Möbius Strip
from Signs of Life by Neil Gaiman & FourPlay String Quartet
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumCurrently Bandcamp merch is only shipping within Australia!
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Cover art by Shaun Tan. Design by Andrew Nelson.
Grab yourself a first edition pressing of the vinyl record while stocks last! Bandcamp purchases will be shipped within 3 days of release date, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Deluxe two-pocket, thick card stock, double gatefold with 8-page booklet, featuring illustrations by Shaun Tan.
NOTE: The Australian colour is translucent purple, not patterned as per the image.
Includes unlimited streaming of Signs of Life via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 3 days$50 AUD or more
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Record/Vinyl + Digital AlbumCurrently Bandcamp merch is only shipping within Australia!
Visit neilandfourplay.lnk.to/signsoflife/ for many more options.
Cover art by Shaun Tan. Design by Andrew Nelson.
Grab yourself a first edition pressing of the vinyl record while stocks last! Bandcamp purchases will be shipped within 3 days of release date, barring any unforeseen circumstances. Deluxe two-pocket, thick card stock, double gatefold with 8-page booklet, featuring illustrations by Shaun Tan.
Includes unlimited streaming of Signs of Life via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 3 days$45 AUD or more
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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital AlbumCurrently Bandcamp merch is only shipping within Australia!
Visit neilandfourplay.lnk.to/signsoflife/ for many more options.
Cover art by Shaun Tan. Design by Andrew Nelson.
Hardbound case-wrapped CD book, with 16 page booklet, featuring illustrations by Shaun Tan.
Includes unlimited streaming of Signs of Life via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.ships out within 3 days$30 AUD or more
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Get all 12 FourPlay String Quartet releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.
Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Signs of Life, Wish, Bound, This Machine, Fourthcoming, Now To The Future, 3" eps part 2, 3" eps part 1, and 4 more.
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lyrics
My grandfather took a strip of paper.
Do you want to see something magic, he asked. I nodded.
Look,he said. One side. Two sides. But if I give it a twist before I glue it, it only has one side.
I knew that was impossible. I took a pen and traced along it, and wound up, somehow, back where I began.
Only one side, he said.
What do you think will happen if I cut it into two, along the middle of the strip?
Two loops? I said.
He showed me how to cut, and I cut along the strip. It opened into one enormous loop. Then made another strip: this time, he twisted it twice before he glued it. I cut. Now there were two loops all right, but they were linked, connected, one through the other one.
Magic, I said.
That's right, he said, magic. It's all in the twist. It's the twist that brings you back where you started.
And I'm walking along the strip now, thinking that there are two sides to every question, two sides to every coin. That the world is what I think it is, and that memory plays you straight and nothing's tricky.
And I'm walking on.
I build a place, and I plan my life, and every time I plan, the world twists, not much, just a half-turn from where I thought I'd be, and the plans are somehow on the other side of where I wanted to turn up.
And when I try to cut someone out of my life, I discover we’re still linked. There's back, and there's forward when I start out, but the further forward I go, I’m no further away from back. I'm a child, and I'm an adult, and I'm a parent and I'm a grandfather, and in the end, I’m returning to a place I remember.
When we forget, when we forget everything, forget the past as we forget the future, then the last twist takes us back, and so I'm showing a small child how to make a Möbius strip. I take the paper, and I give it half a twist before I glue it down.
I'm old now. And I'm young. I'm somewhere on the strip, we all are, walking the sign of infinity. Into the darkness. And I'm looking for signs of life in my memory, reflected in the mirror.
I'm a Möbius strip. We all are.
We only ever see one face. It's the twist that brings you back where you started.
Do you want to see something magic, he asked. I nodded.
Look,he said. One side. Two sides. But if I give it a twist before I glue it, it only has one side.
I knew that was impossible. I took a pen and traced along it, and wound up, somehow, back where I began.
Only one side, he said.
What do you think will happen if I cut it into two, along the middle of the strip?
Two loops? I said.
He showed me how to cut, and I cut along the strip. It opened into one enormous loop. Then made another strip: this time, he twisted it twice before he glued it. I cut. Now there were two loops all right, but they were linked, connected, one through the other one.
Magic, I said.
That's right, he said, magic. It's all in the twist. It's the twist that brings you back where you started.
And I'm walking along the strip now, thinking that there are two sides to every question, two sides to every coin. That the world is what I think it is, and that memory plays you straight and nothing's tricky.
And I'm walking on.
I build a place, and I plan my life, and every time I plan, the world twists, not much, just a half-turn from where I thought I'd be, and the plans are somehow on the other side of where I wanted to turn up.
And when I try to cut someone out of my life, I discover we’re still linked. There's back, and there's forward when I start out, but the further forward I go, I’m no further away from back. I'm a child, and I'm an adult, and I'm a parent and I'm a grandfather, and in the end, I’m returning to a place I remember.
When we forget, when we forget everything, forget the past as we forget the future, then the last twist takes us back, and so I'm showing a small child how to make a Möbius strip. I take the paper, and I give it half a twist before I glue it down.
I'm old now. And I'm young. I'm somewhere on the strip, we all are, walking the sign of infinity. Into the darkness. And I'm looking for signs of life in my memory, reflected in the mirror.
I'm a Möbius strip. We all are.
We only ever see one face. It's the twist that brings you back where you started.
credits
from Signs of Life,
released April 28, 2023
Words by Neil Gaiman, Music by FourPlay String Quartet
Produced by Lara Goodridge, Tony Buchen and FourPlay
Additional production by Justin Tresidder
Recorded by Matt Wiggins at The Church Studios, London
Vocals recorded by Justin Tresidder at Sony Music Studios, Sydney
Mixed by Justin Tresidder at Hydrofunk HQ, Mullumbimby
Words by Neil Gaiman, Music by FourPlay String Quartet
Produced by Lara Goodridge, Tony Buchen and FourPlay
Additional production by Justin Tresidder
Recorded by Matt Wiggins at The Church Studios, London
Vocals recorded by Justin Tresidder at Sony Music Studios, Sydney
Mixed by Justin Tresidder at Hydrofunk HQ, Mullumbimby
license
all rights reserved
tags
about
FourPlay String Quartet Sydney, Australia
FourPlay is an indie rock band that just happen to be a string quartet.
shows
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Dec 26Woodford, QLD
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Jan 15Sydney, NSW
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Jan 18Melbourne, VIC
discography
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Jul 2023 -
Apr 2023 -
Aug 2018 -
Apr 2018