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Paint No Devils

by Robert Cherry

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1.
MORE DARK THAN LIGHT I remember everything But I can't connect the feeling When it all came to an end I'm finally ready to begin Without you to color what I am It was more dark than light I can leave it all behind See the world with new eyes We were happy for awhile Until I hung my world on your smile And the sky came falling in I'm finally ready to begin Without you to color what I am It was more dark than light I can leave it all behind See the world with new eyes I can leave it all behind See the world with new eyes Start again start again I'm finally ready to begin Start again start again I'm finally ready to begin Without you to color what I am It was more dark than light I can leave it all behind See the world with new eyes
2.
YOUR ABSENCE FILLS EVERY ROOM A life so close to mine How'd I get so far behind I couldn't for my life say What happened in yours to take it away So near the golden dream Only seventeen Don't idealize your fate A trigger pulled you away from us all I have your eyes I'll wear your life I know I'll carry the weight for you Your absence fills every room I heard the story goes Another young life closed But you're standing in my sleep Saying it's all right it's not the pain that we keep I have your eyes I'll wear your life I know I'll carry the weight for you Your absence fills every room Your absence fills every room
3.
PAINT NO DEVILS I think you know Where you ought to be Inside my heart Lying next to me 'Cause we're two of a kind Twin sides of a coin Wherever you turn I feel you near me When I'm alone The night comes over me I paint no devils On the wall in front of me 'Cause they just might appear If I grow insecure While waiting on word Of your arrival 'Cause we're two of a kind Twin sides of a coin Wherever you turn I feel you near me Tell me that you want me my love Tell me that you need me my love I'm tired of lying awake all alone Tell me that you'll be home by dawn by dawn I'm tired of lying up alone Tell me that you'll be home by dawn by dawn Tell me that you love me Tell me that you love me Tell me that you love me
4.
HOLLYWOOD, ENDING It's too late to make a comeback It's too late to make that phone call It's too late her number has been changed It's too late to get a ticket It's too late to get dramatic It's too late her flight long left the ground Don't you think it's time to end That movie in your head There's no love lost You never really found it It's too late to cry her name It's too late to cry a sad song It's too late she'd never hear it anyway Don't you think it's time to end That movie in your head There's no love lost You never really found it You gotta start again
5.
WHATEVER'S LEFT Whatever's left, I can't see it I fell in love in your good season Now the color's gone and the heat went with it And winter left me stranded with your ghost Far from home and the snow is falling Down and down we hit the bottom Living with the dear departed You and I should have never started But for a while you saved me from myself And I am truly sorry If I caused you any pain I tried to see things through your eyes We shared the same view for a while But I could never divine your mood Or penetrate your smile And I still see you in my dreams You shape the way I treat my love Nothing's all good or bad But we were mostly bad And it's time I said goodbye 'Cause you never said goodbye It's finally time to leave this city Say goodbye to the loss and pity Anyone who ever lived To pay the cost when losing's all there was And I am truly sorry To leave you with your pain And I still see you in my dreams You shape the way I treat my love Nothing's all good or bad But we were mostly bad And it's time I said goodbye

about

"Whatever’s left, I can’t see it / I fell in love in your good season / Now the color’s gone and the heat went with it / And winter left me stranded with your ghost." —"Whatever's Left"

In late 2005, Robert Cherry slipped from beneath the heavy cloud cover of Cleveland, Ohio—his home of two decades—and rolled south toward The Queen City, where he planted himself in the buckled plates above the Ohio River. Numb from one too many Cleveland winters and struggling with apathy, the singer-songwriter thought he might be done with a lot of things—past lives haunting the ‘50s-era apartment complexes dotting Lake Erie’s south-western shores, month-long stretches without direct sunlight… maybe even music itself.

The music, however, wasn’t finished with him. As an experiment, Cherry embraced a new songwriting method—actively not writing—and through the winter of 2006, the songs found him in a thinly walled four-unit apartment building, finger-strumming an acoustic, whisper-singing melodies. The chords were full and comfortable, the melodies melancholy yet uplifting, the lyrics straightforward and elemental—timeless themes made personal in the dynamic present.

If the writing of the album was a solitary, sepia-toned affair, the recording was just the opposite, a virtual and often literal party attended by old friends and overseen by a new one. Produced by Afghan Whigs bassist John Curley at Ultrasuede Studios, “Paint No Devils” features Cherry's croon-and-strum backed by singer Paul Lahey, guitarist Calvin Brown and drummer Andrew McMullen (all late of the Toronto-based quartet Leviride), as well as Curley’s signature melodic thunder.

Bearing Gibson guitars, Fender amplifiers and armfuls of duty-free Canadian beer, the group and an associate known as the Brampton Fog entered the studio’s shag-covered walls that spring and slipped into an efficient, albeit well-lubricated, routine. Embracing off-the-cuff feel over technical perfection, the musicians generally captured the songs in a few takes, with Curley judiciously leaving the frayed edges intact and keeping overdubs to a minimum.

"Paint No Devils" best exemplifies the approach, building, as it does, from a largely acoustic arrangement to a throw-the-radio-in-the-tub crescendo of squalling guitars, baby grand piano, vibraphone, sleigh bells, and what sounds like bowed saw (in actuality sculpted feedback).

The song provides the album’s title, a reference to a Hungarian proverb that instructs, “Don’t paint the devil on your wall or he might appear.” In the context of the track, the phrase—“paint no devils”—is intended to quiet insecurities through a night pining for an absent lover. In the context of the album, the title recognizes the subjectivity of today’s barraged listener, challenging him or her to check expectations at the door and attend with new ears.

credits

released December 9, 2012

ROBERT CHERRY / VOICE / GUITAR

CALVIN BROWN / GUITAR / MANDOLIN / PIANO / RHODES / FUN MACHINE

ANDREW MCMULLEN / DRUMS / PERCUSSION

PAUL LAHEY / VOCALS

JOHN CURLEY / ELECTRIC BASS

WITH ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES BY
AUSTIN BROWN / HAMMOND / VIBRAPHONE / GUITAR / MOOG

PRODUCED BY JOHN CURLEY
IN COOPERATION WITH SWEET BOBBY C

RECORDED AND MIXED BY CURLEY AT ULTRASUEDE STUDIO / CINCINNATI OH

MASTERED BY JJ GOLDEN AT GOLDEN MASTERING / VENTURA CA

ALBUM DESIGN BY JEFF JOHNS

ALL SONGS BY ROBERT CHERRY

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