In The Half-Light

from In The Half-Light by Joshua Burnside, Laura Quirke

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about

One of the days while recording in Belfast we took a break to go for pints because the weather was too nice to be in the studio. We were sitting in a group of Joshua and Emily’s friends and they were talking about the loss of their friend Ash who had been a member of Vault Studios where we were recording and who died of cancer in January 2020. Before her death, Ash had a ‘living wake box’ made as an alternative to a coffin and asked other members of Vault to come and help her paint it. She wanted to start the conversation, to confront the idea that we’re all going to die. I really couldn’t describe how moving it was to hear them talk about what she did and the experience of dealing with their own grief while painting. The morning after that conversation, the words of In The Half-Light arrived - an attempt to remind myself that we won’t be here forever and neither will those we love most. On a break from recording that day, I went to visit the piano in the dancehall downstairs. I propped my phone with the words on top of the piano and pressed record on my voice recorder and the song came in one piece. I say it like this because this never happens to me. The recording on the EP is that recording. Joshua took the recording and brought the ending to a sort of transcendant place I wouldn’t have thought of. Though I didn’t know her, Ash’s story really affected me and I have her to thank for the song too.

lyrics

Take this love,
I made it for you.
It is yours to hold and keep forever.

Someday this love
Will have nowhere to go,
And I will wish that I gave you more.

Your face
In the half light,
All angular soft.
It would be weird
To tell you now, but
Maybe I should.
You've only got so many days
To know you're beautiful.
Only so many days to be told
You're beautiful.

All the jokes you make!
I want to laugh like the sun!
I want to give you all my light,
Until the day is done.
Your jawline blade,
Glinting,
In the rays.
Someday my laughter
Will echo
Into space,

And you might not hear it.

Take this love,
I made it for you.
It is yours to hold and keep forever.

Someday this love
Will have nowhere to go.
And I will wish that I gave you more.

credits

from In The Half-Light, track released July 16, 2021

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about

Joshua Burnside Belfast, UK

Joshua Burnside was born in Northern Ireland, where he draws inspiration from the beauty, the ugliness and the rich musical and literary heritage of an often tormented corner of the world.

joshuaburnside.com

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