under construction
NUE, memory reaper
memory reaper
(n.) One who harvests memories for coin. The occupation emerged shortly after the Great Erasure. Little is understood about the long-term effects of memory reaping.
Welcome, memory reaper. We've been waiting for you.
The best way to experience SHAPESHIFTER is through all the senses. The contents of this envelope unlock different events, activities, and encounters throughout the night. Now that you've crossed the threshold into our world, it's time to explore.
Don't forget to share your memories with #GSNmusic and tag @girlswallowsnightingale!
A note from the creators:
This album is ultimately about transformation—how you and your memories take shape, shift, and mutate over time—and how you can go through something really difficult and still come out alive on the other end.
SHAPESHIFTER is primarily told from the point of view of Nue, a professional 'memory reaper' who eats birds (and sometimes small rodents). Nue is a hybrid of some of my favorite characters and people, including Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, Motoko from Ghost in the Shell, the Greek princess Philomela, the Russian poet Velimir Khlebnikov, Ozzy Osborne—and parts of myself too."
GIRL SWALLOWS NIGHTINGALE
by Marica Petrey
I wanna hear the sound of your laughter
As it swirls across the room
Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
You might think I’m too emotional sometimes but
At least I’m able to cry
You might say I’m just too out there for you but
Let me pry open your eyes
I wanna thrash I wanna fight like Motoko
I wanna hold my breath till all of me implodes
I wanna break up this primordial silence
Eternally naked insides on display!
You look a little confused right now, like
You don’t get how I transformed
Myself into an elastic dreamer
Come on don’t be such a bore
I wanna thrash I wanna fight like Motoko
I wanna hold my breath till all of me implodes
I wanna break up this primordial silence
Eternally naked insides on display!
Girl swallows nightingale
Careful now, cosmic egg born.
I’m a flesh eater, shape shifter, daring you to
Wipe off that fake little grin
What makes you so cautious out in the world
Why don’t you take off your skin?
And when you do what will I find underneath it?
I smell the animal swimming inside
Don’t let it die!
Girl swallows nightingale
Careful now, cosmic egg born
Little bird, little bird on a fiery field
I’ll swallow
I’ll swallow
You
Whole
red queen
Empress of Nostalgia
More coming soon...
CHIMERA
by Marica Petrey
Unfold, unfold, unfold
Holding out just to give in
Indulge in the secrets
This mental labyrinth confines
I dreamed inside the dragon’s mouth.
Chimera’s flowering heads of flame
Drowned in the bliss, the scent, the taste
Of me.
Unloose this self-destructive fantasy
Abandon all memory,
I’ve given in and you’ve let me out
I’ve given in and you’ve let me out
Light blinds, throat burns
skin peels, wings burst
Light blinds, throat burns
skin peels, wings burst
Unfold. Unfold. Unfold.
nocternal
I rise
I rise
I dreamed inside the dragon’s mouth.
Chimera’s flowering heads of flame
Drowned in the bliss, the scent, the
taste
Of me.
MUTATION
by Marica Kumayama Petrey
Twisted flowers growing out of floating pools
Whispered memories
Shrunken faces drunk with light
Hearts stop, hearts go veins fill, blood flows pulses of pink clouds unroll a mosaic of time scattered beats cry crossing our empty black night
but If the sky were a mirror hoisted high up on chains
If that mirror were broken electric waves shooting up bullet trains
The Bridge of Dreams calls
Who'll dare to cross it?
would we seek our reflections in the shards crashing down?
Or would we hide and find shelter deep in caves underground?
I’m watching you patiently
Complete mutation!
Hitodama, hitodama, hitodama
A face trapped in clay A story betrayed Vacant eyes open and close
Peeking out of the wall
A fury untold
Ringlets of blue, red and gold
but If the sky were a mirror hoisted high up on chains
If that mirror were broken electric waves shooting up bullet trains
The Bridge of Dreams calls
Who'll dare to cross it?
would we seek our reflections in the shards crashing down?
Or would we hide and find shelter deep in caves underground?
I’m watching you patiently
Complete mutation!
Hitodama, hitodama, hitodama
DEMONS
by Marica Petrey
I’ve been running away Holding shadows at bay But I can’t hide From this illness of mind Stillness drilling numb feelings Back to life The demon’s dreaming that giants fly A fever’s broken with battlecries Magnetic dread when I close my eyes Your ghostly hands whispering inside I can forgive but can’t forget Keep reliving this whole mess I can forgive but can’t forget Keep reliving this whole mess Something unkind Demons inside The demon’s dreaming that giants fly A fever’s broken with battlecries Magnetic dread when I close my eyes Your ghostly hands whispering inside I can forgive but can’t forget Keep reliving this whole mess Something unkind Demons inside
LIKE A LITTLE RAIN
by Marica Petrey
Now it feels so superficial trying to be sad all over again today
What am I feeling.
What am I thinking about except Someday it might be me
Someday it might be me
Turned the page on all of you
Pictures flood my screen I scroll past all of you
Does giving you a
Happy face help you or hurt me?
Liquid pooling back into my head
Like a little rain
Like a little rain
Crawling by its fingertips
Up into the sky
Like a little rain
Like a little rain
Gone by
Liquid pooling back into my head Crawling by its fingertips
Up into the sky
Like a little rain
Like a little rain
Not used to nice things lasting
Find out when you fall
Like a little rain
Like a little rain