"An EP recorded in the stillness of 2020 — quiet songs for a quiet year."
Released in 2020, The World, When It's Sleeping is a four-song EP written and recorded during one of the strangest years most of us have ever lived through. The title says everything: these are songs for the hours when the noise stops, when the world pauses, and you're left alone with yourself and whoever you love.
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Written between two cities
The World, When It's Sleeping is a five-song EP written and recorded between London and Brisbane across late 2018 and 2019. At the time, Carty was based in a warehouse in Hackney, sharing the space with seven other artists, before returning to Australia — and to his wife Natasha, who sings on two of the tracks.
Mixed in London by Jonas Persson, the EP finds Carty in a more contemplative mood than much of his earlier work — quieter in its arrangements, more intimate in its preoccupations. Songs like "It's A Lovely Day To Be Alive" and "Oh Imagination" carry a sense of renewed wonder, as if the writer has stepped back from the noise and found the everyday world newly strange and beautiful.
Released on limited-edition 10" vinyl and digital, July 2020.
Click any track to expand the lyrics.
-
Is bigger than wak
Is bigger than waking day
I felt it expanding
Alone beneath the stars cascade
The airwaves are useless now
Everyone sounds the same
Oh imagination
Remember when we used to pass the time?
Now it seems that time passes us by
Just like the sun across the sky
There's magic in darkness
I don't need to know it all
I know that no one book could contain
The cosmic scrawl
My head on the pillow
It feels like I start to fall
Oh imagination
Remember when we used to pass the time?
Now it seems that time passes us by
Just like the sun across the sky
The world when it's sleeping is just like
A mother's love
Birthing a new day
It's birthing our only sun
The joy and the wonder
A reason to carry on
-
Welcome to the world
Welcome to chaos
I wonder if you've seen this all before?
Every part of me
Wants to get to know you
And guide you 'til you
Get your bearings sorted
We don't know just how or why we are
Atom upon atom
In an avalanche of stars
Sit and watch as history unfurls
Welcome to the world
Welcome to the world
Our little blessing
You're made for it
And it was made for you
It's the little things
That are important
So live with kindness Patience, love and truth
We don't know just how or why we are
Atom upon atom In an avalanche of stars
Sit and watch as history unfurls
Welcome to the world
I've been learning from you from the start
Someone took a piece straight from my heart
Brought it outside
Gave it new life
We don't know just how or why we are
Atom upon atom In an avalanche of stars
Sit and watch as history unfurls
And the stars above us spin and twirl
Can't wait to watch your history unfurl
Welcome to the world
-
I think I found the reason why the universe expands
I was standing in the kitchen when it fell into my lap
I outdid all those physicists with their particles and maths
And I think I found the reason why the universe expands
See the galaxies are spreading out
We know that much is true
'Cause their light it shifts from blue to red
'Cause it is spreading too
But no one knew just why they move
As quickly as they do
Though the galaxies are spreading out
And we know that much is true
Your mum and I have waited
For you to join us here
We're gonna care for you and do the best we can
And I think I found the reason why the universe expands
I've loved you since I found out
You were there inside that womb
And you've been busy growing
And my love's been growing too
It covers every particle on every distant land
And in order to contain it all the universe expands
Your mum and I have waited
For you to join us here
I'm gonna love you and I'll do the best I can
And I figured out the reason why the universe expands
Yeah I think I found the reason why the universe expands
-
When I think of dying
The thing that scares me
Is the thought of not being with you
And it gets harder to breathe
I'm not scared of the darkness
It's not something I'd choose
But it's hard to think of leaving
Now I've got something to lose
Feel the warmth of the sun
Shining down on everyone
Another lovely day to be alive
We've been driving for hours
Through the gathering snow
Three across the front seat
On the way to a show
It's a strange way of living
It's a dream that came true
But I'm pulled in both directions
As we roll further from you
Feel the warmth of the sun
Shining down on everyone
Another lovely day to be alive
And it's a lovely day to be alive
When I think of living
It's you that I see
Holding a tiny human
Half you and half me
When my curtain is closing
I'll be thankful to know
In my one life I found someone
Who made sense of it all
Feel the warmth of the sun
Shining down on everyone
Another lovely day to be alive
And it's a lovely day to be alive
-
Bless the town that you came from
Bless the source of all this love
And you shone your light on me
I was blind but now I see
You are like my starry sky
You're always with me
Way up high
When you
When you're feeling out of place
Like the only one awake
I will join you on the brink
You are like a lullaby
You always get me
Every time
There's a kindness in you
It's a yellow balloon
When you're falling asleep
In this prickly wind
You feel it carry you away
You feel it carry you away
You buzz like a neon light
You make me nervous
You split the night
All
All the time
Underneath my
Starry sky
Lukas Drinkwater: Double Bass, track 5.
J.J Stoney: Keys on tracks 2, 4 & 5; Electric Guitar on track 2.
Natasha Carty: Harmonies on tracks 3 & 5.
All other instruments and sounds played by Jack Carty.
All songs written, performed and recorded by Jack Carty between London and Brisbane, November 2018 – July 2019.
Mixed by Jonas Persson at Berners St Studio, London. Mastered by William Bowden at King Willy Sound, Launceston, Tasmania.
July 9, 2020
