Maybe Another Time, by Christian Singles

Maybe Another Time

by Christian Singles

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Uther Blakwhel "Maybe Another Time" by Christian Singles is an amazing Lo-Fi, Indie Rock Record that is intensely personal and hauntingly compelling from beginning to end! Already one of the best Rock albums of the year! Favorite track: Junk Drawer.

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Full Digital Discography

24

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Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Companion Piece, Scenic Route, Hits The Right Way, Maybe Another Time, Burn This Town, Right Before Your Eyes, Voice Memo Demos, Bored & Blue, and 16 more. , and , .

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Limited Edition 12" Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Released via Mt.St.Mtn. Limited to 100 copies.

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

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1.	Bury 02:32	lyrics	buy track
Your stubborn ways Anchored in the past Teach me something I can use Now that I’m older Distant like you Blood bound Though it can’t last Should I find him? Should he find us? Who knew you could inherit guilt? I’ll think of something Guess I always do So many wrongs to undo Digging up the past to bury again Trying to make sense of who I am Trying
2.	Junk Drawer 03:06	lyrics	buy track
My memory of you is in the junk drawer of my mind Cause all that stuff that we went through is the stuff I don’t want to find Someday you may notice that the world has changed Most likely just the way you feel about it I feel differently too I feel different about it Different about you My memory of you is in the junk drawer of my mind Too tough to carry with me Too tough to leave behind Did you tire of yourself? Today you seem like someone else
3.	Easy 02:10	lyrics	buy track
I guess I’m overwhelmed Everything is changing all at once But I want it to Change with you And when you smile big All that’s unimportant drifts away Weird anxiety It releases me And finally I get to be myself I can’t comprehend So, I don’t try to pretend I know why It’s so easy Can’t be right It’s so easy
4.	Keep Your Head Down 03:07	lyrics	buy track
No one’s around I knew their eyes could not keep on us And I’m feeling down Not for any particular reason The engine’s knocking sound Startles me before I drift off Ask another question An evasive answer Back to silence Keep your head down I don’t know your struggle I don’t know who here is well off I’m doing my best bruiser Take a drag and conceal the cough I guess I’m having fun I know it ain’t that cool for me to say so Keep your head down
5.	A Dream Ends Without Starting 01:56	lyrics	buy track
You left the light on As if nothing is wrong I heard footsteps departing A dream ends without starting Nothing is new I know I shouldn’t worry But when you leave It’s always in a hurry A dream ends without starting Yeah, it’s cool Maybe another time
6.	Collapse 02:48	lyrics	buy track
The deepening drive And what it asks of you Weighs on my mind With an uneasy truth I picture it nice I hear it saccharine sweet Floating on air Until I hit the street And you go Off to make It all come true All this ambivalence Will drive you made Bring in another life To fix the one you had My cancer of thought Taken by the young heir Run till you’re caught Or broken beyond repair And you go Off to make It all come true Can you shake the collapse of your youth?
7.	Rest Easy 02:54	lyrics	buy track
There’s a dream I have all too often Wherein I’m throwing spadefuls on your coffin I wonder if it means I give her a try Or better let sleeping dogs lie? I want us both to rest easy I remember how you’d blow your top Use the belt to get us to stop Being brats before we could crawl I was the biggest brat of all I want us both to rest easy Things are harder than they were before Most of life feels like a chore Tired talks about my career Bad joke smiles ear to ear I want us both to rest easy I know you never really understood me, but you always tried
8.	By Design 04:23	lyrics	buy track
I like my problems Not your solutions Because my problems Give me excuses For drinking until I am drowning When I’m losing I’m really winning With big words and deep descriptions I like to lecture on shallow feelings It’s sad and silly and it’s mostly true I was put here to punish you So don’t feel sorry for me please This is by design Ain’t got no big bad disease Simply got no spine I’m done asking for it all
9.	Back The Way I Came 02:08	lyrics	buy track
With my back turned to the person I had hoped to be I abandoned some “find yourself” journey And I went back the way I came Answered to my old name And with no one left to blame I felt humbled to a crawl When I picked up the phone to call Passing time Until suddenly it’s hard to find Self-assured You could never ever be detoured You can’t help but fantasize About another chance at life

