At 2AM, it had been a long walk back to Erika’s hotel room from the Nerima district, but she and Jeff could have walked for hours, taking in the city in fits of laughter and wonder. As Erika opened the door to her room and reached for the light switch, she felt the tightness in her stomach turn to a tension in her hand, and a wave of reluctance immediately drew her back; the lights were going to stay off. They sat in silence on the edge of her bed, the momentum of the last few hours coming to an absolute standstill. Jeff wanted so desperately to turn to face her, but couldn’t bring himself to do it, and instead made a full study of the wall directly in front of him for what couldn’t have been more than 10 seconds, but felt like an hour. He slowly realized his eyes could just make out the shape of the room, bathed in the dim glow of the city lights that seeped in from 12 stories below. He finally found the nerve to move his eyes about the room, and realized Erika had definitely spent a bit more on her hotel stay than he had. He began to wonder if he could have gotten himself a nicer hotel room if he hadn’t been so dead set on playing pachinko. Why did he still play it anyway? He never won. He didn’t even-
Jeff could feel his heart thumping in his chest, and he could almost hear it in his ears. He couldn’t turn to face Erika, but he could almost feel the neon glow of the city lights caressing the features of her face. Were they brighter than they were last night? They certainly felt brighter. And hotter. Then again, maybe that was just Jeff. He could definitely hear his heartbeat now, the heat from the lights (or was it something else?) becoming too much to bear. He turned to face her.
You haven’t heard Nightlines until you’ve heard just the vocals and the vocoders. Check it out!
This was the last song composed for Pop City, and it probably wouldn’t have made the cut, were it not for one fateful night. We had a pair of longtime funky friends in town all the way from California, and they REALLY wanted to catch a Pie show while they were in town. Unfortunately, we didn’t have any gigs lined up the weekend of their visit, but I made them a pitch:
If they came over to my house, we would play an acoustic show for them right in my living room. They jumped at the opportunity, and just a few hours later, they were sitting on my couch (the very same one from the song Loveseat!) and taking in the most intimate concert we’ve ever performed.
It dawned on me that this was a special night. I’m typically not one to play song demos or ideas for anybody until I feel they’re practically ready to record, but something about the loose nature of the acoustic set gave me reason to think that playing something a little different and untested might be a cool idea. I grabbed my lyric book from my bedroom, and flipped to the song I had finished not 3 days prior.
I can’t even recall how well our guests received it, but Rachel (who so graciously volunteered to hold up the lyric sheet while I sang) would not let Nightlines go. For WEEKS afterwards, she insisted that we put Nightlines on the album, and on that push alone, I figured it might be worth keeping.
That’s all to say, if you dig the song, be sure to send Rachel a message of gratitude on Instagram.
Ain’t no mistakin
My stupid face is
Shaded with surprise
Nervous neon pink
From being with you in the Hatchobori night
Electric feeling
I can’t conceal it
And don’t wanna try
Rather share them with you
All the sparks inside our animated eyes
No more second guessing
No more turning away
No more pretending
I’m not too close to your face
My eyes are gettin’ heavy
I hope you’re feeling the same
Turn on the night and make a brand new shape
Nightlines
Show me who you are when all the lights have faded
Nightlines
When we let go of our hesitations
Nightlines
You and I we over complicate it all
Our shapes are matching
Something is happening
Between me and you
Distance in between us shrinking by the second
Don’t know what to do
No more second guessing
No more turning away
No more pretending
I’m not too close to your face
My eyes are gettin’ heavy
I know you’re feeling the same
Turn on the night and make a brand new shape
Nightlines
Show me who you are when all the lights have faded
Nightlines
When we let go of our hesitations
Nightlines
You and I we over complicate it all
I used to think that my life
Was like a manga and I
Was an otaku
And no one’s MC
But something’s different tonight
You make me feel like we might
Be starring characters
In someone’s doujinshi
Nightlines
Show me who you are when all the lights have faded
Nightlines
When we let go of our hesitations
Nightlines
You and I we over complicate it all
Nightlines
Show me who you are when all the lights have faded
Nightlines
When we let go of our hesitations
Nightlines
You and I we over complicate it all
Tell us what you think of the song!