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puffypwnspenguins
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puffypwnspenguins Delicious guitar intro with wonderful delay. Favorite track: In The Sun.
Sven B. Schreiber (sbs)
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Sven B. Schreiber (sbs) One interesting thing about this release is that it partly has the beauty of singer-songwriter music, partly the rough sound of alternative rock. The symbiosis is perfect. Another interesting fact is, of course, that Lauren Hoffman's songwriting skills are just as perfect. Favorite track: Sick With Love.
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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Includes digital-only bonus track A Friend For The Apocalypse
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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Family Ghost via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 5 days

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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 18 Lauren Hoffman releases available on Bandcamp and save 25%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Another Song About The Darkness EPIC EDIT, CHOREOGRAPHIC, Suffer Through? (Single), Megiddo (Deluxe), When I'm Dead (Single), the lilas (EP), The Chemical [Pandemic Remix] (Single), Mercury Girls (Acoustic) (Single), and 10 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

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1.
When the doors are closed what do they say Are they plotting thick are they planning our fate Baby brother we've got to get away Baby brother before it's too late All you trust all you've ever known All your world is changing I tried to keep these stones from your soft hands Wrap you in dream, sleep my sweet When they come for us how far we will be Out the door and down the street Over mountains over seas Don't look back there's nothing for us now That land is black it's wasted We leave today With me you're safe Sing a song hold your little chin up high stay strong little man of mine Cuz baby brother we've got to get away Baby brother before it's too late
2.
We all take turns bursting in the room Giving it adrenaline try to make it burn burn This is my impression, I want it in your head Do you feel my outline press into you press into you Before I go, I want to feel it all I want to make it last, the moments that pass They speed up, they crash I want to be inside it, I want to feel it all We follow, they lead Excuses, we plead Give me just one chance I'll show you, I mean it I've got this little flame Be gentle, be gentle with me So it will grow, I need you to see Before I go, I want to feel it all I want to make it last, the moments that pass They speed up, they crash I want to be inside it, I want to feel it all Inside me there's something Unfinished, a painting, a feeling, a need A country, it's waiting A story , a seed Inside me there's something unfinished... Before I go, I want to feel it all I want to make it last, the moments that pass They speed up, they crash I want to be inside it, I want to feel it all
3.
I made a deal you never agreed To hold up your side but still I believed So I'd give what i gave and you'd take and I'd wait Cuz I knew that some day you would change you would change Someday never came…. When do you finally say 'I've given up, There's nothing I'm fighting for' Then how do you stay and drink from the cup Of dreams you don't believe anymore? I let the waves crash on me Stood firm to show that I love you And I'm crawling to save myself Cry the whole way cuz I still do I've got your back, I'm holding the gun And I'll hold them all off, and I'll let you run But those demons they hover All 'round your head They won't be satisfied till you're-- I let the waves crash on me Stood firm to show that I love you And I'm crawling to save myself Cry the whole way cuz I still do
4.
Why can't a pretty day take my lonesome blues away? Missing him is what I've come to do Here in the afternoon, singing melancholy tunes Loving him has made of me a fool Faces in the street are like Foreign planets flying by All these world i'll never know What goes on inside their heads Who will miss them when they're dead I'm sure somebody loves them all Now I'm cleaning up my room And my heart's as full as the silver moon But it's the little things that help the day go by For when a girl is sick with love There is nothing can be done Oh there is nothing can be done
5.
In The Sun 04:33
It's so hard to take when you turn your light away Even for a minute, even for a day So bright so right the way you shine Burns me from the inside And I hate myself for shivering For wanting more and more of how you Make me feel like I could live forever In the sun, in the sun, in the sun, when you shine You make me feel like I could live forever In the sun, in the sun, in the sun If wishes were answers you'd be here Even for a minute, even for a day I feel in chains the way you've got me Begging for you in my mind Please don't be done with me I'm not finished with the way you Make me feel like I could live forever In the sun, in the sun, in the sun, when you shine You make me feel like i could live forever In the sun, in the sun, in the sun Sometimes I just want to hide Cuz when you never see the light You don't miss it, don't want it Don't ache for another taste of it If I could I'd turn away before you shut me out Even for a minute, even for a day I'm not that strong, but I'm strong enough to suffer If that's the price I have to pay To feel the light on my skin When you let me in You make me feel like I could live forever In the sun, in the sun, in the sun, when you shine You make me feel like I could live forever In the sun, in the sun, in the sun
6.
I just broke up with a guy who looks kind of like you I remember that kiss outside my hotel room in LA I was a little too young and you were too married So I said "Can you try that again someday?" I'm a million miles from the girl I was then Living out a plot-line she never could have written The scars on my skin the nights that twisted My heart like an old house the walls caved in Well I'm out here still looking for a place To rest my heart when I grow old You know you can't believe In all the things that you thought When you were young It's funny how things never go quite how you planned We were one force with the power of the future in our hands But I opened up my arms, I let it go It turned around I was found on a different road Well I'm out here still looking for a place To rest my heart when i grow old You know you can't believe In all the things that you thought When you were young
7.
Family Ghost 03:21
He's alone in a dark place Thinking thoughts that no one understands He's at home in the darkness I try to find him I'm reaching out my hands This world can be so cruel, I know For I have been burned too We dream of love to sail us through the storm Just one place to be safe If you need me I will answer In the end what else will matter Take a flicker and grow the flame Choose the light and call my name They'll take you down, they'll teach you life is pain If you let them in So I say rise up like the sun Lift yourself up; be the one to chose If I need you, will you answer In that darkness, will you hear? In the end what else will matter? Choose the light and call me near
8.
Fast Lane 03:35
I'll let my body take the lead I'll let my hands go where they please my mouth has got an aching need to taste you I'll give you power over me I'll let your hands go where they please I like it when you make me lean into you I found myself in the fast lane with you we're holding hands as the world flies by I don't know where, you don't know where we're going But we don't wanna slow down now, we wanna just fly And we know there's no better drug then running blindly into love if there's no heaven up above, we got this Taking your time to make me weak teaching my body how to speak to yours like wind into the trees, it's like this
9.
You're a little bit damaged, I'm a sucker for that, I want to take you in my hands Wanna bring you back You're a little bit damaged I'm a sucker for that I want to fill up the spaces Be everything you lack You're a little bit jaded and you're closing the door And all that you felt then You don't feel it anymore I'm the picture that's faded, I'm the love you don't trust Take the girl out from under glass and she'll always want to much I know … you're just… broken I know … you're just… broken You're just… broken You're a little bit damaged, I'm a sucker for that So in the moment I lost you I wanted you back But that's a feeling that's faded And I'm closing the door And all that I felt then I don't feel it anymore I know … you're just… broken I know … you're just… broken You're just… broken You're just… broken You're just… broken You're just… broken You're just… broken
10.
You breath fire To burn the world And such teeth The better to eat you with, my girl You can fly Take me with you Yeah you're wild And you know not what you do I'm in love with a dragon put my hand in the flame I know I should have known better but I did it again I'm in love with a dragon it's the curse of my life To be the lover of a monster I'm his dutiful wife Since I first saw you in the sky I could feel you in my lungs Since I was a child I've had blisters on my tongue Oh yeah if you're so bad why don't you take it all Why don't you do me in finally make me fall You're a tease, I'm a flirt Oh baby please make it hurt I'm in love with a dragon put my hand in the flame I know I should have known better but I did it again I'm in love with a dragon it's the curse of my life To be the lover of a monster I'm his dutiful wife
11.
Til It Lasts 03:48
Next time I won't be so quick To say I'm in love when i shake like this Every storm on my sea has passed I won't call it love till it lasts There are so many ways to love You shiver you ache or you're comforted by it There are mistakes and there are the ones You'd die for their love or die of it I'm always taking wrong turns Burning too bright and burning out quickly I've had my lessons but I'll never learn I keep hoping love will come fix me How do you measure whether it's love When it calls at your door All you know is what you've been told You've never had your own before So I'm turning out all of the lights And I'm finding comfort in my own arms tonight Taking the next train out of my head Into my body instead Cuz there are so many ways to leave And I've witnessed them all from both sides of the street I am world weary before my time And I'm calloused from bodies colliding with mine So next time I won't be so quick To say I'm in love when it hurts like this Every storm on my sea has passed I won't call it love… No I won't call it love… I won't call it love ' til it lasts
12.
In the glow of the dumpster fire that was the year we met I made a friend for the apocalypse I found a reason to get in bed As another star lights the sky And the country lost it’s goddamn mind I made a friend for the apocalypse I found a reason to stay alive Stand up and give me a kiss We’re not going down like this As the world explodes in slo-mo I’ll eat you up cuz I love you so And our love grows stronger Hold me a little longer Shut me up with your mouth Let the night grow darker Stand up and give me a kiss We’re not going down like this As the world explodes in slo-mo I’ll eat you up cuz I love you so I want to fuck you in the burning flames I want to hear you say my name I want to hold you till I fall apart I want to feel my beating heart

about

In 2013, I was living in my hometown and not doing much with music besides some youtube covers, because I was mostly focused on being a parent (my daughter was born in 2008). I've always been good friends with the band Bella Morte (I sang on some of their records) and they are also from my hometown. That summer, they invited me to open for them for a "Best of" album release show at a really nice venue in Charlottesville, the Jefferson Theater.

I put together a band for the show that included Tony Lechmanski (from Bella Morte) on guitar, Jeff Diehm on bass, Cathy Monnes on cello and electric violin, Ethan Lipscomb on keyboards, and Jordan Mancini on drums (who was also playing with Bella Morte for the show). It was a somewhat unlikely cast of characters to find in one band but I think that's what made it special.

We had so much fun preparing for and playing that show, we decided to do more. I had some older songs that had never made it onto albums - Don't Look Back, Sick with Love, The Dragon, and Til it Lasts - and had also been writing a few new ones. Even though these were my songs and not collaborative in that way, I got it into my head that I wanted us to go by a band name, and I came up with The Secret Storm.

We recorded and released two EPs under the band name The Secret Storm in 2015 - "In the Sun" and "The Dragon".

Around the same time, my song Broken had been blowing up on Pandora Radio. It had been released in 2006 but the algorithm began to smile upon it in about 2011, racking up millions of streams on Pandora, which led to lots of fan activity online - tumblr posts, lyrics tweets, acoustic covers, etc. It was getting just a huge amount of love, especially for a totally independent/self-released, non-touring artist like me.

So, it was a little stupid that I started releasing music under the name The Secret Storm, when so many people we just discovering 'Lauren Hoffman'.

In 2017 we released the album/CD Family Ghost under the augmented band name "Lauren Hoffman & The Secret Storm", and in the one artistic concession to marketing that I think I have ever made, we put a new version of Broken on that album too. I say it's a concession because there was no artistic reason to include it - I was just trying to connect this new album to existing fans of the song.

But between the name change and new metadata issues caused by this second version of Broken, the admin and management of the whole thing became a big exhausting problem for me. Leading a band was no easy feat either. Our drummer Jordan had left at some point and I was often scrambling for replacements. There was some drama in 'the scene'/friend groups around us, putting pressure and taking a toll on us too. By the end of 2017 we had disbanded and I was starting work on my next solo album, Mercury Girls.

Over the years we were together, we played a lot of shows, made some cool/fun videos, and made this record that I am still very proud of!

Because of all the metadata stuff, it is only available in THIS form here on Bandcamp. A slightly different version of the album is available on the streaming sites, under the album title The Secret Storm.

credits

released January 27, 2017

All songs written by Lauren Hoffman (Amrit Music BMI) and arranged by Lauren Hoffman & The Secret Storm
Produced by John Morand and Lauren Hoffman
Recorded and mixed by John Morand at Sound Of Music Studios, Richmond, VA
Additional recording on "Broken" at The Sound, Charlottesville VA
Mastered by Brent Lambert at Kitchen Mastering

Lauren Hoffman // Vocals, Guitars
Tony Lechmanski // Guitars
Catherine Monnes // Cello, Electric Violin
Ethan Lipscomb // Keyboards, Piano
Jeff Diehm // Bass
Jordan Marcini // Drums
Kevin Ardrey // Drums on "Broken"

Additional percussion by John Morand, Miguel Urbiztondo, and Lamar Moore

Special thanks to Tomas Rahal and Mas Tapas

Photography by Jyoti Sackett
Design by Andrew Nelson for Down In The Valley Creative

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Lauren Hoffman Los Angeles, California

music is exceptionally useful for communicating the nuance and complexity of the human experience because it is an emotional language, we process and respond to it in a different way than thoughts, beyond the limits of linguistics. that's why it's special and mysterious and i love it. that's why i write and sing and play instruments and make records. that's why i share my songs with you. ... more

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