We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Sum Total Of Insolent Blank

by Santa Sprees

/
  • Streaming + Download

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

    The first fifty purchasers of 'Sum Total Of Insolent Blank' will receive a painting from the 'Tests Reliefs Minutes' series by Anthony Dolphin and a signed copy of Santa Sprees' debut album 'Keep Still' or the cash equivalent of nothing.
    Purchasable with gift card

      £5 GBP  or more

     

  • limited edition compact disc
    Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    A single disc 32-track version of the album in an edition of fifty. The first 25 purchasers recieve a jingle of their name made by Santa Sprees for their exclusive use. Each disc surface is hand drawn by the artist Anthony Dolphin. Each sleeve numbered out of /50. Each disc contains a unique piece of data text. Sleeve folds out into poster of original cover art, a graphic music score for a song on the album.

    Anyone who has already bought the digital version can buy the CD for just £5.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Sum Total Of Insolent Blank via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Diag F 00:07
Diagram of heaven
2.
Gold plated Gene Is he still with us? Who's keeping count? I kept you around My standards have dropped, dropped, dropped, dropped Into a crevice A thin vein I thought there was better Caught in the torchlight A trail of a tear Divided a rock face into sediment years and years and years Because I struck gold I struck gold I struck gold when I found you I struck gold
3.
A sum total of insolent blank A one way ticket amounts to a plan A sum total of... I wrote a poem for future saint Nobody ready it Nobody will A sum total of... I took a picture of Schoenberg's tomb A pointless act for living room (It doesn't really look good anywhere) That's the spirit insolent blank We fought the war for money banks A sum total of... Mechanical models were based upon The inner workings of insular men (Like her, like them) Remove the bandage from my eyes The rapt attention was all inside A sum total of..
4.
All very twenties said the asp Took a plumbline to cut your bob I could rest a Bible on your eyelashes Roaring lioness, where is the catch? The Weimar Republic was always dear to her Her words fog the crystal ball Its browny glass shatters rather rudely on Kristallnacht Her butcher beheads a fawn rather proudly Sticks it over the mantel Calls it a ritual Proclaims it natural Why wouldn't you follow in line with the wrecks and clergy? Beggars born to only ask for money Sequinned lioness, where is the catch? Took a global pandemic to lose my job Under snowflake martial law Me and Karl Marx have got the whip hand now My caring forever withdrawn Red tide to purify And blood-rinsed collection plates Along an unlit fire escape The march to April ends in May Gather wood and fill your flask The pyre will singe unholy flesh We could burn a Bible while we're at it Greying lioness, you just don't get it All very twenties said the asp Joined the breadline to look the part He said the food banks were just like a club We could come along if we were good Took chest high seawater to change our ways Under the wilderness of natural laws Sod and Groucho Mark have got the last laugh now Our labour finally withdrawn All very All very twenties said the asp All very twenties All very twenties All very twenties All very twenties said the asp
5.
6.
We Drew Lots 02:29
Further episodes will answer what all the grown ups knew, Sir Lancelot That suit of foil's not fooling anyone Baked at home in furs and forced upon By a reign of dragons and a rule of thumb That screws the low born serfs 'til kingdoms come What if it's new? What if it ain't? Tear the knights of the day right off the page Oh, we drew lots Failing at first to further the plot But straw-clutchers aren't proud We'll remove their gloves now Oh, we thought lots Thinking at first to unstop the clock But time wasters are still allowed To express love for the unbowed Reverse stories can't answer what all the pin-ups grasped, Sir Lancelot That suit of his was big enough and grew Played at home in furs and forced you to Through a reign of rights and rules and rage Bypassed your will, your heart, your age What if he's real? What if he ain't? Rip the knights of the realm right off the stage Oh, we bought lots Guessing at first to further our cause But pearl clutchers don't always love How we remove our gloves Oh, we drew lots Failing at first to further the plot Tie breakers break the best of men Your will, your way, absolved again Oh, we drank lots Clearly at first to uncork some block But us bottle drainers are a dying breed The perfect ditch still appeals to me
7.
One is free of crime scene gargoyles Two is tied to a chair Cultivated married men left her all their hair Now, they're sad and alone Three drink Night Nurse in the daytime At least four mix it with rum Make believe they're in the Carribean Betting on the setting sun They're really sad and alone Five is lucid but fairly flaccid Six is harmless....clearly useless Seven is workshy Eight's in a shed Nine's having a stroke next week Ten's already dead Eleven's a leg man Twelve's in jail She claims to have loved and lost Where others tried and failed Twelve imperfect men Twelve imperfect men Twelve imperfect men Twelve imperfect men
8.
Gather round Settle down Here is something you will not believe His ears Made his money in broken crockery He's independently wealthy Middle managerial Ad-hocery He gave me some frivolous financial advice Sported an apron twice his size Decorated with scenes of Cotswold village life And Jumbo Book of Revelation I met the man who milked the cows on Malted Milk Both of them I met the man who milked the cows on Malted Milk
9.
I bit into a madeleine It was a bit like the last madeleine I'd eaten That's how deep I am That's how long I've lived Objectif papier-mâché Volumes pulped and sieved Are you still working through les temps perdu? He got the girl was cute I ain't no Marcel Proust I want to run you down And the fortune you're sitting on Not a white camelia plainly You will have to educate me Bit into a madeleine Not one from another time Not from a book or film No, this shell-shaped cake is mine
10.
Oh, two two oh I tried to get beyond the news That you know loads Of men in beds Not flower beds Inconvenient Ruth Not the version I wanted Oh, two two oh I tried to dial your number with my nose But you were out Like you're always out And there's no self improvement Inconvenient Ruth Not the version I wanted Oh, two two oh We got ahead of ourselves In hard times act tough Those experiments in love were good for us Just not the version I wanted Inconvenient Ruth Inconvenient Ruth Oh, two two oh I am not Lou Reed I took a wrap of speed But I could not keep up Look up At least not the version I wanted Inconvenient Ruth It's the attention economy Look up, look up Inconvenient Ruth Inconvenient Ruth Inconvenient Ruth Inconvenient Ruth
11.
Lump Sum 03:54
He bought a facelift with the lump sum Made him smile like a dachshund None of the ladies found him fetching If they could only see his lump sum He's going to spend it on them The wait now is weighing him down It's not like it's an ill-gotten gain Lump sum da, da, da, da Try and buy a sense of humour with your lump sum Try and shrink that tumour with your lump sum Has life added up to this? Does he have enough to make up for Time he spent being frugal and poor? Facing bald facts, he needs new friends They won't care if he has hair or not They're going to come around And stick around 'til he's in the ground He's going, he's going to waste it on them Like he's never had money before With my naked eye I could see the red in Jupiter Every earthling needs our lump sum Here lies a lump sum of existence The gravedigger will not wash his hands The vicar's forgotten your surname It's good the widow has still got blood in her veins She can laugh over the trifle Making plans to drink sherry in Spain There's no way to add up a lump sum For that figure will not appear again
12.
13.
I am searching for a subject to blame I have double standards to maintain Misinformation does not compose itself PR exercise has worn us out This is love This is a surface Can you see the difference? Can you wipe it clean? I know what I wanted and it wasn't this Can you say what it is? Can you leave it alone to be its own world alone and lonely? Ludwig Wittgenstein Wrote all kinds of truths but lies still stalk the world In ancient form and the plainest sight Comprehend the words Apprehend the world I am looking for an object to tame I have empty propositions to entertain This is a verb This is an action Can you forget its name? Can it exist without one? I know how it felt and it was more than this Can't say what it was Bit I can't leave it alone to be a world adrift and lonely Ludwig Wittgenstein Found all kinds of lies in the lines of causal form Wrapped around the world as thin green twine Wrap it up Ludwig Wittgenstein Forged all kinds of truths but lies still stalk the world In ancient form, in the plainest sight Comprehend the words Apprehend the world Recall the tune Comprehend the words Apprehend the world
14.
Further to cut element Further to cut element Blotting you out Health kicks, health kicks, health kicks Don't work Further to cut element Long division, long division, long division Don't work
15.
How you butcher fish finger? I cut lengthways with twig It take ages What's your secret, mister? I don't have a secret I have technique So, how you butcher hair, mister? Good question Mostly, I singe them in zig-zag With magnified rays from our nearest sun It keeps me busy
16.
What sounds did you hear? Horses' hooves Voices Nothing to do Nothing to do You're gonna learn about the force of nature, boy Who knew life and limb were still becoming all consuming? The oxygen, the sap, the spit, the opiates The frugal sons of cautious men have turned to drugs No pregnant pause to interrupt the drinking cup We are prone We are prone A discharged carriage with evergreen wreaths on its wheels And pink scallop shells on both sides Spelling out the name of the sender and the addressee Bring us to a clearing with blue bells and long grass swaying A salt grey channel beyond our tongue We are prone We are prone Nothing to do but to tear blades, grass blades longways For hours and hours and hours and hours Nothing to do Tear blades, grass blades longways For hours and hours Nothing to do Tear blades, grass blades longways For hours and hours and hours
17.
18.
There are never enough hours in the day for you So, why don't you try those long night hours? You could rise as the moon and the stars come out Make nocturnal time your daily allowance And avoid the worst rays of the sun Stay up, SIndy Don't be so quick to go to bed The night is begging They're other ways to rest your head Stay up longer...linger in the dark Pause your dream The night needs our company There is no stimulant in the day for you So, why don't you use those wild night hours? Stay up, SIndy Now, not so keen to go to bed The night is begging They're other ways to rest your head Stay up longer...let us linger in the dark Pause your dream The night needs our company Stay up, SIndy Why are you so keen to go to bed? The night is begging They're better ways to lose your head Stay up longer...let us linger in the dark Replay your dream The night needs our company
19.
Donald's building a space force To conquer a teenage foe Inadequate man Can't let the girls go Everything's still....everything's still....still normal We're straightening the leads Can't wait to plug it in Say it'll be ready in three weeks Trust he'll be dead by then Everything's still....everything's still....still normal Found a B-movie plot thought lost Generates a general salute Drew the triangular patches himself To match the sky blue space boots Everything's still....everything's still....still normal "Space...gonna be a lot of things happening in space Because space is the world's newest war-fighting domain The space force will help us deter aggression And control the ultimate high ground" Every leader needs a raygun In their tiny hands To vapourise the enemy And convince their fans that Everything's still....everything's still....still normal Evil forces doubt his mission He needs the aliens' names Gonna colonise Mars And live in their caves Everything's still....everything's still....still normal
