Royal Visit to Uranium City

by Kitz Willman

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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Comes in a 5" Custom Cardboard Sleeve featuring artwork by Posy Legge. Each order will come with an additional physical-only CD-R.

Includes unlimited streaming of Royal Visit to Uranium City via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 14 days

edition of 40

$10 CAD or more
Streaming + Download

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

Purchasable with gift card

$6 CAD or more

1.	kings 02:45	lyrics	buy track
“Whose funeral is that?” a man would sometimes ask on Plutonian Avenue “Oh, just one of the city aldermen,” a passer-by would answer hurriedly I’m kneeling on an iceberg leaving wishes in the water and when the whale says so I dance… I dance! I’m kneeling on an iceberg leaving wishes in the water and when the whale says what to do, I do it and usually it’s “Dance!” This volcano is the city council chambers babushkas waiting for the bread truck waiting for the post but of course, every village has a war memorial Every village has a war memorial Babushkas are waiting for the bread truck and they’re waiting for the mail waiting for the truck with the letters with the stamps on ‘em “When the human race evolved it evolved with uranium in the environment so we physiologically can actually deal with it to some extent… Plutonium is a man-made element!” So, like I said I’m kneeling on this iceberg and there’s this whale in the water and I’m doing this thing, it looks like praying but it feels like wishing and it sounds a lot like a saxophone when it’s upset a saxophone when it ain’t fed when its reed ain’t wet Babushkas waiting for the bread truck in Eastern European cities babushkas waiting for the bread truck in Winnipeg babushkas waiting for the mail truck babushkas waiting for that Sysco delivery babushkas waiting for that…
2.	sunshine list 02:42	lyrics	buy track
Corruption and sunshine sunshine and corruption “Well, there’s no money in encyclopedias!” taxicab chatter as we pass a castle with a candle for each window and a car in every parking spot a hundred thousand little windows in the auto shop (smash!) counting teeth in precision drilling pockets milling about for a socket wrench to test all fortitude and fortune teller’s wit To wait to speak when older trains full of soldiers have been known to change a flag rip out a history page trains full of soldiers have been known to experience disruption A slight eruption down along the tracks lava starts to pour merch tables in the cemetery corridor lava starts to pour Corruption and sunshine “you know, I’ve actually wanted to make this video for quite a while… for one, they’re always just posting rude information instead of actually going out and living their lives I mean, what the frick!?” Encyclopedias burn bright enough to see a solitary steed millions of leaves line the roadway a passing coach riding by farms at the daily hour when babushkas crumple newsprint into kindling into flame the options are to sell thing or to pray crumple newsprint into kindling into flame the options are to sell thing or to pray
3.	dust on the bookshelf 04:09	lyrics	buy track
There’s a lot of dust on those books there’s a lot of dust on the pages but only the edges you must press paper tightly in order to hold up anything there’s a lot of dust on the shelf The type of state that prints pieces of plastic with pictures of prime ministers and presidents in the city the jail is just another residence printing pieces of plastic with pictures of faces of prime ministers and presidents and premiers and the [REDACTED] Commodified water water on the stock market This all harkens to some other words by some other people There’s a lot of dust on your bookshelf there’s a lot of rust up on your mental health yeah the chrome is tarnished and there’s a lot of dust on your bookshelf And you’re cancelling those books you ordered a lot of dust on the pages! A lot of dust you must combust you must you must a lot of dust you must combust, yeah! A lot of dust on the tape deck There might be a little dust on the bookshelf it’s one of those things that gets sweeter with time
4.	even the dogs wore badges 03:39	lyrics	buy track
Ears turned internal to the pulse bouncing through the canopy of connective thought alarm means scarcity property lines mean trespass aging infrastructure can be mental more than cement Even the dogs wore badges yet you wonder why yours’ll bark A high-pass on the lunchroom ambiance avoiding glances switching from pop to juice to water cemetery for church blueprints for a city what came first… the highway or the gravesite? the speed limit or the recovery line? Even the dogs wore badges yet you wonder why yours’ll bark
5.	pinch rattlesnake 03:30	lyrics	buy track
"What the ash was like?" "The ash was uh, it was kind of warm it was warm all around us I’d inhaled so much of it, it’d gone down my throat I swallowed a lot of it and I had to dig it out of my mouth" Handfuls of autumn nine hours an inch one city a year Bombs had shot through the vent at velocities of more than 300 kilometers an hour the cone itself rose a thousand meters above the original cornfield it erupted about a million tonnes of ash, cinder, and bombs upon the city Engines rumble seismic meters peter out scream and shout and wail! hold breath, pinch rattlesnake carry handfuls of water as you make your decision plutonium vision Handfuls of autumn nine hours an inch one city a year “Here’s the volcano here is the tube where the lava comes from and here’s the lava producer the lava is pushed up, up here the pressure pushes it out and bubbles come up from the lava”
6.	only butterflies 02:44	lyrics	buy track
Love “Speed it up about a billion times here it goes sixty thousand thirty thousand ten thousand seven thousand hold it An infrared aerial picture of the forest shows vegetation coloured dark red here’s the equivalent picture the day after the eruption every trace of life had been blasted off the map way beyond what was considered to be the danger zone”
7.	dawn 01:57	lyrics	buy track
“Anarchism would go a step farther and would argue that the state is not a necessarily evil rather it is unnecessary evil It is evil as well as it is unnecessary sooner you get rid of it, the better” I’m kneeling on an iceberg getting closer to the water and when the whale says so, I dance I’m kneeling on an iceberg getting closer to the water and when the whale says so, I dance “A lot of people believe it is too utopian idea it is not practicable it is not feasible I mean, it talks of a system in which there will be no authority”
8.	have you seen the trees? 05:44	lyrics	buy track
What you seed what you want what you need Have you seen the trees in Chernobyl? Have you seen the trees in Uranium City? Have you leopard on your tongue? Have you leopard on your lips? Smelt every flower in the gun Tell me, just come clean! I journeyed here because of a jazz song I journeyed here because of a jazz recording In the field with no radiation where we can finally rest for the night Under tree canopies Wash our apples, wash our drink Swallow rainwater what do you think? why would I lead you here?! Have you seen the trees in the kitchen sink? Seen the seeds sprouted under asphalt and winding around rusted pipes, coiled drains and everything when it rains gets greener radioactive or not it gets greener Have you seen the trees? I journeyed here because of a jazz recording I journeyed here because of a jazz song
9.	always 01:36	lyrics	buy track
I’ll be loving you always

