Emperor Norton, by Emperor Norton

Emperor Norton

by Emperor Norton

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Carl F. Green The guitarist is obviously influenced by Steve Howe. There's even a quote of a little musical riff from Close to the Edge in Empress, which makes me smile. But please don't get the impression that they are some sort of Yes copycat. Not at all. Emperor Norton very much have their own sound. I find that one of the common downfalls for modern prog bands is vocals that can't rise to the level of the music. I am happy to say that that is not the case here. The vocalist has a distinctive sound with tons of power, at times approaching operatic. I'm really looking forward to hearing more from this band. Favorite track: Act III: Arrow.

theoctavedoctor I love this album for the great songwriting and awesome musicianship

distant planet Excellent debut from York based prog rock band. Unique and almost operatic vox from Matthew Corry, lift this to new level. Some homage to Yes. Favorite track: Act III: Arrow.

Robert Cameron check this album out guys,it's delightful prog.

Slipperman_ Lovely offering from this band. The only thing I can complain is that I would love some extra 10 minutes of music...and a booklet with lyrics :). But buy it. Top-notch performances from all envolved, with the occasional Yes nod in the mix :) Favorite track: Act III: Arrow.

more...

	Act III: Arrow 00:00 / 15:39

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Physical Album - Emperor Norton
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1.	Act I: Portents 03:39		buy track
2.	Act I: Petrichor 06:23	lyrics	buy track
Look at me; your eyes are drifting to the floor… Show me the worst things in your heart, but beat a bit more. So, have we reached a point of bliss? Or of sin? Drops of redemption pierce my skin. Wings be your guide, but they’re made not of feathers but pills Icarus flies, for this modern day Lazaran thrill. Is that what you need? Is that what you need? Look at me once more, Never end this dawn; it’s Coming as a watercolour Painting our descent. Look at me, your soul In this midnight smoulders, Lustrous as an ember In the midst of a squall. In petrichor… In petrichor… These cheeks beneath the waterfall, I’m left infused with petrichor. If that’s what you need, Then cut to stem the bleed. Suture all this rust… Preserve these signs of us. As you cast yourself in this sunrise And seal away your amber fate, A fragment of a roman wind Might blow a different way And love might win, if you let it in. Look at me once more, Never end this dawn; it’s Coming as a watercolour Painting our descent. Look at me, your soul In this midnight smoulders, Lustrous as an ember In the midst of a squall. In petrichor… In petrichor… These cheeks beneath the waterfall, I’m left infused with petrichor.
3.	Act II: Travails 05:00	lyrics	buy track
Spake the seraph that these seeds do cast our page: Hewn from wood this paper music echoes age. Grown as a sapling in this mind to write the tale, And left, in the sun to dry the page. We sing shanties to ashes told by bards of fickle aim lest be the words wasted, drowned in sea and sail. Hear this lie, oh, as I the sentence cast As words, on the sea to judge this fallen writer’s mast. Yet love, I have earned myself this love… Through my cowardice forged love… As the zealot often does: I consign myself to rust. Travail these winds, that gust my soul through As a wisp, my broken language apt for this: To rake my fallen mind like this, The truth will out but not forgive. My understanding be too thin, Within this mind a coward sits; If all my words do fly amiss Then pray that thee might yet forgive. Pretence past, I give thee all: This coward, chronicled.
4.	Act II: Empress 03:58	lyrics	buy track
She stands, her face against the stars, Seven thousand candles all around her, but their light is nothing next to her. They say, the sun shines at her pace, little knowing of the nebulas inside, The raging orbits of her mind. Oh Empress, Empress, Empress, Empress please! Oh Empress, Empress, Empress, Empress please! Somehow the Empress expressed an interest expressly in me. Now, our hearts beneath the stars, she bequeathed on me a Name befitting of my station next to her. She stands in moonlit poverty, this blood rite elegy It binds us in ambition, in romance, in starlit poetry. She moves away from me. These nebulas, just frame, the glory of her frame. These candles in the night just illuminate her face. Oh Empress and I, our ambition is our grace. There’s a tyrant in us both. We are ruled by gold and brimstone: Touch thy Midas to my soul… Novas firing in our hearts, we are children in amongst the stars, Monarchs of ambition to these ancient lands outcast. This burning life of ours, we reclaim our names From solitary minds, the ones now running out of time. Crowned within the light of stars, up above, our half-lives Yet to become whole, and we as monarchs yet to make our home, Children with ambition yet to find ourselves a land to call our own.
5.	Act III: Arrow 15:39	lyrics	buy track
* Arrow of the Age * I… I think I’m lost in here… In this blind machination of my id… And I ran for years, ‘long these streets of empathy bright Lit by fire, or desire, I can’t tell which. These moans have I heard for the longest time, They decry all this motion from the pages of my life, oh, As they turn through the years. I’m cleft in two, each mind imbued With half of a man. I atone. Ambition still burns in both parts, for this name that I chose; As an arrow of the age I have fallen at the close. Now time, my cage, doth own me - Oh, these violent skies will throw me back… Was I enough? Was I enough? Was I enough? What was I? One day I’ll be whole. Oh, one day I’ll be whole. Oh, one day I’ll be whole. Oh, one day I’ll be whole. * The Mind of Norton * Hark, betimes my eyes awaken shame, this chasm of my making. Oh, foretold my parchment wavers Aged, like I. As dawn breaks, paper burns, oh I burn. Oh, aspire to forge an amber throne Yet built my castle: wood and gold, my Rubble heart aflame as sunset coal, I burn… Oh I burn. * Aira Force * Am I? Am I to this ancient land, outcast? Stake I my life here; this burning life, my last. Made here, reclaim here this name, I know as mine: I be, incomplete, yet my old eyes guide me; this hearth be my home. Am I? Am I to this ancient land, outcast? Stake I my life here; this burning life, my last. Made here, reclaim here this name, I know as mine: Oh, be known, half-life of mine… Know this, I know this; of solitary mind Half-life or no, I’ll make known this name of mine. Torn I may be, though my cause may yet be right Claim this truth: I’m worthy of life: Be this my land; find me crowned within its light. Be this my land; find me crowned within its light. Be this my land; find me crowned within its light.

about

The debut record from British prog band Emperor Norton.

credits

released March 17, 2018

Matthew Corry - Vocals
Scott Neumann - Guitars
Marc Green - Keyboards
James Kulmer - Bass
Joe Rees-Jones - Drums

Written and produced by Emperor Norton, lyrics by Matthew Corry.

Recorded mainly 1st-3rd and 8th-10th December ’17, with the odd bit thereafter.
Recorded and mixed by Marc Green and Joe Rees-Jones.

Additional vocal recording and mixing by Matthew Corry.
Mastered by Andrew Chadwick.
Art and sleeve design by Christopher Bennigsen.

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Emperor Norton York, UK

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