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Sticker Collection

by Lauren Best

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  • Streaming + Download

    Immediate download of 12-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire. Download includes PDF liner notes. Download free until May 15!
    Purchasable with gift card

      $5 CAD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Comes in a high-quality digipack with a 15.5"x15.5" fold-out poster with collage by Sandra Rojas on one side with liner notes and all lyrics on reverse.

    Also includes immediate download of 12-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
    ships out within 5 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $20 CAD or more 

     

  • The Compact Disc comes in a high-quality digipack with a 15.5"x15.5" fold-out poster with collage by Sandra Rojas on one side with liner notes and all lyrics on reverse.

    This package ships includes a 100% organic cotton Me To We t-shirt (in Pale Yellow) with original artwork by Moira Campbell. NEW update: Heather Blue now available (organic cotton/recycled polyester blend).

    "Me to We Style is a new social enterprise that is committed to providing ethically manufactured, quality apparel for the socially-conscious consumer. Our product line is domestically produced, sweatshop-free and made using certified organic cotton.
    In addition, 50 per cent of our profit goes to our charity partner, Free The Children, to support development projects in rural and impoverished areas across the globe."

    Also includes immediate download of 12-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
    ... more
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 20 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $40 CAD or more 

     

1.
There’s a girl with storms in her eyes Stars dance beneath her skin She’ll take a taste of your troubles She’ll breathe you in, breathe you in She turns and whispers to me softly, bitterly, I know that I’m worthless, I know that I deserve this I said, Oh no my darling, you’ve just been a bit flung around by Sex and self destruction Mass consumption and mass production and microcosms and scaled reductions I’m still feigning with Make believe, supersaturated fantasy Faerietales aren’t lies you see, your castle in the clouds was built by me And I never ever ever meant to tear it down I’m loving this feeling of how much I hate Feeling so much, lying so much, laughing and seeing so much Not thinking clearly, and sleeping in too late Pondering, wondering, reading unsuccessfully and such A perfect time to disappear Pack my soul inside my fears I’m turning once again to Sex and self destruction Mass consumption and mass production and microcosms and scaled reductions I’m still feigning with Make believe, supersaturated fantasy Faerietales aren’t lies you see, your castle in the clouds was built by me And I never ever ever meant to tear it down Forget what I tried to be Ideals I’ve seemed to fail to achieve What I tried to make from what you made from me Did you ever truly see, did I ever truly believe The difference between the heart and the soul I don’t know Sex and self destruction Mass consumption and mass production and microcosms and scaled reductions I’m still feigning with Make believe, supersaturated fantasy Faerietales aren’t lies you see, your castle in the clouds was built by me And I never ever ever ever ever meant to tear it down
2.
My glass is sitting squarely at zero point five ‘Cause pessimism’s cliché and optimism’s for fools Fifty percent of what I regret and fifty percent it was all for the best So zero point five and I drink sweet love to you The sum of the parts is only as broken as its pieces But I can’t seem to glue it as great as the whole I’ve tried affection, I’ve tried crying, I’ve tried mistakes and excuses But I can’t replace it and I can’t make it better again Because I’ll break it and I can’t take it Your eyes looking at me so hurt again You left a big gaping hole where my stability used to be And tried to fill it up with things like human love and generosity It seems by this you made a wreck out of me So why love, why love is it that you can’t seem to see The sum of the parts is only as broken as its pieces But I can’t seem to glue it as great as the whole I’ve tried reflection, introspection, reverence and abuses But I can’t take it and I can’t make it better again Because I’ll break it and I’ll misplace it only to find Your eyes looking at me so hurt again, again ‘Cause the sum of the parts is only as broken as its pieces But I can’t seem to glue it as great as the whole I’ve tried affection, introspection, ignorance and abuses But I can’t replace it and I can’t make it better again Because I’ll break it and I’ll misplace it And I can’t replace it, oh I can’t take it Your eyes looking at me so hurt again So hurt again
3.
I’ve never understood How I’ve always been so good And they’ve never seen that I was just scared How I rarely was denied And always seemed to try Unless something caught me unprepared It’s this feeling of resentment that I can’t seem to escape And the chance to fuck it up that I always want to take I’ll make so many well-placed mistakes Spice up my history with every pill I take Being good was never good enough for me Being a good girl don’t make for much mystery Self-loathing, self-help and a little self-pleasuring Is what gives a young lady a best-selling biography I know I’d let you down If I ever hit the ground So I learned how to discreetly hover Keep my problems perfect The sort that will be worth it Once I become that excellent daughter, mother, lover It’s forming bad habits that I know that I can shake Making little promises I know that I will break Stay when I should leave, and leave when I should stay Spice up my history with every woman I lay Being good was never good enough for me Being a good girl don’t make for much mystery Self-loathing, self-help and a little self-pleasuring Is what gives a young lady a best-selling biography I could never be amazed I could never be a disgrace Playing out exactly according to script Not too normal But not too much of a performer Just the right amount of insecurity to be hip It’s soiling my own destiny with every move I make Planning out the moments that I’ll let my façade break I’ll be everything I hate Spice up my history with each wrong word I say Spice up my history with every breath I take
4.
Let's shut ourselves up in an empty room With just some colour for the walls and our bodies' tunes We'll paint everything we can't keep inside Things that can't be hidden but can't be vocalized Not representations Of how we feel But rather explanations Of what to us is real Dear Universe I've still got a lot of growing up to do And I know I don't have to explain Because you know exactly what I'm going through One day I'll stop being silly and selfish Learn to play with whatever I'm dealt with So bear with me a while I'm just feeling a little bit blue Strangers on a train was my fantasy Anything that'd give me a taste of some mystery and intrigue Walking down streets on crisp cold nights Looking into any window that exhaled light Speculating Painting fiction in my mind Separating The reason from the rhyme Dear Universe I've still got a lot of growing up to do And I know I don't have to explain Because you know exactly what I'm going through One day I'll stop being silly and selfish Learn to play with whatever I'm dealt with So bear with me a while I'm know you’ve tasted this too Let’s drink coffee and talk about social policy Existential angst, pop culture and philosophy Environmentalist righteousness and indie pretension Academic posturing and strained comprehension Laughing, disguised as debating Trying out fresh new bullshit lines Commiserating About belonging to this thing known as human kind And when we realize we're living in a cliché Does that give you comfort, does that give you faith The fact that typical has always been saved And the fact that typical always remains Never mind, sit with me, watch the rain and write bad poetry Haikus about me loving you loving me I'm not altogether sure about these values I cling to And I'm afraid that my planet will never be renewed To be honest, I don't have many well formed opinions I'm terrified, a victim of human condition I wonder sometimes if I'm just a Distorted reflection of what I've been sold And I wonder sometimes If all I know is what I've been told Dear Universe I've still got a lot of growing up to do And I know I don't have to explain Because you know exactly what I'm going through One day I'll stop being silly and selfish Learn to play with whatever I'm dealt with So bear with me a while, bear with me a while, bear with me a while Bear with me Dear Universe I've still got a lot of growing up to do And I know I never really did have to explain Because you’ve always seemed to know what I’ve been going through One day I’ll stop being so silly and selfish Learn to play with whatever I’m dealt with So bear with me a while I'm still so goddamn in love with you
5.
Heat rising to my face, disgrace Too much to lose in this sweet embrace Maintain the distance, while keeping up the pace You don’t understand how much you’ve misplaced I wanted to get lost in you But lost was never found You’re running to try to catch up to me But I’m running out of time before I hit the ground My solution for sensitivity Lies in my nihilistic tendencies If I don’t believe in you Then you can’t believe in me I’m still getting used to living in my own skin Still trying on my soul for size, and I better get a fit before I let you in I’m lying through my teeth and kissing away my lies Every smile is just a smirk in disguise Getting set to play the victim, getting you to sympathize Before you realize, before I compromise My solution for sensitivity Lies in my nihilistic tendencies If I don’t believe in you Then you can’t believe in me I wanted you to seize me, tease me, leave me Break me, taste me, to please just complicate me So I can beg for forgiveness true While I know you know I know the blame’s on you It’s a liar’s game where you think you know the truth About everything I made you put me through My solution for sensitivity Lies in my nihilistic tendencies If I don’t believe in you Then you can’t believe in me If I don’t believe in you Then you can’t believe in me
6.
Gargoyles play in your consciousness Between insecurity and false confidence In your firm sense of righteous deviance They find a nice place to nestle in and call home You'll never be alone, but you're always on your own I want to dance with them Bathe in this disastrous requiem Take the shades of complexity onto my tongue All given, no condition, tasted affliction I would give you truth, but it's dynamically divine I would give you a sense of security, but that's a silly thing for the constructs of your mind When I finally open my eyes I see You and me naked in the rain Dancing in droplets, dripping pain Laughing, splashing in puddles of shame Soaked to the soul Let me go on an exploratory dive Swimming into the depths of your mind And if I make it back alive I'll go again deeper, deeper Hoping to transcend the beginning of the end You can challenge me, you can shake my beliefs Shock and awe, beckon and tease Chew and spit, plead guilty and unravel me Playing between senses, playing between defenses I would give you redemption, but to have redemption you have to have faith I would give you illusion, but as your own illusions will demonstrate When you finally open your eyes you'll see You and me naked in the rain Dancing in droplets, dripping pain Laughing, splashing in puddles of shame Soaked to the soul I want to play in your consciousness Between magical and infectious happenstance In your firm sense of righteous deviance I find a nice place to nestle in and call home You'll never be alone, but you're always on your own I would give you second chances, but to have a second chance you have to fuck it up I would give you moments to see me too, but moments never seem to last long enough If we ever open my eyes I know we’ll see You and me naked in the rain Dancing in droplets, dripping pain Laughing, splashing in puddles of shame Soaked to the soul
7.
Crooked 05:16
Your crooked hands Your clever hands Your calm and contemplating hands The way they betray all they hide is quite becoming of you The way they violate the black and white space makes it a part of you and a part of me too They look like they have tried to wring themselves choked and blue They could smooth down my face Over the strains to the contented truth You, you’re singing a new kind of song to me I, I’ve never felt this kind of melody You’re speaking to a part of me that’s never felt this kind of groove And it comes from somewhere buried deep It’s anticipation and relief It’s taking hold of my body and soul and causing them to move I drowned once in your eyes, pulled down into the sea by stormy surf They’re honest, and they’re stoned, and they’re grieving and they’re hurt Blinking on and on, blinking off; like some crepuscular learning curve They’re mining for information and begging you to be unearthed You, you’re singing a new kind of song to me I, I’ve never felt this kind of melody You’re speaking to a part of me that’s never felt this kind of groove And it comes from somewhere buried deep It’s anticipation and relief It’s taking hold of my body and soul and causing them to move You’re bearing me, wearing heat, so innocently caring means So blindly full of influence, overflowing with mood Unintentionality, indifference, pulsing changes in circumstance Sweetly in counterpoint with chance, deepening heavier when seen beside Truth, you take me so much further than my view to truth to all the reasons singing higher I have left the melody and can’t be stilled in this harmony Truth talking ‘bout you and I’m far beyond what you were moving too uncouth, I think For I can’t be stilled if my heart holds the beat You, you’re singing a new kind of song to me I, I, I’ve never felt this kind of melody You’re speaking to a part of me that’s never felt this kind of groove And it comes from somewhere buried deep It’s anticipation and relief It’s taking hold of my body and soul and causing them to move
8.
Ripples 02:59
Ripples on water aren’t the kind of thing that can be captured They have to be lived to really truly be realized Like my mother’s love for her daughter, like when a thousand footsteps falter Like the moment you try to see the world through someone else's eyes Freeze frames don’t have this sort of beauty The beauty I see every day in the world Loving and living and crying and singing About the way I fall in love with every day again Rain clouds and runaways, long walks on windy days Ways we try to differentiate between broken hearts and broken minds Playgrounds, oh they’re waterfalls; piano bars and curtain calls The way your heart feels all tangled up with mine Freeze frames don’t have this sort of beauty The beauty I see every day in the world Loving and living and crying and singing About the way I fall in love with every day again A baby’s laughter, the way I’m enraptured By the mutual praise of the sun’s rays drenching trees reaching to the sky Sidewalk chatter, and hope in disaster Or the moment you find the world in someone else’s eyes Freeze frames don’t have this sort of beauty The beauty I see every day in the world Loving and living and crying and singing About the way I fall in love with every day Oh the way I fall in love with every day Oh the way every day seems to make me fall in love all over again
9.
The Itch 03:54
I’m running out of words Of letters and syllables To rhyme you all around me I’m running out of pretty metaphors Of stories and structures To rhyme you all around me But I haven’t even started So I’m drawing from empty veins, if only because Your love and my addiction are both means to an end Creations I’ve intentionally, accidentally engineered As demonstrations of my abilities to feel and to learn Your love, addiction my love, my means to an end Can you narrow down the demographic For the inclination to destroy Pretty things, delightful things, magical and precious things Is it a sickness or just a personality trait When one tries to avoid Perfect things, precious things, wonderful and delightful things Are there exceptions to laws of attraction Magnetic forces that change unexpectedly, if only because Your love and my addiction are both means to an end Creations I’ve intentionally, accidentally engineered As demonstrations of my abilities to feel and to learn Your love, addiction my love, my means to an end And I can’t stop fighting myself for you And I can’t stop spinning my truth And I can’t stop telling myself that oh, I really want to Claw at the itch until I can breathe again Your love, my addiction my love, my love, you’re my means to an end Creations I’ve intentionally, accidentally engineered As demonstrations of my abilities to feel and to learn Your love, addiction my love, my means to an end
10.
It’s the kind of thawing of winter that leaves the snow pocked and dirty and old With the kind of wind that caresses your bones gentle and cold And scrapes naked branches against your heart It’s a graying of seasons, it’s taking my pleasant illusions and tearing them apart And it causes me to wonder when you slipped into inevitability And it causes me to consider how long I’ve been dancing with reality Who was it that sowed the seeds of sadness in your soul Was there a moment in your life when you realized that eventually you’d lose control Every word that you don’t say brings me closer to realizing what I know Even if I maintain some semblance of faith, you’re still going to let yourself go I wrote a birthday greeting on a bathroom stall in the flock of angry letters I knew it wouldn’t save anything at all, or really make me feel much better The acrid scent filled my lungs like some non-toxic rhapsody The futility a sweet resistant harmony But it was my outcry against your goddamn fallibility And it was my outcry against the humanity of humanity Who was it that sowed the seeds of sadness in your soul Was there a moment in your life when you realized that eventually you’d lose control Every word that you don’t say brings me closer to realizing what I know Even if I maintain some semblance of faith, you’re still going to let yourself go Even if I maintain some semblance of faith, you’re still going to let yourself go
11.
I lay down, turn my head around To try to see the world from a different perspective See love’s rough edges from a different perspective I close my eyes, rearrange my mind To try to prevent myself from becoming too introspective I used to feel so unwelcome in my own skin But baby you make me beautiful You make me beautiful I’ve been here before, but only in a dream I’ve felt happiness like this before, but only in moments fleeting So now I’m trying to convince myself I’m only momentarily blue Trying to keep myself all Tangled up with you I analyze, hypothesize, and realize If I can be lovely for you Maybe I could be lovely for me too I open my heart, stand upside down to let fall out All the strangers in me that are strangers to you You make me feel so unwelcome in my own skin But baby you make me beautiful You make me beautiful I’ve seen this time of year before, but not while in love It’s like the difference between the view from the ground, and the view from above So now I’m trying to convince myself I’m only momentarily blue Trying to keep myself all Tangled up with you
12.
I cut myself to the bone On the shards of your mind, on the fragments of your soul The pieces lied there, suggestive, seductive Like a dangerous jigsaw puzzle, like a warm that turns to cold Never can play Always remain Just beyond the reach of hands still unseen Look but don’t touch Volatile enough Serpentine shedding of the skin Bury your sticker collection It never could save your soul Disregard every bitter recollection Memories melting onto stone The symptoms of restraint remain unclear Dulling of the senses Heightened perceptions The results of futility aren’t fully understood Replace growing comprehension With cancerous pretention For your own good Is misunderstood Through disfigured aspirations, mutated elation Look but don’t touch Hostile enough Comfortable sickness setting in Bury your sticker collection It never could save your soul Disregard every bitter recollection Memories melting onto stone Disregard every bitter recollection Memories melting