about

Royal Visit to Uranium City

Traversing a world populated by snakes, whales, and butterflies, Royal Visit to Uranium City is a cautionary tale of disaster, rebellion, and, of course, love. If not for certain incendiary wafts of ash, this story may not have survived...

A set of encyclopedias burned bright enough to light their little one-room shack. Tonight it was filled to the brim by a gaggle of babushkas. They were gushing over a newborn calf, cooing and giggling and counting toes. Plutonium vision set in and the babushkas began to dance. Dancing in rooms and shops and bus stops and the parcel of land where the tombstones have the same markings as cards in my wallet. They dance all throughout the village. At least, it looks like dancing... but it might be praying or something closer to wishing.

Chimes hum and horns wail. Those awful horse police are leading a handful of balding men through town. They wear gems and jewels and poppies and far too much cologne. Rolling behind the horses is a Cadillac Custom Fleetwood Limousine, a Continental Mark IV and a Chrysler Crown Imperial. This procession had a foreign formality.

"Whose funeral is that?!"

It wasn't the incendiary waft of ash, no, it was the squelch of a saxophone bloated with thirst. The village scientists were baffled. Their meters had busted and their maps expired. Fumes permeated the air and drumming echoed for days. Helicopters built to find fatality scanned the forest with flashbulbs while journalists tagged along. For days, the headline shifted until far illegible from the first but somehow maintaining the same sentiment... sour like that one bite of apple.

Ears turned internal to the pulse bouncing. Babushkas skip to the newborn calf's polka heart. Mama's head is a horn and down here where I am, the rumble continues.

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This is the first album written and recorded in my new home in Winnipeg. It shows the sound I've been crafting with my drum sticks and reeds. Equal parts improvisation and planning, this album has a holistic energy to the performances and storytelling unlike any other KW release. Please enjoy it in its totality with accompanying visuals: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FprcUx43mSo (premiering March 6th)

credits

released March 5, 2021

Kitz Willman - production, engineering, songwriting, lyrics, vocals, drums, saxophone, mixing, album artwork design and layout

album cover painting - Posy Legge (www.posylegge.com)

banned era records