Gravity
Well
A dark coastal transmission from Paper Walls — alt folk noir for long walks, low tides, signal drift, and stars that refuse to stay still.
Seven songs caught in orbit.
Gravity Well moves through acoustic roots, bent theory, late-night imagery, and refracted Cape Breton connections — a handmade record with cosmic weather at the edges.
Gorilla on your chest
Loaded up with drugs
The ones to take your breath
And you can't know but I'll never be the same to be around
How life below
Haunts me now
Sleeping on the wall
To dream without dreaming
Swimming down a hall
I'm awestruck and reeling from it all
Task on task to keep me sane
Never felt so close yet so far from you
The solitude of distance untethered here
and tethered to the curve of blue
Everything below spins away
I'm unchained but I'll just float
Now, we're all falling
Endlessly
Let loose your holy light
Bend me with your gravity
Some truths you stumble on, only to lose again
There's nothing you can't dream
We're begging for the evening's end
I'll fight through swimming lights under frozen clouds
Reach out for blistered hands
Reach out 'fore they go to ground
Set your sights on the whetstone of the darkest night
Hone your heart on the whetstone of ancient light
That's where I will find all the choices I've made
Soaked through in starlight
Regret and gamma rays
No tales to believe
Not even those I tell myself
Dripfed and overwhelmed
A broken screen
An empty shelf
Only ever dreaming now of ways to get away
Never trust invisible hands
Rail against unyielding lust
And we're all meant to dehydrate or drown
It's the running of the clowns
Some nights I can't believe what I'm reading
The irony aint lost on me
I'm ceding ground to the running of the clowns
Surrounded by shadowy figures
They've got us corralled in a pen
It all seems so reckless and selfish
Just waiting to be trampled to death
Some nights I'll grind my teeth for comfort
If only all those screens had warned us
Radio's low to help me think
And I've a long drive ahead
Been a few days since our last fight
I've miles to go before I see the light
For now, the sky's painted red
All that's missing is you
All I'm missing is you
So, I stare into passing cars
For signs of life beneath the stars
All the while this roadwork burns my eyes
The night is clear
My head is tired
But rest is near, restoke the fire with an air so crisp
My breath cracks the quiet
I wanna travel so far to unravel the past mistakes I've made so they'll never catch up
I wanna climb that hill and touch the sun
I wanna find that well to wish upon
endless voices that will not submit
I have placed great burden on the self
pleading with it to exist
I’ve seen sunlight reflecting off the moon
feet in the sand, entre chien et loup
I’ve left my wanderings, ambitions
hoping I could find me in you
I am weak before the trees
vanquished by a star
beneath the air’s heartbeat
I am neither near nor far
Before the beat of wings
in the embrace of fall
in the vanishing wild
I am nothing at all
I’ve argued with masters long gone
begged for an island against the waves
watched it vanishing beneath my feet
become comfortable with nothing to save
For you are the world, and I am a part
I am the blood and you are the heart
From Margaree, under strange weather.
Paper Walls is the creative storytelling collaboration of Bruce Miller & Nathan Laurence from the small Cape Breton community of Margaree, Nova Scotia. Rooted in acoustic guitar and shaped by enough music theory to be dangerous—but still naive enough to bend the rules—the band creates thoughtful, well-crafted, occasionally quirky songs with a strong emotional and narrative core.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Big thanks to Bruce, my longtime songwriting partner, for his persistence in insisting this project finally get done. My wife, Andrea, for her patience and kiddos, Sawyer & Sloane, for their sense of fun and Easter eggs on BtStars. My parents, Gordon and Bev, for forcing me to take piano lessons, buying me my first guitar, and for always encouraging creative writing. My bandmates, past and present, for the memories and helping me develop. Jimmy, for your objective musical ear, website, and business decisiveness. Ryan & Steph for lending your talents from The Lonely Counsel. Lindsay for lending your talents from The Silent Alarmists (perhaps we'll meet in person one of these days 😀). And, last but not least, Kevin...forever a piece of the puzzle...forever missed. --Nathan--
A big thank you to Nathan, my original and longtime collaborator–this certainly wouldn’t have happened without him. And for his ability to find a song amidst a lot of very mediocre lines. My wife, Krista, for her ever-present support, and patience with my time spent on Logic. And to my kids for being enthusiastic and supportive test-listeners on the drives to school. My parents, Jack and Marguerite, for their continued support in all of my endeavours. To Coady and Lindsay, for keeping me playing. To family and friends for being willing to listen (with very little complaining) to early and late drafts of songs. --Bruce--