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The Air on Earth

  1. Exit 2:18
  2. Ghost 5:38
  3. Second Skin 4:43
  4. Reflection 4:20
  5. Farewell 4:03
  6. Stillness 4:33
  7. Young Guns 4:46
  8. Innocent 2:35
  9. Wake 7:25

About

The Air on Earth is a musical project chronicling the passage of time and many stages of life, both significant and not. Written and recorded over several years, the songs themselves reflect these stages in feeling and maturity. Sentimental and perhaps distorted, each song is a source of nostalgia and reflects a moment in time.

Credits

  • Written and recorded by
    • Nick Ball
  • Mixed and mastered by

Exit

Credits

  • Programming
    • Nick Ball

Ghost

All my orchids now

Pull me away

Carry the weight

Follow wild flowers, float into light

Fill in the sky

In the quickness I am defined, grasping for life

Boring deeply into my mind

Now I see the ghosts

They have outgrown me

They are deserted

Ribbon swing, wrapped, bundled leaves

Beg me to rest

Beg me to stay

In the courage I left behind you are alive

In the forage I couldn’t find you are designed

To blur the white to black and back

To reach up and touch

To know the truth and never look back

Running towards you with a hole in my head

I can see much clearer now

I’m the one leaving

It was my fate just to carry you in

I can see much clearer now

But I’ll never understand

Credits

Second Skin

Climb. And we all were swans

In the autumn wild

We become entwined

Candlelight always in her eyes

Candlelight always in her skies

Glide. And we’re all aligned

And I fall behind

To behold your flight

Candlelight always in her eyes

Candlelight always in her skies

Credits

  • Voice / Guitar / Programming / Field recording
    • Nick Ball
  • Drums
  • Bass
  • Programming
    • Ben Lester

Reflection

My peace is watching on

And I come often to dream of falling

My hate is falling off

And I breathe it in and breathe it out

My home is all I’ve got

And I fall often to keep on falling

My only harbored light is the beauty that lives

On and on

Credits

  • Voice / Piano / Guitar
    • Nick Ball

Farewell

All enhoused in my hand

All the air on the earth

I covered the spread of the land

Best I could

On my way before I fall

Breaking my heart on every inch of it

Breaking my heart

This is how we fall in

Credits

  • Voice / Piano / Guitars / Programming
    • Nick Ball
  • Bass
  • Programming
    • Ben Lester

Stillness

My beliefs, slowly out of sync inside of my hand

At my age I wring my body out just to forget

If I ever was, I’ve lived enough

Scattered myself

Waited on more

And I forgive all my other fights

I was a better man once

But I moved on

You and I

We are this instant

Tear the rest down

Down to the ground

We can wait

We can watch it happen

Or feel it all now

If I ever was, I’ve lived enough

Scattered myself

Waited on more

And I forgive all my other fights

I was a better man once

But I moved on

But I moved on

Credits

  • Voice / Guitars / Percussion
    • Nick Ball
  • Bass
  • Pedal steel
    • Ben Lester

Young Guns

The only sun swimming in to me

I am in love with you here

I am an endless swell

The coldest touch carries us outward

We are in awe of this drift

We are a glowing blend

Drip on a palm

Catching it all when the fall ends it

You were in shimmering light

You were my only guide

Your love, hold it in your chest

Fold it in your arms

Never end

Your love, hold it in your chest

Fold it in your arms

And lead me in to you

Credits

  • Voice / Guitars / Trombone
    • Nick Ball
  • Voice / Percussion
  • Upright bass
    • Jeremy Boettcher
  • Pedal steel
    • Ben Lester

Innocent

We look down on ourselves

Holding on to anyone we can

Pushing through the fallen rock

Leaving home

Peeling off the second skin

The innocence

We are never honest

All that I’m discovering

Right beside me

We were only seventeen

We knew

Breaking down the barriers

Leaving home

Peeling off the second skin

The innocence

We are never honest

We are never honest

We are never honest

Credits

  • Voice / Guitars
    • Nick Ball
  • Voice
  • Upright bass
    • Jeremy Boettcher

Wake

When I was younger I lost my faith

You told me,

“Brother, you’ll know when you’re my age”

And even though that day has come

And I still do not

You are still my hope

My pushing off

You are here

Arms across

I cannot bear to see my father

This is not fair

I’m not at peace

But I clearly see what needs to be done

When we’re breathless

When the love hits

We’re all the same

Credits

Image of in a tunnel doing some field recordings Image of in a tunnel doing some field recordings Image of in a tunnel doing some field recordings Image of in a tunnel doing some field recordings