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.

Wolf Like a Stray Dog

by Norwegian Arms

supported by
indiequeen
indiequeen thumbnail
indiequeen "say it out loud, if you whisper, the air whispers back in anecdotes ... even the frost on the door, it is yours" Favorite track: EZ a LVR Goes West (Be Fruitful, Wear Less Clothing).
Blake Hilliard
Blake Hilliard thumbnail
Blake Hilliard The most consistently great album of the year for me so far Favorite track: And Then I Found Myself in the Taiga.
Alex Evans
Alex Evans thumbnail
Alex Evans I found out about this band when they came to play at my college campus this year. I was blown away by the quality of their songwriter, and by the energy that they brought to their strange blend of folk and electronic music.
Chris Robbie
Chris Robbie thumbnail
Chris Robbie Every track is great. Been on repeat since i bought it Favorite track: EZ a LVR Goes West (Be Fruitful, Wear Less Clothing).
Grant Musser
Grant Musser thumbnail
Grant Musser Press play. 24 minutes later, you'll find yourself returned to your body with a new hunger for life. Favorite track: At the Formerly British Council Supported English Centre.
LJ Brubaker
LJ Brubaker thumbnail
LJ Brubaker What isn't to love about Norwegian Arms, I mean really. Favorite track: And Then I Found Myself in the Taiga.
more...
/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

    comes with PDF of album booklet, containing musings, photos, essays, poems, and stories written during the Siberian tenure.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Companion Zine - Siberian "Notebook"

    Originally available only bundled with Wolf Like a Stray Dog, this zine, modeled after the typical copy books used in Russian schools, contains photos, poetry, stories, and essays written between 2009 and 2010 while in Tomsk, Russia on a Fulbright fellowship. It serves as a companion to the album Wolf Like a Stray Dog. So naturally, when you buy this you get to download the album too :)

    Please keep in mind these are zines, and as such are printed in a low budget DIY way (inkjet and staples), so please expect the print quality to be a result of its process.

    I will ship this in an envelope USPS using normal first class postage.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Wolf Like a Stray Dog via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • 12" Vinyl record
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    White Vinyl record w/ digital download code. Limited edition of 300

    LP also includes a companion booklet, containing photographs and stories that inspired the album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Wolf Like a Stray Dog via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

  • Cassette
    Cassette + Digital Album

    Okay so we have a few more. I think there are like five? These are the last five ever probably.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Wolf Like a Stray Dog via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

    Sold Out

1.
Say what you will over the taiga, the last I knew I remember there as earth to October snow Say it out loud, if you whisper, the air whispers back in anecdotes and remember suffering in alphabets But remember, the frost on the door is yours And how I thought I'd make amends before I doubled back again somehow I'd wake and understand, the continent somehow should be explored, you know, even the frost on the door, it is yours.
2.
Know I feel the purpose of your art, buried in books that try to stay anything but outdated All the pushers trying to leave their mark, every single suited man, vile and red-faced It's a little much, gotta filter out the mush Smile and face the modern tyranny, monetary gain was never on your list of needs in the first place Trying just to speak authentically, putting out your feelers, wheeling with the dealers, cutting out your own way It's a little much, gotta fiddle with the slush Know we can't be anything but inextricably linked to the spots upon your soul Every time I see you sitting in your giddyup blue jeans, I feel you needing something after all. Know I feel the purpose of your art, buried in books that try to stay anything but outdated All the pushers trying to leave their mark, every single suited man, vile and red-faced It's a little much, gotta filter out the mush
3.
Widen eyes and bend your knees and try to speak, the people walk about in out about about Never bear your teeth and always stop to speak for this and these and that I'm gonna fix myself some that, I'm gonna fix myself some these When your in your place don't ever change your face in case they soften up, they always soften up Never bear your teeth and always stop to speak and keep that chin up. I'm gonna fix myself some that, I'm gonna fix myself some these Oh, nibble on your bones, you always start a show! Thought you haven't any home always start a show! I'm gonna fix myself some that, I'm gonna fix myself some these
4.
Nobody ever wants to be in the kind of town where in the atlas you can never see, politically blinded certainly it hurts when people aren't aware of your being Riding on the bus you always see the very same faces every single day and week by week, so you can tell me everything about their lives and all of their favorite things to eat Peering through the gates I see two very hungry towers glistening filling all the lines with energy do you every stop and think of what they're eating? Has anyone ever been in your house that didn't always live there If you were my only friend, could it be that I could never see your bedroom with all the books and magazines that you read Do people ever disappear at night, vanishing suddenly with winks from the guards who stand outside and secretly imply that scientists inside experiment to see if people burn chemically
5.
This was the night we lay on the floorboards and listen to sounds from the neighbors below Do you remember it too? Do you remember that Someone beneath us, a muted piano, played out the fragments of familiar tunes Do you remember it too? Do you remember that Someone beneath was snoring, and we were laughing all the night through This was the time we searched through the park so fruitlessly for some real ethnic food Do you remember it to? Do you remember you Patching my holes where they needed patching, the light from the windows our faces was playing Made a kaleidoscope view. Broke up our faces in different parts Like glasses that fell to the floor and shattered, and we couldn't fix them with any type of glue.
6.
Hop off your limbs how they restless dangle! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Give them a turn lest the muscles shamble! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Silly how you are when you’re given pedals! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Double up your pace; break your face in globules! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? It’s all in the wind on your backside blowing! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Nothing to win only moving going! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Were not the ones to be given medals! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Never mind it girl you’re a whole new level! Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Rate rate ride did I wanna wanna? Oh how the wheel spins all those itty bitty bits of metal Work in a lattice and make the tiny teeth all go in circles Soviet workers assembled you by hand, a perfect being Now is the time to saddle up and get the feeling! No one can stop you when you’re speeding!
7.
Click my dirty heels again, send me off to where I belong the uttered lines, insinuations, serving just to save these two. For the maps will never know which way I need to go and the father in my heart speaking softly "Is it anything at all to be located anywhere for good?" Seems whatever mode I take, the next place still registers as home find a job and an apartment, soon enough I'm crushing too Seems that I can never choose, anything to do and the mother in my heart weeping softly "Will you really choose a place that's keeping me so far from you?"
8.
Keep your opinions closed, your head's not a miracle, your brain's just a silly thing, your mind's not even real Stop saying stupid things, you're only an idiot, your writing's illegible, you're just a fool. But it's in the midst of being real.
9.
I'm so tired of being cold, waking up inside Siberia is not the place I imagined growing old Every day is like breathing snow inside my lungs, freezing my heart inside, and cause eyes to roll back through my life Endless playback makes me look back to better times And I had never thought before how weather could easily so change my outward view of life and make me yearn for home It's the softer ones in taller shoes make it easy to choose the one on Turner street, I'm sure that you know who Limit worldview to a precinct with better purview It's just that being inside of you, causes that looking back and shoulda been and what-if-I-could-do? I It's all a little suspect when that man begins to choose, something like growing old or moving up or finding something new
10.
Kiva Ikva 01:41
I've been hunting you following you chasing you, trying the new things outside of your door Now I'm finally tied to, embracing you, leaving affection all over the floor. It's a hysteria! I've never wanted to keep just one face, no never before I am trying to be things you want me to: animals, coworkers, wrestling kings These are precious, the rest is irrelevant, especially all those material things It's a hysteria! I've never wanted to keep just one face, no never before
11.
Pu-Erh 02:16
Is a screw loose? I've been feeling so differently now, a bit like a foreigner Is this my home or just a place where I dwell? A modern wayfarer I'm feeling ready to move, but it's just the winter The snow on the streets has turned into ice and now I'm slipping everywhere The walls of this room are turning much barer and how I want them much brighter I'm feeling ready to move, but it's just the winter When on the move, the world feels much opener Horizon abloom, a magnificent oyster Not hard to prove, that when it closes I'm my own cause It's just the winter

about

Recorded over the course of an intense week of at Dr. Dog’s Meth Beach studios, Norwegian Arms is set to release their debut LP, Wolf Like A Stray Dog. The record is comprised of eleven introspective songs written during songwriter/mandolinist Brendan Mulvihill’s year long fellowship in Tomsk, Russia, nestled in the heart of Siberia. Self- described as an “ember glowing in the distance of an otherwise frozen taiga”, Wolf Like A Stray Dog deals with themes of homesickness, discovery, frustration, and wanderlust.

Wolf Like a Stray Dog is an album about the quest for identity, a resistance to permanence, adapting to new environments, questioning one's knowledge and perspective, and never being satisfied with what you know. It's wanderlust and curiosity, distilled and neatly packaged into sonic bursts of intense energy. Simply put, it’s apparent that Norwegian Arms suffers from a chronic case of the human condition.

credits

released January 15, 2013

All songs by Norwegian Arms
All songs arranged/performed by Norwegian Arms
Norwegian Arms is Keith Birthday & Dr. Awkward

Recorded Oct 2011 at Meth Beach
Engineered by Michael Chadwick
Mixed by José Díaz Rohena
Mastered by Mark Trewella
Produced by Norwegian Arms, Michael Chadwick & José Díaz Rohena
Artwork/layout by Vika Larionova
Inspired by Cai Guo-Qiang
Copyright 2012 Norwegian Arms

Thanks to: Friends, Family, Siberia, Vika Larionova, Nicky Devine, Andy Molholt, Vincent Finazzo, Kostya Fomin, Dominic Angelella, Gary, Robin & Julie Slick

license

all rights reserved

tags

If you like Norwegian Arms, you may also like: