"Stretch marks / Across my back / People love to ask / Shark attack / Stretch marks / I'm sawn in half / Put your fingers there / Sew me whole again..."
The melancholy abstractions, torn realizations of "Stretch Marks", by London based singer songwriter Eli Carvajal, casts shadows on cold floors as warm light shines in. I love the dark, somber, poetically reflective lyrics set against sparkling piano notes and tactile acoustic guitars moving bass lines but maybe, most of all I am loving Eli's vocal countenance, earnest, potently real and artfully vulnerable. The first few seconds made me flash on Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's work together and in terms of sonic temperament and a confessional approach I thought a bit of Iron & Wine and Noah Gundersen too. Now, I am writing this all based on this wonderful song which runs more abstract than those artists. I love artists whose lyrics feel either deeply existential or so vague as to illicit sort or Rorschach reactions. Whether Eli's builds off improvisational techniques like stream of consciousness writing or cut and paste exercises, the sense here whether dadaistic or simply personal bloodletting in conjunction with the presentation and that resourceful emotional voice moves me.
NOTES from this artist:
"In love, myth and truth hold hands. Sailless on the open sea, we chart new constellations, faithful to futures we dream into being. When the clouds part and the light dies, what do older stars say?
I recorded this in my bedroom in Higashikitazawa, Tokyo, watching snow melt on Mt Fuji.
I've been nursing this song for a few years. Stretch your wings and fly."
LYRICS
Stretch marks
Across my back
People love to ask
Shark attack
Stretch marks
I'm sawn in half
Put your fingers there
Sew me whole again
Blank sky
Fields of Highbury
I drew a line on you
You drew a line on me
Too soon
We had a whole skyful
Constellations we
Set the compass to
Turns out
My love songs
Push away the ones
They rely upon
Turns out
My stretch marks
Run the distance of
Your moles and your freckles
This was
Never an honest love
All along it was
Mythological
https://www.instagram.com/elisongs/
https://www.facebook.com/elicarvajalmusic
Across my back
People love to ask
Shark attack
Stretch marks
I'm sawn in half
Put your fingers there
Sew me whole again
Blank sky
Fields of Highbury
I drew a line on you
You drew a line on me
Too soon
We had a whole skyful
Constellations we
Set the compass to
Turns out
My love songs
Push away the ones
They rely upon
Turns out
My stretch marks
Run the distance of
Your moles and your freckles
This was
Never an honest love
All along it was
Mythological
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/elisongs/
https://www.facebook.com/elicarvajalmusic
https://elicarvajal.bandcamp.com/track/stretch-marks-single
Connection songs that bare the light between us. Open-hearted, wide-eyed and playful, Eli Carvajal writes of lived experience in intimate, intense detail.
After two and a half years in Tokyo, Eli returns to London with a new album set to release and much to share.
Stretch Marks is out now, Eli's second single of 2025.
Connection songs that bare the light between us. Open-hearted, wide-eyed and playful, Eli Carvajal writes of lived experience in intimate, intense detail.
After two and a half years in Tokyo, Eli returns to London with a new album set to release and much to share.
Stretch Marks is out now, Eli's second single of 2025.
Eli Carvajal, singer songwriter, musician, DIY, multi-instrumentalist, London based, Tokyo, "Stretch Marks" (Official Video), folk, acoustic folk, indie, abstract, poet lyrics, confessional, diaristic, upcoming new album,
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