Raised By Swans – Violet Light

Song

Raised By Swans' song 'Violet Light' is featured in Douglas Coupland's film Everything's Gone Green.

Armenian-Canadian film director Atom Egoyan is a fan of Howden's music, and has included his songs in two of his films. Three songs from Codes and Secret Longing are featured in Adoration (2008), and two songs from No Ghostless Place appear in Chloe (2010). The live version of the band, as it was in 2010, also plays itself in Chloe, performing sections of ‘We Were Never Young’ and ‘Longer Shadows, Shorter Days’ live at The Rivoli in Toronto, Ontario.

Album

Codes and Secret Longing is the debut studio album by Canadian solo artist Raised by Swans. It was written in its entirety by Eric Howden, recorded at Andy Magoffin's studio, House of Miracles, and released on April 11, 2005. The album cover features the two protagonists of the Anime Grave of the Fireflies.

Artist

Raised by Swans is the musical alias of Canadian solo artist Eric Howden. A singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Howden chose 'Raised By Swans' as an alias in 1997 following a cathartic dream he had after leaving his previous band; the name relies on a homonym (‘raise’: to rear; to elevate) to convey a simultaneous sense of connection and freedom.

Howden composes his haunting, contemplative songs using a multi-track recorder, guitar, bass, drum machine, and keyboard, meticulously writing all parts for all instruments, as well as all the lyrics. This process contributes to his relatively slow recording and releasing pace.

In a 2013 interview, Howden explained that pride in his body of work eventually overcame his discomfort in referring to Raised By Swans as "I" instead of "we". In his words:

"Raised By Swans is and always has been a solo project, not a band. That fact hasn't been made clear in the past, which is wholly my fault; well-meaning but misguided attempts at modesty and inclusion have clouded the truth. I'm honoured to have such gifted musicians alongside me onstage...but if someone else happens to play a part on an album of mine, for instance, they're playing a part I've written."

I don't feel it
I don't feel it anymore
The city drowns itself
Heard the sirens from the shore

I won't suffer this
I won't suffer this for you
Fields of orchids burn
And left here standing, frozen through

Your star

Through the scars

Through the scars
I'll find your light again

Dreaming
It's cheap as apathy
The future atrophies
The more i dream

Still i crawl inside your grave
For those lost November days

Your star
Through the scars
Through the scars
I'll find your light again

Non lo sento
Non lo sento più
La città si annega
Ho sentito le sirene dalla riva

Non ne soffrirò
Non soffrirò questo per te
I campi di orchidee bruciano
E lasciato qui in piedi, congelato

La tua stella

Attraverso le cicatrici

Attraverso le cicatrici
Troverò di nuovo la tua luce

sognando
È economico come l'apatia
Le atrofie future
Più sogno

Striscio ancora nella tua tomba
Per quei giorni persi di novembre

La tua stella
Attraverso le cicatrici
Attraverso le cicatrici
Troverò di nuovo la tua luce