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Flagrant Ardour

by May Joy

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    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

    This five track EP comes with an eight page full colour PDF booklet containing lyrics and explaining why Flagrant Ardour was made.
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1.
Withdraw 05:12
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There is no way for us to be free While you have this hanging over me You say we should be partners together But up ahead I see stormy weather You want to control ev'ry little thing Appalling beginning for a shared destiny Not for you, oh no, but for me So now please withdraw, withdraw Withdraw completely your demands, your plans, Your laws, your bans, your "don't understand"s Withdraw, withdraw Walk away and perhaps, just perhaps, I will walk away with you You just need control You've said it before Internet, bank accounts, passports and more But I cannot be who I am with your rules Living a lie, and the fear that it fuels You must withdraw, withdraw Withdraw your dictates and your schemes, your memes, Restraints, complaints, and violent constraints Withdraw, withdraw Walk away and perhaps, just perhaps, I will walk away with you You want to control ev'ry little thing Appalling beginning for a shared destiny Not for you, no, but for me But for now please withdraw, withdraw Withdraw completely your demands, your plans, Your laws, your bans, your "don't understands" Withdraw, withdraw It's time to withdraw, withdraw Withdraw your dictates and your schemes, your memes, Restraints, complaints, and violent constraints Withdraw, withdraw Walk away and perhaps, just perhaps, I will walk away with you
2.
Retract 05:19
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Won't you tell me how? Won't you tell me how? How you decided our peaceful march was a riot Decided brutality was your style Won't you tell me how? Won't you tell me how? Retract, retract, retract Take it back! Retract, retract, retract Take it back! Who are you to smear the truth so dishonestly? Won't you show us why? Won'y you show us why? Why you pretended that we were traitors and fools, Pretended that we were America's tools. Won't you show us why? Won't you show us why? Retract, retract retract Take it back! Retract, retract, retract Take it back! How can you expect our trust with out honesty? On twenty-sixth of November I took up my umbrella And I just made the bus down to Nathan Road A thousand stand before me, a million wait behind me We are one ... here we go My cousins come and find me so we can stand together We are proud to be part of this move for change Determined to be peaceful and to respect the rule of law We stand expectantly How can you say we riot? We do not riot! Do you see us now? Do you see us now? We are waiting for you to retract your lies, Waiting for you to apologise We are waiting now See us waiting now Retract, retract retract Take it back! Retract, retract, retract Take it back! Renounce your allegations! Retract, retract retract Take it back! Retract, retract, retract Take it back! Renounce your allegations and let us start again.
3.
Amnesty 03:52
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Amnesty Set us free Let us be Amnesty Calling out your fallacies We're always ready Standing steady for justice Gathering in harmony We draw attention to your suspension of equity You sent enforcers to crush our purpose And then you locked us in jail Now there's one more thing that we want We need an amnesty You have to set us free And then to let us be Give us your amnesty Benny took the judges on, Fought for freedom Took a beating for all of us Finally you let him go, as you had to, As you will do for us as well Call off your brute squad, it has to be outlawed You cannot lock us in jail So there's just one thing that we need Give us your amnesty Don't delay; it's time to set us free Then you have to stop this and set us free That's why it's called an amnesty Someone has to say these words Or things will never get better for all of us We hope that you can see this too And that you're willing, able and willing, to work this through You have to release us, no longer arrest us You may not lock us in jail Lock us in jail I'll repeat the thing that we need
4.
Inquiry 06:12
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You are mistaken The future is taken Force cannot aid you And fear cannot save you Let us convene Let us begin Tell us it all Only what's real Witness the truth Inquiry now! Now's the time to weigh up all we've seen Now's the time for justice to intervene Nothing that's been said and nothing that's been done Should now be concealed from the light of the sun Let us sincerely open it all to inquiry You are resistant Yeah, but we are insistent The truth must be spoken The chains must be broken Let us show the world that our justice is real Let us show ourselves we have nothing to conceal Open up the records, open the evidence Open the testimony of participants Let us sincerely open it all to inquiry
5.
Suffrage 04:03
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You’ve taken all our power Subverted all our agency No matter what you say We live in your captivity All your window dressing Is transparent and malign Every day we have less Yet you tell us it's fine We asked for a vote, you gave us a veto We're for democracy, you're still on auto We asked for suffrage, you made us suffer But we'll suffer for suffrage 'Till our suffering's done We'll suffer for suffrage 'Till this battle is won You hide behind "security" To steal away our liberty We are not some fiefdom To oppress with your nobility We should have a voice It's our right to make a choice You can't govern by decree We deserve democracy

about

In 2019 the city-state of Hong Kong was the scene of massed peaceful protests against what were felt to be repressive policies intended to reduce the city's autonomy and political freedoms. The protesters summed up their aspirations in five demands.

- Full withdrawal of the extradition bill
- Retracting the classification of protesters as “rioters”
- Amnesty for arrested protesters
- A commission of inquiry into alleged police brutality
- Universal suffrage for Hong Kong elections

The five tracks on Flagrant Ardour capture my emotional response to these protests and the events that followed. The songs don't claim to be "authentic": I'm from Aotearoa New Zealand and have never visited Hong Kong, despite being closely interested in the city-state for much of my life. What these songs do is imagine how I would feel and respond if I were in the same situation, subjected to the same series of events.

I've released this EP as May Joy rather than under my own name because it's a collaboration in a very real sense. I could not sing these songs, and I'm grateful to the makers of the Solaria voice bank, and to Kanru Hua and the Dreamtonics team for creating Synthesizer V, so I could realise the vocal lines the way I heard them in my head.


Leigh Harrison
November 2024

credits

released November 30, 2024

Solaria: Synthesizer V vocals
Leigh: other noises

Birsa Murmu: cover photograph
instagram.com/birsabir

Leigh Harrison: songwriting © APRA 2024
musician.social/@elsemusic

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May Joy New Zealand

May Joy is a musical collective from Aotearoa, advocating for equality of opportunity and more torch songs.

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