Get all 39 Michael Plater releases available on Bandcamp and save 80%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of The Dreamers' Dream, Ghost Songs (Live at the Coolroom E.P), Your Family Ghosts (Demo Version), Elements: Live in Castlemaine, Ghost Music, Field Recordings 2017-2021, Sleep Under Yew, An Alchemical Gathering, and 31 more.
1. |
Gathering Feathers
07:02
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The lash, the irons
The blackest dye
Gathering feathers
Against the sky
Castaways and devils
The pull of the rope
The raftman’s wake
Of blood and salt
The dance of the mermaids
The forgotten chart
This broken compass
Reeling in the dark
All souls lost
Abandoned at sea
These widow weeds
This captivity
All of those useless bones
This quiet reign
The whipping post,
Your skin name
The devil lives here,
Upon those shores
The tolling bell,
The rum corps
The dance of the mermaids
The forgotten chart
This broken compass
Reeling in the dark
All souls lost
Abandoned at sea
These widow weeds
This captivity
(Inspired by accounts of Norfolk Island’s early convict history)
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2. |
This Waking Dream
03:07
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Your heretic soul
A state of grace
Held against the sky
Pinned into place
A waking dream
Your beating heart
This space between
This ending and this start
Caught between the stars
Burning the light
This second self
Your birthright
With all your secret names
Carved into my skin
We'll walk together
Upon these buried kings
A velvet coat
A winter’s twilight
This river song
This dream of life
And I’ll follow that river
There in your arms tonight
We'll dream up new Gods
In that evening light
This waking dream
Your beating heart
This space between
This ending and this start
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3. |
The Alchemist
06:15
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This latest imitation
This painted stage
This curtain call
This golden cage
This unseen hand
This hidden law
This disappearing act
This curtain call
Oh, this curtain call
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4. |
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Your spirit slates
Your muslin gauze
The crowd awaits
This final applause
A darkened room
A table turned
A candle lit
Upon your return
Your widow weeds
A shrouded gown
A trick of the light
This cabinet of sound
We’re spinning in circles
A widow’s cry
All those risen lovers
Who never said goodbye
Eliza and William
An unbroken seal
This spirit song
This final reel
Richard and Florence
A mirrored room
A sea captain’s daughter
Gone too soon
O where are you going?
How far and how long?
Where is your dress?
O, that is gone.
(Inspired by the true story of the nineteenth-century English spiritualist and medium, Florence Cook, and the spirit – Katie King – who reportedly manifested at her séances).
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5. |
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I was late at the gate
Like so many times before
The blackening ink, the bottle
The threshing floor
All your little conspiracies
They've all come to pass
The wooden hand, the burning man
The last gasp
And who stands there
Amongst your family ghosts?
On whose wings
Shall we climb?
Down here
A different river flows
Down here
At the edge of the world
And who stands there
Amongst your family ghosts?
On whose wings
Shall we climb?
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6. |
Saint John's Eve
08:53
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Conjure up the one
I shall name to you
Amid dream roads
And ley lines
Broken Gods
And suicides
Broken Gods
And suicides
Graveyard ghosts
And corpse lights
Wych elms
And marsh lights
In yew groves
And elder trees
Ash seeds
Saint John’s Eve
Between us
And the faery host
Between us
And the demons of the air
Between us
And the faery host
Between us
And the demons of the air
(“Saint John’s Eve” occurs on 23rd of June every year. It coincides with midsummer and the June solstice, and, as such, is charged with a sense of mysticism, pagan ritualism, and occult power).
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7. |
The Lost Keepers
06:26
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A ship’s whistle
A blinded lantern
The lost keepers
Of the Seven Phantoms
Of saints and ghosts
The Lusbirdan
The deep sea lights
Of St Flannan
Mooring ropes
On a becalmed sea
This stopped clock
This other country
A Hunter’s ghost
Of oilskin and tar
The lighthouse keepers
Watch from afar
A Hunter’s ghost
Of oilskin and tar
The lighthouse keepers
Watch from afar
God is over
God is over all
(Inspired by the true story of the lighthouse keepers of Eilean Mor, who disappeared without trace in 1900)
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8. |
Burning Windmills
03:59
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All our wayward children
Burning windmills in the dark
We’ve seen them come and go
The ember and the spark
And all those lighthouse keepers
Waiting for ships to sink
A gentleman’s agreement
Let's raise up a drink
To all your plague doctors
And all your abandoned Gods
All your lost rivers
Buried beneath the soil
And this site can’t be reached
And these Gods can’t be raised
But in these wild places
Our love remains
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Michael Plater UK
U.K based Australian noir/experimental singer/songwriter. Solo artist, Northern Lighthouse Board, Ghosts of Electricity,
Cornish Wreckers & various other incarnations and incantations
"Beautiful and timeless...Music that breaks your heart,” (Peek-a-Boo, Belgium)
"One of the most absorbing and arresting players around."
(B-Side Magazine)
contact: michaelashleyplater@gmail.com
... more
Michael Plater recommends:
Snowflakes 11
by Various Artists
Latest "Snowflakes" neo-folk/classical various artists release from At Sea Compilations. Includes my track "Navigators and Shipwrecks"
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Modern Magic
by The Northern Lighthouse Board
Stylophone spooktronica from my side project The Northern Lighthouse Board: "Splendidly like the half-preserved soundtrack to a forgotten low-budget 1970's (oc)cult film," (Wormwoodiana)
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What Colour is Sound 7
by Various Artists
The latest What Colour is Sound comp, featuring tracks from The Rowan Amber Mill, Bity Booker, Jim Griffin, Plantman, Pettaluck, and more, plus my track "Your Family Ghosts", featuring Rothko.
go to albumIf you like Michael Plater, you may also like:
What Colour is Sound VI
by Various Artists
supported by 22 fans who also own “Ghost Music”
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What Colour Is Sound? Vol. 2
by Various Artists
supported by 19 fans who also own “Ghost Music”
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Lovely and delicate songs from Michigan band cloudlight, full of angelic vocals and barely-there instrumentation.
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