about

IF LP APPEARS SOLD OUT HERE TRY BUYING DIRECT FROM MT.ST.MTN: www.mtstmtn.com/audio/mtn-27-christian-singles-maybe-another-time

contact: robirvingmiller(at)gmail(dot)com

Every generation has had their moment that felt like the world was coming to an end, but it’d be hard to argue that 2020 hasn’t distilled that feeling into history’s most potent dose of despair. Though the new Christian Singles album was written during the early days of quarantine, it wasn’t the pandemic, the looming election, or impending climate change that caused Rob I. Miller to take stock. News that his father’s cancer had returned dredged up unresolved pain and brought a new sense of urgency to issues that had long lain dormant. Maybe Another Time, the 9-song debut under Miller’s solo moniker, confronts the difficult questions about family and forgiveness, and aging in a desperate world.

The record opens with a plodding drum machine and deceptively lighthearted acoustic guitars before ominous keyboard loops collide with a wall of distortion. “Digging up the past just to bury again” serves as the track's mission statement - maybe looking for answers is a selfish pursuit when the time you have left is uncertain, and the only resolution left is to bury the hurt anew.

“Junk Drawer” fades in from under the blanket of feedback, propelled by rubbery bass lines and carefully considered washes of springy reverb. There’s comfort to be found in Miller’s delicate, conversational delivery as he turns the questions outward, asking “Did you tire of yourself? Today you seem like someone else”. The intimacy of these songs feels like the warm embrace of a cassette you’ve left in the player for months, worn out under the sun until the tracks have bled together and acquired that intangible quality bestowed only by graceful decay.

The album's center tackles questions of bringing new life into a world on the brink, and the fear of burdening them with the same issues that have plagued your own life. The chorus stained guitars on “Collapse” nostalgically invoke Springsteen and The Cure, while Miller wonders if his “cancer of thought” will be “taken by the young heir”. “A Dream Ends Without Starting” questions newfound stability after a string of false starts, wondering if history is doomed to repeat itself, or if the cycle can be broken.

There’s a magnetism to this collection that makes the case for including Miller in the canon of modern singer-songwriters taking the classic-rock songbook and carrying it forward - a compelling work by an artist grappling with loss and regret. Maybe Another Time feels uncannily prescient in a time where the future is a looming question mark, and timeless in the questions it asks about family, and putting aside pain to salvage what’s left.

Rob I. Miller is an Oakland-based musician who releases music under the name Christian Singles and performs with the groups Dick Stusso, Blues Lawyer, and Flex. Previously he was a member of Mall Walk and Mister Loveless. He owns and operates Vacant Stare Records, a micro-label focused on documenting artists in California’s Bay Area.

"the raw, lovely songs on Maybe Another Time (mostly strummy singer-songwriter fare occasionally punctuated by a smear of noise, whispery washes of reverb, or the crack of a drum machine) play like a series of questions without answers or answers that don’t speak louder than silence when they do arrive, the downcast melodies mirroring the mental spiraling as Miller sings of feeling stuck in a torturous cycle of false starts and sad memories or wistfully cataloguing visions of happiness that don’t seem real." - MARIANA TIMONY / BANDCAMP DAILY

"It’s all brought together by the vocals. Miller’s voice is weary; he’s unearthing and examining thoughts he’d seemingly like to put aside for another time." - LINDSAY OXFORD / SOUND & VISION

"While he’s working over synthesized beats, the song snakes its way around that pulsing sensation, honing in on a very new wave sound, only reimagined through the pain of the world that surrounds us." - NATHAN LANKFORD / AUSTIN TOWN HALL

"With a project as personal as this, Miller might’ve fallen into the trap of forcing others to understand his perspective; on Maybe Another Time, his biggest strength is meeting us halfway." - SOPHIA VACCARO / AUDIOFEMME

credits

released October 2, 2020

Written, recorded and performed by Rob I. Miller March-July 2020.

Additional Vocals on "Back the Way I Came" by Hannah D'Amato

Mixed by Andrew Oswald

Mastered by John McBain

Cover photo by Charlie Koliha.

Layout/Design by Mark Kaiser.

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© Vacant Stare Records 2020

Co-released with Mt.St.Mtn.

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Vacant Stare Records Oakland, California

Micro-label specializing in debut releases from Oakland-based artists. Est. 2014.

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