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.

You Will Eventually Be Forgotten

by Empire! Empire! (I Was a Lonely Estate)

supported by
brantly
brantly thumbnail
brantly emo schmeemo, this shit is stellar. Not as monumental as the first LP, or their laudable and steady stream of 7" singles, but once you adjust to the laconic songwriting, it's a damn good LP for late-night bourbon's, petting the cat and recalling regret.
Jack Burgess
Jack Burgess thumbnail
Jack Burgess This album rips at your insides and is perfect listening when you miss someone way too hard. Favorite track: Things Not Worth Fixing.
stephen darby
stephen darby thumbnail
stephen darby Wasn't a huge fan of their EP, but this is new and good. It's more "emo" than Mineral, and that is in no way an insult. This album rules. Favorite track: Ribbon.
Magnus Woods
Magnus Woods thumbnail
Magnus Woods Great album by a great band! Favorite track: It's So Much Darker When a Light Goes Out than It Would Have Been If It Had Never Shone.
more...
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $8 USD  or more

     

1.
Ribbon 02:04
I nearly lost you on our wedding day It was early afternoon, and you were leaving from lunch with your best friend when your vehicle careened into an SUV as it turned out in front of you, violently flinging you into the waiting airbag You were shaken and dazed, but otherwise ok and still determined to get married When I watched you walking down the aisle, you were glowing The scrapes and bruises only made you more beautiful
2.
I almost died at twenty-one In January, driving northbound on Abbott Rd the car in front of us slammed their brakes down hard and slid off onto the right-hand shoulder We were probably following too close, but I honestly can't remember We swerved into the turn lane and lost control when we hit a patch of black ice that would carry us right into the unavoidable path of a Saturn barreling south in the opposite direction My life did not flash before my eyes I was trying to steer the van anywhere else as time ground to a halt and froze Then exploded violently as metal collapsed into metal at a horrific speed There is always enough time to do the things you love (until it's gone)
3.
In the infancy of our relationship, when we were almost exclusively hanging out together with friends, Cathy and I went to St. John's Applefest It was held every fall in the parking lot of the Catholic church I had attended as a youth, converting the quarter-mile of parish grounds into a second-rate carnival full of cheap thrills and poorly-maintained rides We meandered through the crowds like tourists, eventually ending up at the pirate ship at the far end of the fair (A mechanical boat that rose into the sky, then swooped back down in the other direction like a swallow diving for insects) Cathy was nervous and began to fidget, refusing to get in line before our friends and I talked her into going When the ride started, any romantic idea I had of holding hands or an embrace was quickly abandoned when I saw the white-knuckled grip on the safety rail like she feared for her life
4.
A Keepsake 03:47
When I was eight or nine, I took a trip up north with my brother, my father and my uncle We woke up early and packed bagged lunches and cans of pop into a cooler, and drove to a canoe rental in Mesick We split up in two canoes I imagined us as Lewis and Clark, charting acres of unspoiled land as the Manistee opened up like a canvas We crawled at a slow, lazy pace and reached the landing as the sun began to slide behind the horizon, and pulled our boats ashore It was still warm and we were exhausted so we jumped into the water to cool off, as my uncle launched into a speech about the history of the Petoskey stone and how rare it would be to find any here Then he reached into the river bed and pulled one out on his very first try We spent the rest of our time trying to find another one but came up empty-handed
5.
I spent one week every summer at Camp Tapico
 for every year I was a Boy Scout

 The camp felt like an entire separate country,
 or as if the rest of the world had disappeared 
and we were the only ones left alive

 We traveled in packs
 We rode our bikes everywhere

 About ten or fifteen feet before we reached any destination, 
I would yell, "Dismount!" and we would
 swing our bodies over the frame in unison onto the left pedal
 and coast to a halt

 I felt like a grown up
 (or how I imagined one must feel)
 and I could mostly come and go as I pleased 

One summer, sirens blared out over the camp P.A. 
in a shrill and ugly tone with an infinite refrain 
that carried for miles and miles

 I had never heard that sound before 

Our counselors were panicked and told us 
to return to our campsites immediately 

My friend Nate and I mounted our bikes and sprinted home
 as branches fell all around us 

It felt like we were the leads in a video game
 and we were too caught up in it to understand we were in any real danger

 When we got back, everyone was huddled under the mess tent,
 except for Nate's brother and his friend,
 who were stuck in a rowboat in the middle of Grass Lake
 during the full brunt of the storm

 The adults had to hold Nate back from going out after him
 as the pair raced across the water like a glacier or a hawk 

We watched from the shore and didn't feel the pouring rain 
until long after they safely pulled in
6.
Stay Divided 03:09
My brother graduated college in spring,
 and we were both living back home in the town we were raised in
 for the summer

 One afternoon, we went swimming on the lake across the street
 with a couple of friends 
by the house where my roommate my freshman year grew up 

On a whim or a dare,
 we decided to see if we could try and flip his parent's 300 pound swim raft

 The four of us stood at each corner like they were the ends of the earth
 and began to rock the vessel back and forth 

It moved slow, as if it's body ached from old age
 then stood up like a skyscraper before crashing back to earth,
 scattering us like debris

 We plunged into the water like stones

 My brother and Dan surfaced first,
 and probably aged a year for every second
 before Pat and I came back up

 We couldn't flip it back over,
 so it just sat there like a turtle stuck on its shell
7.
Foxfire 02:16
I became an atheist the Junior year of my spring semester in college

 My friend from back home moved into our already crowded two bedroom apartment 
that now housed four
 (and five when Cathy would move in later that year) 

He was unyielding and used logic
 like a hammer or a martyr,
 and would hurl question after question across the four foot gap
 between his mattress and mine

 It absolved me of any last remaining doubt

 There was a certainty that finally settled in 
that had been torn open during my freshman year over a course in Cultural Anthropology

 I am comfortable knowing that this is it 
There is so much more beauty in a life that also has death
8.
After graduating from college,
 I moved back home to my parent's house in Fenton 

(It would be the first of three more separate stints)

 My brother helped get me a part-time job 
peddling paint at Sherwin-Williams 

The idea was to stay for a year and save up
 and plan for our wedding

 All of our friends had already moved away
 or were still off at school

 So it felt like a ghost town
 or defeat

 I was not a model employee 

I was frequently late and felt my education made me overqualified
 and that the job was far beneath me 

I reeked of youth!  I thought the world was owed me!

 Each morning, contractors would pour in like vultures on carrion
 and pick the store clean
9.
My three best friends and I planned a weeklong trip for our spring break during our senior year of high school 
We were untethered and free and grown 
We left before the sun rose and began the first leg to Virginia Beach for a couple of days 
before heading out to camp on the Outer Banks 
When we arrived, we spent the first night playing video games
 we brought from home in our hotel room 
In the morning, we ventured out into the world
 and wandered around until late at night
 like spectators or ghosts
 as artificial lights burned brighter than daylight The boardwalk was teeming with youth brashly claiming adulthood like it was the last day on earth 
We retreated back to our hotel, exhausted

 The phone in our room rang out at an ungodly hour
 (when only bad things are on the other end)

 I answered and gave it to Danny
 so he could hear his brother passed away 

He dropped the phone and bolted out into the hall,
 blind with grief

 We ran out after him, unsure of what to do

 He threw off our embrace and escaped down the stairs to the beach

 and haunted the shore of the Atlantic for hours and hours 

I waited and watched from a nearby park bench 

When he came back, we got into the car and drove the twelve hours back home
 and made it just in time for the funeral
10.
I was ten years old when my grandparents on my father's side celebrated the 50th anniversary of their marriage Our family piled into our tan '85 Aerostar (the same one that famously died on the way to my younger sister's dance recital when the entire drive shaft dropped out from underneath and shot like a torpedo down the open highway) and made the three hour climb to Cadillac There was a reception held at the local V.F.W. hall where my grandfather was a member I remember meeting a lot of strangers whose names or faces were either immediately lost or never registered at all, and how they would all tell us how excited they were to meet us Do you know how two trees can grow together and become like one? When my grandmother died, my grandfather died too It took two whole years to convince his body to let him go
11.
On New Year's Eve last December, I was out on tour playing a show at the Fire in Philadelphia while you were all alone at home (the only body occupying our lonely apartment) I watched the TV through the window from outside the bar and counted down the seconds to the new year with you over the phone But I couldn't kiss you at midnight I couldn't hold you in my arms The sound of your voice was weighted, like the way a branch heavy with snow bows down before it breaks Is this still worth putting our lives on hold for?

credits

released August 19, 2014

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Topshelf Records Portland, Oregon

A record label started in 2006 working with artists and people we love and believe in.

contact / help

Contact Topshelf Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like You Will Eventually Be Forgotten, you may also like: