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  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $1 USD

     

  • Your very own copy of 'Lifeboats for Atlantis,' nestled in a matte dipipak with slit pocket, lyrics booklet, and original artwork from Heather Styka. And there's an incredibly inviting, hand-drawn, from-another-era map on the inside.

    This comes direct from the artist, packed lovingly with a friendly note and, if desired, the CD can be signed custom to you. Makes a nifty and impressive gift!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Lifeboats for Atlantis via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
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      $15 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 5 Heather Styka releases available on Bandcamp and save 30%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of North, The Bittersweet Tapes, While This Planet Spins Beneath Our Feet, Lifeboats for Atlantis, and Travel and Teacups. , and , .

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about

A waitress in a cafe finds herself disconnected from everything, and seeks to regain a sense of humanity through small moments with the cafe's patrons.

lyrics

Crosswords

Somedays at the cafe, when I clear away the coffee cups / I touch the spoon that someone used to stir sugar in their tea / Makes me feel closer to them / as though I might cross the great divide / between these strangers and me / I am bringing them toast with a smile on my face / I am watching them laugh, I watch old friends embrace / I am watching them stir the cream in their coffee / They stir clockwise like me // CHORUS: How did I end up so removed from everything? / I'm the girl behind the counter, I'm the spectator at the cafe / I want to close the difference between them and me / These strangers doing crosswords / drinking coffee and tea // In the afternoon the shadows stretch long and thin / from the tables and chairs / A little boy in a striped shirt frowns beside a mother / who doesn't seem much to care / I catch his eye with a smile on my face / His mother turns to him and wipes off a trace / of jelly that he smudged across his right cheek / She tells him to be more careful / and stares out at the street in silence // CHORUS // Sometimes when I look at all their faces / I'm struck with some kind of holy truth / that we are all single waves within an ocean / ebbing and flowing, made of the same endless blue / Someone reaches out and asks me how I'm doing / and I suddenly feel like the might really care / and I answer back to them past layers of armor / and the seeds of compassion are planted somewhere // CHORUS

credits

from Lifeboats for Atlantis, released October 4, 2011
Heather Styka - piano
Rob Clearfield - accordion

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Heather Styka Chicago, Illinois

Though rooted in folk and Americana, Chicago singer-songwriter Heather Styka's songs are as fresh as they are memorable, chronicling the human cycles of despair and redemption, and analyzing the importance of places and relationships. Touring nationwide and having received airplay globally, Styka is a familiar face in the Chicago music scene, at venues including Schubas and the Old Town School. ... more

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