20.
Pet Project 01:01
21.
One careful application of taste I know it will stick I know you won't wait Had the hem on the way in Let her down on the way out I saw the green brim Very Scandinavian, well-chosen You know they bleach oak Oh God, what have we done? Apply the dye to your hair There and there and not there Suffered four heavy losses And made a poem of them I know they're coming See my good side Taste is a shallow actor Taste is a shallow actor It's an easy come back We have a cause We have a calling All I know is where and when to say the right thing Taste is a shallow actor It's a minor player It's no loving counsel It's no cure for night terror It's a converted chapel It's a modest truth It's a shallow actor I've been asking after I know they're coming See my good side Taste is a shallow actor Taste is a shallow actor I have one thing left Taste It's too young a being It stops you seeing Taste is a shallow actor Taste is a shallow act Taste is a shallow actor One careful application of taste I know it will stick I know you won't wait
22.
Inner Life 02:54
I never listen to the shepherdess Picked up a perspex prism It was covered in scratches The ink stains mean nothing To the waking masses The mist has cleared to reveal more mist Is this the inner life you warned me about? Close your eyes full of pollen A cup of blood, vessels in motion I never saw the final veil If I had, would I be certain This is the inner life you told me about? Is this the inner life you warned me about?
23.
24.
On the idle banks of the River Severn, age five Caught a glimpse of my future bed I'd made it myself So, theory goes, I should lie in it Knew already I could not stand it On the bat swarm bend in the River Thames Sat this close to the blondest picnic She'd asked me there herself So, theory goes, I should enjoy it But I could not stand it On the pillowed east slope of the gawa Edo Every red face follows the fall of fireworks We are in our own world of a thousand million insects And no part of me can understand it What brought you along the river? Like a thick twig through the reeds So many things, so many things could have delayed you So, how then? Why then? All rivers, all rivers misled us All rivers, all rivers led me...misled me All rivers, all rivers, all rivers misled me
25.
26.
Tree tops are thick with émigrés Casting throat code into thermal fates It's a pleasant evening when the lights come on At the convenience store where I pay my bills The staff all know me but pretend not to It's easier this way for all concerned The air is charged with the lust of looters The tramps are nettles The bats are local You look unmoved by these fairy lights Along the river front at new expense The flightless mortals are pedestrian They never look up They never look up
27.
Put your head on straight Pull the blanket up to your chin and beyond Cover your nose if you need Bury your head in the night The six o'clock sun is not the real one The seven o'clock sun is not the real one You can ignore them Outside, it's bedlam That's for them That's for them It's not for us
28.
Opens at page seven What time do you call this?
29.
Hidden Away 04:04
Hidden away under a bridge at home Hidden away with a choir of trolls Stealing drinks in fluorescent light This mother of invention has diluted time Halting forward motion in the glacial days Before the kids come home and she's hidden away Affix gaze A Return gaze B Cement that stare Eternally All hands 'neath the cotton in trembling submission To the voices in the daytime demanding you listen Do not let on you ever felt this good To the neighbourhood watch that would love you locked up Affix gaze A Return gaze B Cement that stare Eternally Affix gaze A Return gaze B Cement that stare Eternally A heart trampled By her bare feet Gain carpet inches From there to me
30.
Routine routine, routine routine Routine routine, routine routine When you say it often enough, it'll start to sound exotic Like fountains found in foreign lands with French as the father tongue Ochre spots and chevrons stabbed rough on spears of green The mist of Eden as a lifted skirt only conceals more routine Routine routine, routine routine Routine routine, routine routine To find yourself in the routines of others is to enter another world Through doorways of cabin peat, thick pamphlets of Braille pen Sense the chaos of sapphire riches and the liberation it would bring To lowly specks of cosmic dust who cannot comprehend these things Is the mystery, is the mystery, is the mystery a dream? Routine routine, routine routine Routine routine, routine routine Routine routine, routine routine
31.
32.
Tempt Fate 01:49
Ain't it a bit early, baby For your mid-morning drink? Can't you force down a slice Of something brown and dry? Ain't it a bit early, bright spark To be settling down? Think of the freedom I get From my life of debt Ain't it a bit late, soldier For the self-help searches? Being fertile is a memory Colder than your family Ain't it a bit late, honey For a mid-life crisis? More stomach for pension funds Than digesting Jung Ain't it a bit late, baby To throw yourself off a bridge? Eulogies keep you afloat When you're composing your note Always too soon Always too late So, tempt fate Tempt fate
33.
Whatever it takes apart from that We'll manage, dear We can go without We can live on love We can move abroad Earning less but living more Whatever it takes apart from that If we resort to that, we'll know we've failed Don't let us sink into that quicksand Or their prised trap of finding fault However long it takes you, darling I will be blank, impassive, waiting You have to tell me, "It's not helping" Please dissuade me from declaring Whatever it takes apart from that We'll get by, dear We can live without Everything but each other Every single thing but each other
34.
Progress 02:24
Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress Progress
35.
