Tracklist
The Soft Self
I kept the volume low Hands flat against the wall A name I answered to But never learned to call I let the stutter swallow every word I almost said I called that peace, I called it safe, I called it being dead There was a mirror in the hallway I wouldn't face for years This was the soft self The one who never speaks The architecture built On swallowed air and weeks This was the soft self And I'm leaving him tonight Leaving him tonight Leaving him tonight Leaving him tonight
The Voice That Raised Me
I know this voice like kitchen tile Like a flinch before the hand It raised me in the space between The silence and command I carry it like broken glass Through every room I've known Can't cut it out, can't quiet it down It speaks and now I move The voice that raised me won't let go It lives inside my chest I couldn't kill it if I tried So I'll make it earn its breath The voice that raised me It told me I was nothing once The word became a cage Now every time I hear it speak I recognize the rage It hasn't changed a single note I only changed the page Can't burn it out, can't drown the sound It calls me when I'd fold The voice that raised me won't let go It lives inside my chest I couldn't kill it if I tried So I'll make it earn its breath The voice that raised me What if the wound became a weapon What if the wound could learn to aim Point it at the glass And let it say my name The voice that raised me won't let go It lives inside my chest I couldn't kill it if I tried So I'll make it earn its breath The voice that raised me The voice that raised me Now I wear it like a blade The voice that raised me
Find the Enemy
I wake up heavy, hit the floor A copy of the day before The hours blur, the nights the same A stranger answers to my name I've been asleep inside my head And I am done with being dead I know the shape of what I've lost I know the ledger, know the cost I've lied to every face I meet Every bathroom, every street Tonight I stop the slow decline Tonight I make the wreckage mine Something in the quiet hums Something in the walls begins But tonight I turned and faced the glass And the glass did not look down I said the words I'd buried there I named the face I found You are a liar You are afraid Every wall you built was paper Every safe was just a cage I found the enemy tonight And I wore his face Wrote it on the glass in breath Every weakness, every fault The man I let myself become The man I've come to halt You are a liar You are afraid Every wall you built was paper Every safe was just a cage I found the enemy tonight And I wore his face Found the enemy tonight And I wore his face Found the enemy Wore his face
The Liar in My Soul
Streetlights thin, the fog rolls in Chest is caving, mouth like tin Four a.m. and nothing moving But the engine in my skull Something whispers, that's the edge Smart money says you fold But tonight I caught the accent Same one that kept me on the floor The liar in my soul says stop Says there's nothing left to find I caught him in the redlined dark With more still in the wire The liar in my soul Every done he ever sold me Every ceiling, every cage He drew the lines, I stayed inside them Let him write me every page Called it wisdom, called it balance I called it all I'd ever be Now I know the voice by name It never changed, it changed its mask The liar in my soul says stop Says there's nothing left to find I caught him in the redlined dark With more still in the wire The liar in my soul He wore my face He spoke my words Drew every line I wouldn't cross Named every limit I deserved The liar in my soul says stop Says there's nothing left to find I caught him in the redlined dark With more still in the wire The liar in my soul I found him in the mirror And the mirror didn't blink More still in the wire The liar in my soul
Walk the Wire
Shoulders squared, the ground is wet Nobody coming, no one left The voice says move, so I obey The voice says lift, I lift the day Don't ask why, don't count the cost Just haul what the morning dropped This is not the part that breaks This is not the part that bends I walk the wire I hold the line Not the man I used to be He went out with the night Walk the wire Walk the wire Four a.m., the pavement stings Every joint a rusted hinge The soft self whispers, ease it back The hard one says, add one more lap I've heard it all, the pleading part I don't negotiate with him This is not the part that folds This is not the part that quits I walk the wire I hold the line Not the man I used to be He went out with the night Walk the wire Walk the wire The load don't get lighter with time It only learns the shape of your back The voice that raised me set the pace I just decided not to crack Just me And the wire And the voice that never stops And the road that never ends I asked it once to let me rest It said, rest is something earned I walk the wire I hold the line Not the man I used to be He went out with the night Walk the wire Walk the wire Walk the wire Walk the wire Walk the wire
Saltline
One-fifteen, past the saltline No one watching, no relief Just the road and just the glare And the sound of my own feet Something says enough Something says turn back But I run through the saltline I run where the air won't give The liar in my soul says stop And I step where it won't live I run through the saltline Mile-long shadows, shoulders gone Every tendon pulling wrong The horizon stays where it is Just the sun and what persists Something says be wise Something says lie down But I run through the saltline I run where the air won't give The liar in my soul says stop And I step where it won't live I run through the saltline Then the soft voice comes like water Cool and clear and almost kind Says you've done enough to prove it Let the body save the mind And for a second I believe him For a second I slow down The kindest shape of surrender The cleanest patch of ground But the ground was hard as ever And the mercy wore a grin I heard the sugar in the lie And kept my breathing pinned So I run through the saltline I run where the air won't give The liar in my soul says stop And I step where it won't live I run through the saltline I run through the saltline I run through the saltline The road goes on I run through the saltline
Still Suffering
The kitchen light is on again The chair I chose, the cup I hold A morning like a thousand mornings And I built this one from cold I made it through the fire It looks the same from here Still suffering Still waking up before the dawn Still the mirror in the hallway Still the man I'm betting on Still suffering And I wouldn't trade it now The soft self sits across the table Smaller now, but still alive He still gets a vote each morning I still keep the car in drive The liar in my soul still speaks I just don't stop for him Still suffering Still waking up before the dawn Still the mirror in the hallway Still the man I'm betting on Still suffering And I wouldn't trade it now The voice that raised me never left I hear it when the room gets still It wears my face inside the glass I wear it every time I will Myself to stand, myself to move Myself to stay inside the truth The laces by the door The mirror on the wall The dark comes in before the sun I tie them up and go Still suffering Still waking up before the dawn Still the mirror in the hallway Still the man I'm betting on Still suffering And I wouldn't trade it now Still suffering Coming back tomorrow Still suffering Coming back tomorrow Wouldn't trade it now
About this album
The Mirror is Burnwire's second album — seven tracks about choosing the hard thing, on purpose, every morning. A defiant walk through the accountability mirror: a goodbye to the soft self, a formative voice repurposed as fuel, and the discovery that the voice telling you to stop has been lying your whole life. For playing at 4 a.m. when you don't want to get up, but you're going to anyway.