grasp on what we have as you can just watch it all decay CHORUS And I dont hear the right doors open for the light You wont guide the way, You wont guide the way Is it worth the fight if we dont make it through the night You let it slip away, You let it slip away And here we are It doesnt feel like its the end But we are strangers once again So close and yet so far I want to hear the words Baby, wont you say hello Look me in the eyes and tell me that you want me and me alone I guess its only in my dreams I never want to be someone who stands in front of where you want to be And I hope that you could see that you were always free to go Im not the one who wanted you to leave CHORUS And I dont hear the right doors open for the light You wont guide the way, You wont guide the way Is it worth the fight if we dont make it through the night You let it slip away You let me slip awayLyrics:
Lets play a game on this patterned swing Where our lives are buried in fortune and fame Lets say that blame is nothing but a tired scheme And theyve shot us to death Theyve shot us to death But were still alive And the night is where we left it And the starting line is where weve found our chance to survive Second lives and now were back to the beginning CHORUS And we will laugh, we will cry Send our torches to the sky Where hearts linger and sorrows will drown with the night We will fly, we will see with our eyes That there is so much more to this pain Were on the mend But were tired of struggling to find purchase to climb To the top of the lonely peak Where weve stepped on each other only to be King of a hill that no one can see Impatiently wanting everything But one faulty step and were back to the beginning CHORUS And we feel that theres so much more to this feelingLyrics:
I fall apart in my head in this space All of the life is in my suitcase Lonely I wander in this place but I find a way To bet on the wires Bet on the cold hopes of our ship to unfold And stamp out the waters, useless desires All of it with our stories untold CHORUS: This is me holding on This is me holding on Bound to the certainties Comfort I just cant leave Do I trust your ways Bound to desires of the life I never wanted anyway And all that Im asking for is an opportunity to escape But all I have found is the lack of courage not to stay CHORUS Past the breaking point Past the breaking point Past the breaking point Lonely I wander past the breaking point Unpack my suitcase Lonely I wander past the breaking point Dream of a new placeLyrics:
You can see my branches on the ground You can hear the voices, bitter sounds You can feel the dirt underneath your feet Its gone and made a mess of me PRE-?CHORUS: Swallow your pride Be strong Dont follow the tide Its wrong to fight against a beating heart Its only hardest at the start CHORUS: All I want is for you to put me back together Put me back together All I want is for you to put me back together Put me back together Can you feel my last trace of my acclaim Has fallen with my fight to be known by my name Can you see that Im not strong, I am weak Can you tell that Im not who I was made to be PRE-?CHORUS (I cant, I cant, I cant) CHORUS And all I want... Wrap your arms around the scars Around the tears Around the reasons why were scared of who we are Around our faults Around our dreams Around the pieces of ourselves that have been torn apart Weve been torn apart All I want is for you to put me back together Put me back together All I want is for you to put me back together Put me back togetherLyrics:
I close my eyes and the world is so dark and so heavy I open my eyes and I see that I was not ready For the smoke through the floorboards and the fire that began to start For the shapes of the figures and the towering weight of my heart CHORUS We will run as the temperature climbs Fall to the other side We will fight, fight for our lives But to fly, we must open our eyes With a rush to the door, the earth slips out from underneath her So weightless she feels and unsteady for the child was not with her Hurry, she calls, before the fear settles into the part Of the girl whos aware of how much she must trust with her heart CHORUS We run past the trails, past the signs Past the posts, past the line of revival of hope Past the black, orange, red of the looming, glimmering light Lies beneath us, around us, surrounds us in the night Here are the words, here are the songs we could not remember The tune is the light is the light is the color of ember, of emberLyrics:
I am invisible but so is the wind that cuts through the air and freezes our veins That cuts through the storms, blinds us with dust, moves us to fear and fights us to change No way have a begun to lay down my rights to say you have already won My weapons are drawn, heavy with silence for the ground we walk on CHORUS Breathe Breathe fire into my lungs Well be ready, dangerous The chosen ones So, will I hear the bells toll when the days are marked for the young and the old Will I be the hero to come to break through the hurricane to break back the sun to you Ready to beat the drum Set off a warning sound for us Dangerous as the ones wholl never let go, never let up Ready to beat the drum I will be the oneLyrics:
Isnt this the part where I watch you walk away Or is this the part where I run after you and beg you to stay But then you looked at me and said you just knew I didnt agree when you told me it wasnt me, it was you Say it to me, say it to me, say it to me that Im the one you choose I could be the one to leave but right now my feet are glued Maybe Ill be, maybe Ill be, maybe Ill be wiser, youll see But cant you see that Ive got nothing left to lose So baby... CHORUS Never let me go, never let me go, dont ever let me go (Until you can tell me you dont want me anymore) x4 What did you do to make me, oh, so confused I guess its romantic how I feel so much like a fool Maybe I should have stood my ground while you drew the line But I guess its more romantic to watch you leave me behind Say it to me, say it to me, say it to me that Im the one you knew Would come along to make you feel ready to move Maybe Ill be, maybe Ill be, maybe Ill be the one to make you see Because at the end of the day I want nothing else but you CHORUS [instrumental] Dont ever let me go (Till you can tell me you dont want me anymore)Lyrics:
You should know I wouldnt trade a second of what little time we had But I wonder how my youth had come and gone It came and went so fast Dont stop, dont wait I wouldnt hesitate to do it all over again But I cant help but think about the mistakes I never got to begin I could look back behind me and see it all as wasted time And for the sake of a life yours was worth so much more than mine And for the hours we lost I dont know how I could ever leave you behind I had a dream that I could find a way to see you through the stars I chased the moon only to realize how truly far apart we are Dont stop, dont wait I wouldnt hesitate to do it all over again But I cant help but think about the way I didnt want any of this to happen I could look back behind me and see it all as wasted time And for the sake of a life yours was worth so much more than mine And for the hours we lost I dont know how I could ever leave you behind But I dont even know anymore And I dont even know what for I dont even know anymoreLyrics:
Hold me in deep within the skin that Im showing Fighting back Fighting back the fear, the fear of not knowing The scars on my face, they wont heal And I cannot erase the clouds or conceal how much I wanted to feel something new We could be in love, in love We could be in love, in love Follow me to the darkest places And suddenly, the light starts to chase us down the street To where we would first meet The stars slowly fall away and you were counting the seasons too Were fighting back the urge to see the possibility We could be in love, in love We could be in love, in love Love, love, love (What are you so afraid of?) Love, love, love What are you so afraid of? Maybe the clouds will never part and you Will never see the side of me thats too Buried in between the hearts of who have never seen That we could be in love We will never be in love I will never be in love Will I ever be enough We could be in love Love We could be in love We could be in love We could be, we could be, we could be, we could be in love We could be, we could be, we could be , we could be in loveLyrics:
Heavy feet and tired eyes look back on the wreckage we have stumbled upon We dare not speak a word of this for we have found our lips were sealed before our hands were bound Have we been here before To a time we were unsure How we could forget something so loud Of a memory haunting us before We set foot on a ground where our names were lost and found We can spill paint on our graves But people can still read what they say, what we have done We can throw hammers to the stones But the pieces on our own are too heavy to carry out of this town So let's just go now CHORUS And the fate of the world may be that we'll all disintegrate like Autumn leaves And the fate of our souls may see something bigger, something bigger than the air we breathe So let's move towards the exit sign And leave all traces of those bodies behind Let's hope for the candlelight to be all we need for what we may find Is it too soon to forget When our sleeves are dark with blood, shed from our shame and lust We dare not speak a word of this For our fathers may shake their heads, turn away from us And we've been here before Time and time again we're sure We can forget something so loud Of a memory haunting us before We set foot on a ground where our names were lost and found CHORUS We can spill paint on our graves But people can still read what they say, what we have done We can throw hammers to the stones But the pieces on our own are too heavy to carry out of this townLyrics:
When you're afraid to close your eyes For what might happen when the earth stops moving for a second When you're afraid you might go blind To what might happen when you're not there to keep him safe CHORUS Insomnia Please be kind It's all right Insomnia If you don't mind Stay a little while When you're afraid to turn away For what might happen if I'm not there to catch a fall When you're afraid to dry your eyes For what might happen if the tears would never come again at all CHORUS If I should die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take If you should die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take If I should die before I wake, I pray to God my soul to take If you should die before I wake, I pray I pray I prayLyrics:
So she sold a bit of her soul to know Everything the Lord had promised her but she was too impatient for A bit of a dream she couldn't wait to see But it cost her everything, even the world Where were the ones she thought she knew The shoulders turn at the sight of who Drank from the cup, the witches brew But they were thirsty too I know the noose is tightening Plastic faces smile at me Watching my feet so carefully So certain I'll fall away from you CHORUS Oh, what has become of us The best and the worst of us No different from the rest Oh, I know what I've done But what have you become When you're not hungry for the truth Even though she had waited for A sign to open up the door I tried to find And here in spite of all the things we try to hide It's not just the way we live It's how we survive How do I face the room I'm in There is a fight stirring within I am the unnamed, the un-appointed hero of it all The blame of the sinners is all we need To take the fall of a dying breed All so that the world can see they must be above it all CHORUS And although to the end we must go We will never know how we will die They sink their teeth behind apologies I can't live on sympathies but I'm still aliveLyrics:
Overwhelmed by places I cannot erase the memory of our fall Oh, but its a time to recognize my saints But Im not waking up at all Pray over my head Fill up on the bread Its all that I have to give while you may violently repent For something I said But I never asked for a second chance Just for this one to be a life I wont resent CHORUS I see faces and colors That long for each other But I cant live in the palm of your hand Sisters and Brothers Look out for each other For who wants to be misled Oh... Open wide our stances For the silent dances are not just for us to be redeemed Every breath we take is overturned By our intentions of getting to where we want to be Pray over my head That I may be well fed That we may discover love before were old And before our deathbed May we be protected from dangers and lies in the stories we have been told CHORUS I see faces and colors Love one anotherLyrics:
I could count the reasons Ive had Like the stars Ill never ever run out of them But our nights are numbered and Ive fed myself with every list of why I should turn around But I know Ill know better when all my chances have just slipped away But my shaking fingers cannot turn the handle When I dont know the forecast beyond today CHORUS And I try And I try And I try to let it go But Im not so rational Can I find Can I find Can I find a ray of hope That somehow, someday Ill find a way I go weak when I think of how you might wonder what I am wondering But still my tongue finds it hard to speak And so I find myself fumbling For words to tell you that you should know what Im feeling Before its much too late Still Ive had my share of opening empty cases And the broken piece is telling me love can wait CHORUS All my, all my questions have just piled up high trying to make my case that All my, all my fears have been answered and Ive only got myself to blame that Oh my, oh my hands are shaking Oh my, oh my But Im awake and Oh my, oh my Heart is racing Oh my Please say that Im not too lateLyrics:
This is a quiet prayer for the ones who we have lost And the ones weve yet to lose but are gone We long for unbridled joy in the moments we have shared the same air We breathe with you CHORUS Move on with love Move on for me Move on for love Move on Say the word and I will follow you until the earth is no longer beneath the footsteps I have made And I will miss you until the air is gone from my lungs and the thumping in my chest goes away CHORUS Hope, I will wear you like a ring Sometimes its the only comforting thing Hope, I will wear you when Im wondering When time will take away this beautiful sting CHORUS I will hold on to a picture of you there For now, its as close as I can get to youLyrics:
So do I throw it all away or just accept that Im shattered All for a heavy price to pay to realize it never mattered What choice do I make except every single step I take No vow did I mean to break Why indecision is so hard to fake CHORUS Youre fading out Youre fading out Rising vapor clouds out of reach I tried so hard to be someone my father would love finally Oh, but captivity makes a caged bird look out longingly CHORUS Where were you when I was falling Where were you when I was calling out for help You never showed Where were you when I was bleeding When my proof of hope was fleeing out the door And left me all aloneLyrics:
Lets play a game on this patterned swing Where our lives are buried in fortune and fame Lets say that blame is nothing but a tired scheme And theyve shot us to death Theyve shot us to death But were still alive And the night is where we left it And the starting line is where weve found our chance to survive Second lives and now were back to the beginning CHORUS And we will laugh, we will cry Send our torches to the sky Where hearts linger and sorrows will drown with the night We will fly, we will see with our eyes That there is so much more to this pain Were on the mend But were tired of struggling to find purchase to climb To the top of the lonely peak Where weve stepped on each other only to be King of a hill that no one can see Impatiently wanting everything But one faulty step and were back to the beginning CHORUS And we feel that theres so much more to this feeling