Normal led us here Normal led us astray Normal needs you to lie awake and worry About how you're going to pay for it all You think normal brought us together When normal broke us up Normal is an endless commercial For you not having enough So. let's not go back to normal Let's not live there anymore Let us dwell in a cave marked 'home of the strange' Let's not go back to normal Normal got us here Normal made it worse Normal wastes your time Normal makes you work Normal made a profit Yet normal made you poor Normal rewards dominion And always needed more So. let's not go back to normal Let's not live there anymore Let us dwell in a cave marked 'home of the brave' Let's not go back to normal Normal cuts down trees Normal cuts the grass Normal needs finite resources Normal does not need things to last Normal made you unhappy Then sold you happy pills Normal made you care about celebrity Normal made you ill What's more normal made you stupid Normal made you plain Normal's made you empty That's how normal kept you sane Normal is constructed Which means normal can be undone Normal made forever chemicals in a lab Normal never wants you to learn That normal is a church Distant riches require some faith Normal needs you to believe That normal is the only way So. let's not go back to normal Let's not live there anymore Let us dwell in a cave marked 'home of the strange' Let's not go back to normal
36.
37.
Four lanes, four lanes of memory merging into new histories Someone will form an ideology from them Maudlin reports that had you dead at eight and revived by nine Skirt the filthy walls Wipe your hand on your gown There is no clean route home This is no time to act alone Her last salute to Duke for his comic overture About a Welsh town overrun by six white goats Unlike most masked impatients, he died mid-sentence Saying, "you plump the pillows, I'll supply the jokes" Still viral blossoms in the longest corridor The traitor who brought lillies will have to learn Our minister keeps us plied with unsound advice And a thoughtful stream of empty urns Ask to be interred with peat and loam This is no time to act alone Two lanes, two lanes of history fading into cold purgatory Someone might watch over you...just not me The time travel reports had you admitted at three And long dead by four Skirt the blood-spotted walls Wipe the tears on your gown For there is no safe route home This is no time to act alone
38.
I do I do, too There's confetti in my muesli There's red rice in her hair The breakfast scene's our altar We paused a moment there Of course, we've put on weight We live on wedding cake Getting married every day Think on Rikugien and June azalea Under a silken head of Hermes I'll always see you there There's champagne in my slippers They're always wringing wet The tiara looks a picture But do you need it on in bed? Your train covers half the floor Kneeling proposals are the norm Getting married more and more Live your life again From that moment then Engage in every April For relentless wedding march Complain about the DJ Until death do us part We're always drafting vows For romantic tax allowance Getting married here and now Think on Rikugien and its black contortion pine An exchange of gold and silver To buy us precious time Sixteen years of wedlock Just ten days of honeymoon But ask me if I love her I'll always say I do Unrelenting wedded bliss Would probably make you sick Getting married all the time Plant what you know now In that green tea house Although the icing's thin We have to pay the mortgage Moved to make a will Even though I thought it morbid Never think what's yours is mine Getting married all the time
39.
I've not been looking nor seeking or yearning, no I've not been listing or keeping a count of the days That you've been away Because times seem longer Each room is quieter I can see the future and it's getting harder And with this reveal, I elect to step hard on the brakes If love is the destination, why is the journey so long? OK, the destination is love but the time does not go on and on and on We are clearly running out of road Wipers weeping for the love adjacent Thinking this passenger can't be consoled With glovebox tissues and my night vision say-so That claims, love's been arranged to reach this stage I've not been looking nor seeking or yearning, no I've not been listing or learning Or keeping account of the time that I've been ignored The times seem shorter Each scene is darker I can live with this future even if it's lacking drama And with this release, why would I choose to step on the brakes? O, because love is the destination And the journey is long The destination is love And it's true, the time does not go on and on and on We know we are running out of road Foglights illuminate the space pre-hedgerow For us passengers who can still be consoled With habitual kisses and the songs of old That tell them the love's been changed to reach this stage The love's been changed to reach this stage
40.
41.
Empty Hours 04:14
This slowed-down age of gifted months to fill Kept all awake by wormholes being drilled Into the nothing years of drifted time Scenes of friends lost in nightclubs fluffing party lines Still mortify me in my adult bed Think of all those empty hours with her instead This arrested era of time stood still Is a chance to indulge in nostalgia for the unfulfilled Expanses of your life where hope still applied And not the daily resignation in which you now specialise You say you'll catch up...and that's touching...but it's always late Were all those empty hours worth the wait? Another minor role for a bit part player With all the advantages you had Your underachievemnet was spectacular A lie lip-synced with relief Collides with this unpopular belief A dose of corrosive boredom is good for your health No need to journey inside yourself Those twisted figures cannot apply For they could never equal you plus I Regret retreats with lust and loss So young schemes can be filed away All those empty hours were worth the wait
42.
Opiate 00:37
43.
Is there anything I can say To prepare you for the end? Only so much I can do To ready myself You said you'd try And follow my advice But it only makes you mad When I don't nurse you well I know tears have to fall And the home help won't help We knew from tear one This was no dry run They can change your dressing Tell you why it hurts But when you hide somewhere Who finds you first? Who brings you back To pastures past? Walking through English fields Not this vision of hell I know how to do this I know the home help won't help

