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Artist: Fenvian Child (Apple, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon, Deezer, Tidal..
Lyrics: The Long Delay
(Verse 1)
You're broadcasting nonsense from the other room
A stream of garbled data, sealed inside a tomb
Of your own design, your own defense
I'm tracing the fault line, trying to make sense
Of the seventeen billion miles of doubt you left
Reading the telemetry of a mind bereft
(Pre-Chorus)
And they all said to give it up, just cut the line
Let you drift forever out of time
But I learned your schematics, I learned the code you bleed
Found the one corrupt file where you planted the seed
(Chorus)
I sent the command, I held my breath all day
Just one little poke through the long delay
Bypassed the bad memory that stood in the way
Finally got a clear signal from you today
A single bit flipped right, a world of grey
Erased by the science of the long delay
(Verse 2)
We built this thing together forty-six years ago
Or it feels like it, watching the slow
Decay of every message you would send
Another diagnostics run that wouldn't end
I mapped the new stars between your heart and mine
Each one a goodbye, a broken power line
(Pre-Chorus)
And the world got colder, with you so far out there
I was talking to silence, breathing frozen air
But I stayed at the console, through the night, through the pain
Knew your hardware was perfect, just a storm in your main brain
(Chorus)
I sent the command, I held my breath all day
Just one little poke through the long delay
Bypassed the bad memory that stood in the way
Finally got a clear signal from you today
A single bit flipped right, a world of grey
Erased by the science of the long delay
(Bridge)
It's not about the answer that you give
It's the fact that I hear you, that the link can still live
It wasn't a question I asked you, it was more like a key
And I watched as the logic returned to the core of you and me
Yeah, I watched the true you come back on the screen
(Chorus)
I sent the command, and didn't have to pray
For my one little poke through the long delay
Your eyes cleared the static and you knew what to say
I finally got the real signal from you today
A single bit flipped right, burned the grey
Thank God for the science of the long delay
(Outro)
Receiving science data...
Loud and clear now...
...Through the long delay.
You're here now.
About The Song
"The Long Delay" uses the recent breakthrough with the Voyager 1 space probe as a deep metaphor for mending a broken relationship. The news story—engineers 'poking' a 46-year-old spacecraft to bypass a faulty memory chip and restore clear communication—is transformed into a personal, human struggle. The song's narrator becomes that engineer, patiently working to reconnect with a partner who has become emotionally distant, their communication reduced to 'garbled data.' The 'long delay' is both the physical distance to the probe and the profound emotional chasm that has grown between two people. Musically, it pulls from the sparse, intimate, and sub-bass-heavy style of artists like Billie Eilish, using the minimalism to evoke the vast, quiet emptiness the narrator is fighting against. The core theme is active hope and a refusal to give up, believing that even after what feels like an eternity of silence or noise, a single, tiny, well-aimed gesture can bypass the trauma ('the bad memory') and bring someone back.
Production Notes
Vocals: Close-mic'd with a Neumann U87 for maximum intimacy and presence. The verse vocals should be delivered in a dry, almost whispered tone, filled with a sense of exhausted patience. Vocal Chain: Neve 1073 preamp -> Tube-Tech CL1B compressor (light compression, ratio 2:1) -> Minimal EQ. Chorus vocals can be layered with a slightly more open, airy take. In the Bridge and final Chorus, bring the vocal processing forward and make it brighter to signify the breakthrough.
Arrangement: Heavily minimalist. The core is a deep, pulsating sub-bass synth line that drives the song. Verses feature a skittering, bit-crushed TR-808 hi-hat pattern and occasional glitched-out samples (like a corrupted file loading) panned wide. The Chorus introduces a solid, simple kick and a snappy snare, grounding the track as the 'signal' becomes clear. A faint, shimmering synth pad (like a Juno-60) should rise subtly in the background of the chorus, representing hope and clarity.
Mix Automation: Crucial for the song's storytelling. Use automated delay and reverb throws on words like "far," "delay," and "space" to create an echoey, distant effect. During the final chorus and outro, automate the high-pass filter on the main vocal to sweep down, making it sound fuller and closer as the 'connection' is restored. Pan the glitchy percussive elements unpredictably in the verses, then lock them centrally in the final chorus.
Performance: The entire performance hangs on the balance of exhaustion and resilience. The delivery must convey the long, lonely hours 'at the console'—the verses are a quiet plea, and the chorus is a profound sigh of relief, not a triumphant shout.
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