credits

released January 11, 2011

all words and music by Lauren Best (SOCAN)
except Tangled Up With You: words by Lauren Best, music by Lauren Best and Brian Tannahill (SOCAN)

produced by Lauren Best
with Tyler Wagler and Adam Hall

with horn production by Colleen Allen
and vocal consultation from Joy Juckes

executive production by Kevin Best

recorded and mixed by Adam Hall
with production and mixing consultation by Chris Hall and Terry Brown

mastered by Peter J. Moore at The “E” Room

horns/strings arranged by Tyler Wagler (Biography of a Good Girl, Semblance of Faith, Sticker Collection, Tangled Up With You, The Itch), Tania Gill (Zero Point Five), Kevin Barrett (Crooked), Richard Underhill (Sex and Self Destruction), and Bruce Cassidy (Dear Universe)

drums, horn sections, and selected percussion, horn solos, bass, and organ recorded at Vivace Studios
grand piano recorded at the Metropolitan Community Church of Toronto
all additional overdubs recorded at vWave Productions


published by Goodness Gracious! Records
www.goodnessgraciousrecords.com

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Lauren Best Ontario

Lauren Best and The Renegade Company: Lyrical alt-pop, revealing a quirky singer-songwriter with diverse influences. "Thinking and feeling music" with jazzy grooves and reflective lyrics that speak to audiences of all ages. Small-town sensibility with big-city flavour. ... more

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