about

A long long player
A magnum of pus
For pestis secunda
You have loved a lot worse
Possibly

credits

released July 17, 2020

All songs written and performed by Santa Sprees (Anthony & Kazuko Dolphin). Recorded upon Hillside Bamboo, Dartmouth between January and June, 2020. Cover paintings and design by Anthony Dolphin.

Love and thanks to Graham Darnell & Doris Distant, Graham Dolphin, Chris Healey, Tracy Lee Strassburg, Hisham Mayet at Sublime Frequencies, John Russell, Tori Kudo. Matt Love, Wilder Gonzales Agreda & Peru Avant Garde, Christie at Tunecore, Faye Kahn at WFMU, Marianna Parker, Shaun Blezard, Phil Wilson, Matt at Nice Clean Quiet, Caroline Hussey & the Soup/Zuppa Improvisers, The Séance, Dave Hammond, Claire Stronach, Kyle at Extra Normal, Zumaia Za, Conrad Ashley, Dave McMahon, Ryunosuke Komoro, Duncan Harris and the Kanto faithful, Cédric Lerouley, Stephen Main, and Colorado visionary Peetura Luttenbacher.

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Santa Sprees

The Anglo-Japanese band Santa Sprees have been advancing the art of unpopular song since 1994. Making questionable progress from the low-skilled, no-fidelity, no wave of their earliest cassettes to the largely futile primitive avant bubblegum of today, releasing ten collections to date on a trail of defunct labels and media. ... more

contact / help

Contact Santa Sprees

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Santa Sprees recommends:

If you like Santa Sprees, you may also like: