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Practice Magic And Seek Professional Help When Necessary

by Tōth

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  • Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Ships in early March.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Practice Magic And Seek Professional Help When Necessary via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $19 USD or more 

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Practice Magic And Seek Professional Help When Necessary via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $14 USD or more 

     

  • Standard Black Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Practice Magic And Seek Professional Help When Necessary via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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  • Limited Edition Blue Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    Transparent Light Blue" vinyl for pre-order customers only. Limited edition of 250 copies. Once it's gone, it's gone!

    Includes unlimited streaming of Practice Magic And Seek Professional Help When Necessary via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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  • Limited Edition Transparent Purple Vinyl
    Record/Vinyl + Digital Album

    "Transparent Purple" vinyl. Limited edition of 200 copies. Ships in early March.

    Includes unlimited streaming of Practice Magic And Seek Professional Help When Necessary via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

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1.
yeah ee yeah eh eh yeah ee yeah eh eh yeah ee yeah eh eh eh eh yeah i know you’ve got to go but i was looking forward to waking up with you over and over tell me please how could it be i was looking forward to the way you made me stop and breath i’m down for the count i go another round and it sure don’t look pretty you had me in the corner with my hands out and it sure was not pretty this is annihilation this is annihilation i’m down for the count but i’ll be getting up soon enough cut me free free from everything i’ll be the stillness in the wind i’ll be the moon when its not lit i’m down for the count i go another round and it sure don’t look pretty you had me in the corner with my hands out and it sure was not pretty i’m down for the count i go another round and it sure don’t look pretty this is annihilation this is annihilation this is annihilation it could be a liberation i’m down for the count but i’ll be getting up soon enough yeah ee yeah eh eh yeah ee yeah eh eh yeah ee yeah eh eh eh eh
2.
i just wanna write a song that’ll make you fall in love with me don’t tell me there’s something wrong with wanting everything i just wanna write a song that’ll make you fall in love with me hey don’t be frightened of lightning soon we’ll be out in the morning breeze drifting through florescent hues as my heart beats way ahead of me normally i’m really cool but you’re haunting all my dreams up down so it goes on the trampoline up down here we go you’re a mystery to me i just wanna write a song that’ll make you fall in love with me come into my grandpa’s yard and lay beneath the trees mm mm mmm mm mmmmmmmmmmmm i just wanna write a song that’ll make you fall in love with me don’t tell me there’s something wrong with wanting everything i just wanna write a song that’ll make you fall in love with me come into my grandpa’s yard and feel the jersey breeze breeze
3.
No Reason 03:30
i wanna be happy for no reason like the sun rising exactly in every season i wanna be free, i wanna believe that all of my dreams keep waking up and i wanna love i wanna be touched but softly at first i wanna be happy for no reason like the sun rising exactly In every season you’ve been here before you opened the door you walked straight on through there’s nothing to do and nothing is wrong If nothing is right we’re happy now and yes we practice magic [instrumental] i wanna be free, i wanna believe that all of my dreams keep waking up and i wanna love i wanna be touched but softly at first [instrumental] you’ve been here before you opened the door you walked straight on through there’s nothing to do and nothing is wrong If nothing is right we’re happy now and yes we practice magic
4.
Copilot 04:03
i don’t not want to let you go i let you go i let you go i guess there wasn’t any other way i thought you were my copilot how will i ever run this ship without you by my side to navigate? [whistle pre] CHORUS: thought you were my copilot na na na my copilot na na na na na now i know that you were just taking me for a ride and that’s alright it was a beautiful ride my loneliness is on your dime painted lady of my life drifting through the Appalachian plains admit it you’re a butterfly you always knew you’d leave my side you were just waiting for your wings to change [chorus] BRIDGE: a memory of sunlight in a Massachusetts square as i watch the idea of our child vanish in the air guess i was pretty clueless as you covered me with sand was this always your plan? [chorus] just admit it you’re a butterfly yeah just admit you’re a butterfly you were just waiting for your wings to dry yeah you were just waiting for your wings to dry
5.
the second you have it you lose it you wanna forget it i said you’re a friend of mine you wanna forget it but you never let it let it let it let it let it ride it’s all automatic it’s all automatic percentage organic mechanical way we’re designed the harder i try the harder the harder i try the more that i wanna die the picture of you in my head won’t go away this is the end the end of me but my body just stays now that you’re gone the pictures keep coming the pictures keep coming to show what i lack the way that you walk the way that you talk the way that you look i can’t have you back the harder i try the harder the harder i try the more that i wanna die it’s all automatic it’s all automatic what a shitty design the picture of you in my head won’t go away i try to let go while holding on it’s a difficult game the picture of you in my head won’t go away this is the end the end of me but my body just stays my body just stays my body just stays
6.
how could it be that beauty makes me feel so bad? you passed me by with a smiling face and it was as if my whole life never happened and so i stroll the neighborhood with time to lose i couldn’t let you disappear for a thousand years the stories that you hear here but i won’t get ahead of myself no not this time we can take it slow and right no funny business i’ll need time to adjust those eyes they’re very bright and i used to be a vampire ooh ooh and in a world of lovely pain and tragic veins the drunken guru spoke your name and by a power great you came my way but i won’t get ahead of myself no not this time we can take it slow and right no funny business i’ll need time to adjust those eyes they’re very bright and i used to be a vampire stay right where you are so cool no funny business i’d like to be with you until it feels like night is turning into daylight ooh ooh ooh ooh
7.
When I Awoke 04:27
when i awoke i saw you through my glassy orbs you looked like a shadow of the day before your face contained a hungry wind and chance of rain overnight a change in travel plans you’re on your way when i awoke when i awoke when i awoke when i awoke you step into my stream about a thousand times a day an empty measurement of empty weight you threw a friendly chair across a friendly room then you made me breakfast in the afternoon when i awoke when i awoke when i awoke when i awoke fall down and get up i like this joke in comes the sunlight and the ceiling broke up up and up up away we go higher higher i never thought I’d say this but i don’t need you every time i wake up i’m just looking through cuz all the wars are waged inside of both of us and even through these changes you i’ll always love when i awoke when i awoke when i awoke open Up your eyes open up your eyes open up your eyes open up your eyes open up your eyes (when i awoke) a dream i didn’t know i had has come true i don’t think it’s good or bad just something to do it’s more or less hilarious it’s more or less blue it’s probably good for both of us and good for you when I....
8.
Guts to Fly 04:27
i don’t pretend to be afraid of magic i call my shaman all the time even with the sadness on my lashes summer’s always on my mind i dig a deeper hole in the forest a place to plant a healing rose i whisper to your face and your fashion this is what i feared the most i remember when we were close waiting for the dust to float waiting for the dust to float waiting for the dust to float didda shoulda woulda coulda never again everything different i wanna thoughta hadda been a better friend a better friend didda shoulda woulda coulda never again everything different oooh oooh oooh do you remember we made love on a sand dune in the puerto rico overcast? i’d often speak to you through the moon and i guess i’ll have to go back to that i was flying with a dragon in a daydream i liked the way her scales wind the flame of my new friend flickers nicely as it heats my inner apple pie i’m glad we had the guts to fly i’m glad we had the guts to fly i’m glad we had the guts to fly didda shoulda woulda coulda never again everything different i wanna thoughta hadda been a better friend a better friend i wanna thoughta hadda been a better friend a better friend oooh oooh oooh lala lala lala lala la laaaallalala i’m glad we had the guts to fly i’m glad we had the guts to fly i’m glad we had the guts to fly ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh didda shoulda woulda coulda never again everything different
9.
well you’re a case of cold as ice and i disagree with joni mitchell you’re holding on infinite tight let’s just talk about it uh huh well in the song you told it real unfair as the sunlight pushes squinting my eyes and the kind of things that fill the air let’s just talk about em yeah you’re so sentimental and i’m just mental i wish that i could be your friend but you don’t believe me you don’t believe me you dont believe me you don’t believe me you don’t believe me you dont believe me no you never believe me you never believe me you never believe me well all is fair in love and war and that’s all there is so we deserve this all the times that you would cry on the floor let’s just talk about em uh huh you’re so sentimental and i’m just mental i wish that i could be your friend but you don’t believe me you don’t believe me you dont believe me you don’t believe me you don’t believe me you dont believe me no you never believe me you never believe me you never believe me no you don’t believe me i hold you in my hand i told you i’m your human i hold you in my hand i told you i’m your human ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
10.
i really want you to be happy i really want you to be safe i really want you to be healthy and i’d like it if you were free from pain so this song is a blessing song ya this song is a blessing song and its really hard to write cuz i’m still sad that you’re gone don’t know about right or wrong i don’t know about right or wrong but i hope you’re alright and i’m sorry about the fights that we’ve lost yeah i’m sorry about the fights that we’ve lost i really want you to do what’s best for you and i hate to think about you in shame i hate to think about you feeling guilty and i prefer for you to not be enraged so this song is a blessing song ya this song is a blessing song and its really hard to write cuz i’m still sad that you’re gone don’t know about right or wrong i don’t know about right or wrong but i hope you’re alright and i’m sorry about the fights that we’ve lost yeah i’m sorry about the fights that we’ve lost but i’m glad about the fights that we’ve won won one won one
11.
Decay 02:38
i’m lying so still oh lord i don’t wanna be here no more but i’ll get back to you before our bodies fully decay decay decay decay decay decay decay decay decay take me to the fields of mars more weightless for heavy hearts i’ll float there with you before our bodies fully decay decay decay decay decay decay decay decay decay

about

OUT May 10th, 2019

In July 2016, Alex Toth was recovering from a broken foot and a broken heart, stuck in his fourth-floor apartment in Brooklyn with cast and crutches. This is where Tōth’s “achingly beautiful” debut album, Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary, was born.

A few months earlier, Alex and his Rubblebucket cofounder and love of more than eleven years had “consciously uncoupled,” after a period of helping each other through devastating challenges. Alex was lightning-struck by sadness. “Almost convalescent” at times, in his words, though rarely still. A jazz trumpeter by training, Alex is always, always writing. And that spring, a new kind of music started to come—raw, stripped-down songs unfurling without agenda, bent over an acoustic guitar. It never occurred to Alex that he was making an album.

The idea sprouted in songwriting sessions with his friend Kimbra, when she heard this new sound and encouraged Alex to make a record. But it didn’t solidify until June 2016, when Alex was onstage with his punk project, Alexander F, and broke his foot. Stuck there in his apartment all summer, Tōth came to life.

Practice Magic and Seek Professional Help When Necessary, due May 2019 from Northern Spy Records (worldwide) and Figureight Records (UK/Europe), is a self-help guide unlike any other—a breakup album before wholeness, but after anger. The album turns as it goes, through “lush, windswept sonics” (Gorilla Vs. Bear), bebop trumpet solos, and spare guitar, recalling the Beach Boys in one bar and Arthur Russell in the next. It’s an album for remembering and letting go—and discovering what magic remains.

credits

released May 10, 2019

Mixed by Andrew Sarlo
Mastered by Sarah Register
Mostly self-recorded in Alex Toth’s apartment in Brooklyn, NY between June 2016 and February 2018

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Tōth Brooklyn, New York

Tōth is a new project of Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist songwriter Alex Toth, known for collaborating and writing with Kimbra, Alexander F, Rubblebucket, Cuddle Magic and others. As Tōth, he presents his most vulnerable songs and performances yet, often sung in a style reminiscent of Arthur Russell, while also adding trumpet and guitar. ... more

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