We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Love Is Made Of Sky

by Jeff Mellin

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Crafted pop backed by John Clarke (Sool), Joel Mellin (Miss Mary), "Orange" Nichole Ferree, Helen & Steph of SHRAG & Doug Yule (Velvet Underground). Exuberant infatuations, jangling melodies, folky wisdom, feel-good vibe & a touch of melancholy. Immediate download of 9-track album in your choice of 320k mp3, FLAC, or just about any other format you could possibly desire.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

  • Buy the limited edition CD

1.
2.
Turn out the lights— What’s that she’s concealing? High as a kite up all night painting patterns on the ceiling? And I’m sprawled out on the hardwood, begging her pardon best as I could Paint hits the ceiling fan propeller— spits and sprays She’ll be cleaning up the mess she’s made for days Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut How does she make you feel? How does she keep it up? Salt in the burn from a cigarette butt Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut Bait her with oranges— her eyes will do the chewing like a forlorn syringe that might have been a greater man’s undoing Her apartment floor was slanted. Still, I couldn’t understand how every suggestion I had planted rolled beneath her bed Guess they’re safer there than stranded in her empty head Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut How does she make you feel? How does she keep it up? Salt in the burn from a cigarette butt Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut With her hair tied up in ribbons a pie in the face could be forgiven I’m licking my lips for every trace but something stays We’ll be cleaning up the mess we’ve made for days Smile like a lemon peel Smile like a lemon peel Smile like a lemon peel
3.
Blue eyes saw the danger, but I didn’t even flinch That night I was so green you must’ve thought I’d be a cinch You say now I’m too starry-eyed to waste your precious time but that’s OK — I know my vision’s fine Blue eyes raw with anger — You just blamed it on my youth And packed me in you suitcase with your socks and shopworn truths You say we’ll meet again — You’ll just be back to pick my bones But that’s OK — I’m better in my own No I won’t cry — The possibilities are open as the sky Blue in all directions Flawless as a child at birth The eggshell of the planet The eyelid of the Earth You left me like a cloud that breaks up into atmosphere But that’s OK, ’cause now my view is clear That’s OK — Now my view is clear
4.
Half-Circles 05:18
God is made of wheat God is made of wheat Grown in row on row repeat God is made of wheat But ain’t that incomplete? Ain’t that incomplete? How far can my shadow stretch beyond my feet when the sun is high? Now, love is made of sky Love is made of sky Deep and blue as far as you and I Up on the moon there’s a sea — a sea of tranquility Could it be, that’s the tune that keeps killing me? But sooner or later we’re gonna fill in this crater
5.
6.
Turn out the lights— What’s that she’s concealing? High as a kite up all night painting patterns on the ceiling? And I’m sprawled out on the hardwood, begging her pardon best as I could Paint hits the ceiling fan propeller— spits and sprays She’ll be cleaning up the mess she’s made for days Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut How does she make you feel? How does she keep it up? Salt in the burn from a cigarette butt Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut Bait her with oranges— her eyes will do the chewing like a forlorn syringe that might have been a greater man’s undoing Her apartment floor was slanted. Still, I couldn’t understand how every suggestion I had planted rolled beneath her bed Guess they’re safer there than stranded in her empty head Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut How does she make you feel? How does she keep it up? Salt in the burn from a cigarette butt Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut With her hair tied up in ribbons a pie in the face could be forgiven I’m licking my lips for every trace but something stays We’ll be cleaning up the mess we’ve made for days Smile like a lemon peel Smile like a lemon peel Smile like a lemon peel
7.
Blue eyes saw the danger, but I didn’t even flinch That night I was so green you must’ve thought I’d be a cinch You say now I’m too starry-eyed to waste your precious time but that’s OK — I know my vision’s fine Blue eyes raw with anger — You just blamed it on my youth And packed me in you suitcase with your socks and shopworn truths You say we’ll meet again — You’ll just be back to pick my bones But that’s OK — I’m better in my own No I won’t cry — The possibilities are open as the sky Blue in all directions Flawless as a child at birth The eggshell of the planet The eyelid of the Earth You left me like a cloud that breaks up into atmosphere But that’s OK, ’cause now my view is clear That’s OK — Now my view is clear
8.
Turn out the lights— What’s that she’s concealing? High as a kite up all night painting patterns on the ceiling? And I’m sprawled out on the hardwood, begging her pardon best as I could Paint hits the ceiling fan propeller— spits and sprays She’ll be cleaning up the mess she’s made for days Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut How does she make you feel? How does she keep it up? Salt in the burn from a cigarette butt Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut Bait her with oranges— her eyes will do the chewing like a forlorn syringe that might have been a greater man’s undoing Her apartment floor was slanted. Still, I couldn’t understand how every suggestion I had planted rolled beneath her bed Guess they’re safer there than stranded in her empty head Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut How does she make you feel? How does she keep it up? Salt in the burn from a cigarette butt Smile like a lemon peel Kiss like a paper cut With her hair tied up in ribbons a pie in the face could be forgiven I’m licking my lips for every trace but something stays We’ll be cleaning up the mess we’ve made for days Smile like a lemon peel Smile like a lemon peel Smile like a lemon peel
9.
Blue eyes saw the danger, but I didn’t even flinch That night I was so green you must’ve thought I’d be a cinch You say now I’m too starry-eyed to waste your precious time but that’s OK — I know my vision’s fine Blue eyes raw with anger — You just blamed it on my youth And packed me in you suitcase with your socks and shopworn truths You say we’ll meet again — You’ll just be back to pick my bones But that’s OK — I’m better in my own No I won’t cry — The possibilities are open as the sky Blue in all directions Flawless as a child at birth The eggshell of the planet The eyelid of the Earth You left me like a cloud that breaks up into atmosphere But that’s OK, ’cause now my view is clear That’s OK — Now my view is clear

about

A few years ago, singer-songwriter Jeff Mellin made a discovery. While compiling lyrics for his retrospective book, Skin & Bones, he realized there were a handful of songs -- some of his better songs, he felt -- that he’d never properly arranged, recorded and released. Maybe some had been too earnest for his old band’s (The Eddies) loose, brash, ironic sensibilities. Some may have called for fuller, more aggressive arrangements, but had been written in times he’d played more stripped-down fare.

Whatever the reasons, these songs slipped through the cracks.

Eager to get back into the studio, Jeff contacted his old friend and collaborator, the producer Pete Weiss (known for his innovative work with artists such as Willard Grant Conspiracy, Two Dollar Pistols, Charlie Chesterman, Bow Thayer & Levon Helm, and Don Lennon) to bring these songs to life. Mellin also enlisted his brother Joel Mellin, (the former Oscillators/Miss Mary mastermind and current NYC-based avant-garde composer) to help out with guitar, piano and sonic ideas, and drummer John Clarke (Charlie Chesterman, Sool), the man responsible for the vintage back-beat driving Jeff’s Saves The World album.

To complete the band, they invited Doug Yule (of Velvet Underground and currently, Red Dog, fame) who had just wrapped up a tour playing bass with Pete’s instrumental guitar group, the Weisstronauts. So, snowbound for a weekend in Pete’s Vermont studio, they dug into the sessions that would become Love Is Made of Sky.

While finishing the record over the next few years, they made another discovery. The more time they spent with these seemingly disparate songs, the more connective tissue was revealed. Was it always there, the reason these songs had accumulated on the sidelines? Or did it develop in the the process?

Impossible to say. But the resulting EP blends seamlessly from song to song, and while there isn’t a “love song” in the lot, a multi-layered portrait of love emerges: Its naive passion and obsession ferments and festers in the abstract collage of “Blue Eyes Goodbye Because I Love You”; its reckless, restless excess and self-destructive appetite spatter through “Smile Like A Lemon Peel, Kiss Like A Paper Cut” (featuring Helen King & Stephanie Goodman of the fabulous UK post-pop group Shrag); it’s resiliency and optimism shine in the endless Summer folk-pop of “Blue Eyes Brighton Bus Stop” (featuring the backing vocal talents of Orange Nichole’s Nichole Ferree); and it’s longing, isolation and, ultimately, promise emerge from the long strokes and open spaces of the arresting, meditative closer, “Half-Circles” (featuring an inspired extended bass improvisation from Mr. Yule).

Jeff’s acoustic versions of “Smile Like A Lemon Peel” and “Blue Eyes Brighton Bus Stop” intended originally as demos for other artists, as well as alternate single mixes of both songs by Pete Weiss, are included as well, offering insight [deleted giving extra] into the song craft and the record’s evolution.

This limited edition CD package features a new liner-note poem from Garrett Caples, a full-color booklet of lyrics and set of mini-prints of paintings by Scott Vradelis backed with photos of the recordings sessions, all printed on beautiful eco-friendly recycled stock. Jeff has hand numbered and initialed each package.

credits

released October 5, 2010

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Jeff Mellin Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

contact / help

Contact Jeff Mellin

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

Jeff Mellin recommends:

If you like Jeff Mellin, you may also like: