Description

The Great Impression is the 12 track USA debut album from Australian indie pop-rockers Sparkadia. Front man and founding member Alex Burnett shows great skill in his songwriting, seamlessly melding 80s style synth lines and sprawling, anthemic choruses with evocative lyrics to form a record that is heartbreaking and uplifting all at once.

The Great Impression features Burnett on almost all the instruments including gongs, metal scaffolding, and scrap metal, which adds a bit of oddness and uniqueness to the record. Standout tracks include the first single, Mary, a rousing and powerful anthem with spiritual undertones, Talking Like I’m Falling Down Stairs, a dreamy tune with lyrics that create a vivid picture of Burnett’s emotional state, and China, a pop hit with a retro feel and driving percussive lines that will resonate with anyone who has ever been on the brink of a breakdown.

• The Great Impression

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    Every summer I dream
    Dream the strangest of dreams
    You were here by my side
    For a while so it seemed

    In the Valley of Kings
    There's no way to escape
    Melting clocks in the sun
    Wish you knew you made

    The greatest impression on me
    You made the greatest impression on me
    You made

    Every winter I fall
    Fall back into your bed
    You were on your way home
    I was sleeping instead

    You're the lake that stays frozen
    Every time that I wake
    I'm still under your spell
    Wish you knew you made

• Fingerprints

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    Packed my bags
    To run away from you
    Took my chance
    What's a boy to do

    But there's something in the mirror
    Something that I never saw
    Cos your memory lingers long after you're gone

    Cut my ties
    I guess a touch too soon
    Space and time
    Is not enough with you

    Cos there's something in the mirror
    Something that I wish I saw
    Cos your memory lingers long after

    Your fingerprints - are all over me
    They're all over me - your fingerprints
    All I can do - remember the way it felt with you
    Your fingerprints are all over me

    Your nail marks still
    Fresh across my back
    Too hard to tell
    The flesh from fact

• Talking Like I'm Falling Down Stairs

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    Tongue - tied
    Talking to my feet
    When there's nothing better than self-defeat
    I stop - stall
    Try to stand tall
    When whatever I say means nothing at all

    I walk
    Through all the steps in my head
    It made more sense in my head
    Plain and simple I can't keep climbing

    I try to find the words but they won't surrender
    So I lie to you and say that I don't remember

    Singing like a hurricane
    Dancing like Fred Astaire
    Walking like a young John Wayne
    I'm talking like I'm falling downstairs
    Talking like I'm falling downstairs

    Stut-ter
    Mutter to myself
    That you can't quote something from someone else
    I duck - swerve
    Lose my nerve
    It's on the tip of my tongue so just give me the word and

    I'll walk
    Through all the steps in my head
    Makes more sense in my head
    plain and simple I can't keep climbing

    I try to find the words but they won't surrender
    So I lie to you and say that I don't remember

    Singing like a hurricane
    Dancing like Fred Astaire
    Walking like a young John Wayne
    I'm talking like I'm falling down
    I'm talking like I'm falling downstairs

    Singing like a hurricane
    Dancing like Fred Astaire
    Walking like a young John Wayne
    I'm talking like I'm falling
    I'm talking like I'm falling downstairs
    I'm talking like I'm falling downstairs

• China

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    She's as distant as the winter sun
    More consistent than the beat of a drum
    All this time she's been hiding her weakness away from me

    Then one day I touched a nerve by mistake
    Pressed too hard and she started to shake
    Every time that I go there I know there's so much she can take
    Before she breaks

    She breaks like China
    She breaks like China
    The longer we take - the bigger we break when we find out

    I keep a close eye on the way I act
    Even when I start to see all the cracks
    I give nothing away but expect her to stay with me

    When she worked out where my weakness lay
    She wouldn't stop until I gave way
    Every time that she goes there she know there's so much I can take
    Before I break

    I break like China
    I break like China
    The longer we take - the bigger we break when we find out

    The stronger we act - the longer we crack
    There's only so much we can take till we start to break

    We're constructed from the same design
    With a heart that makes no sense to the mind
    We can keep it together but pressure and time have their way

    For the things we try to keep inside
    Find their way out in the dark of the night
    All it takes is the tiniest touch and there's only so much
    Before we break

    We break like China
    We break like China
    The longer we take - the bigger we break when we find out

    China

• Love Less Love

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    So by now
    You should have figured out
    That for a while
    You're better without me

    So be brave
    You're not the one to blame
    I'll take the hit
    You take the fame and all that comes with it

    Even if we try to take away the mess we made
    It took so long to figure out
    Who pulled the trigger - Who pulled out

    It's love - love - love - love
    It always equals out
    It's love - love - love - love
    I hope you work it out

    You should know
    I wasn't built for this
    A miserable heart
    Is one thing I'll never miss

    So if I call you late at night
    Don't answer the phone
    Lie like you're sleeping
    You're better off alone

    Cos even when we tried to take away the mess we made
    It took so long to figure out
    Who held the trigger - Who held out

    It's love - love - love - love
    It always equals out
    It's love - love - love

    Fooling around is fun for a while
    Won't last forever when there's no love to spare
    Cos we're going nowhere

• Ghost

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    Like a ghost in the night
    She is haunting me
    Taunting me

    Try as I might
    I can't live without
    I can't sleep without her

    She keeps me awake - I know when she fakes it
    She says what she feels - lies to conceal her heart

    I know she knows that I know she knows
    That I know she knows that I know
    I see what she sees and she sees what I see
    And that scares her more than it scares me

    Like a ghost in the night
    She caresses me
    Undresses me

    Try as I might
    I can't live without
    I can't sleep without her

    She keeps me awake - I give and she takes
    She tries to conceal - she'll never reveal herself

    She's like a ghost

    She keeps me awake - I know when she fakes it
    She says what she feels - lies to conceal her heart
    She keeps me awake - I give and she takes
    She tries to conceal - she'll never reveal herself

    Like a ghost in the night
    She's like a ghost in the night

• Shoot Straight

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    The heart is the softest target
    So be careful where you aim
    Be mindful of the matters
    That contaminate the veins

    The heart is the softest target
    So be careful what you say
    Be wary of the details
    That can lead the heart astray

    Shoot straight (Aim)

    Don't let me fall too far - don't make me wait

• Mary

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    Mary
    I don't know what to do
    Mary
    Cos every time I look away from you
    You're all I see
    Mary

    If the past shapes the present then presently I would be living it differently now
    The upside of downtime to think without thought is no better than getting distraught

    I'll join them to beat them to keep them away from the things that I cling to the most
    I'm done moving on and I'll leave if you stay so please... please

    Mary
    I don't know what to do
    Mary
    Cos every time I look away from you
    You're all I see
    Mary

    Why don't you save me
    Why don't you let me be or let me go
    I'm begging on my knees forget me please
    Or forgive me so
    Oh Mary

    If failure's success then I'm keeping it hidden to show what I now should confess
    So sacred it seems I'm so scared of these dreams that keep circling around in my head

    I pretend that we started a thing that could end and begin as we'd want it to be
    But nothing's more costly than something for free so please... please

    If love is blind I don't know what I'll find in you
    I don't know what you see in me

• Hurt Me

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    Wake up by my side
    Someone else is sleeping
    So I guess my emptiness was never one to leave me all alone
    There's promises
    Ones that are for keeping
    She won't talk so you won't know the ones I keep from you

    Hurt me
    Good souls like you don't deserve assholes like me

    Hurt me
    Why don't you hurt me
    Good souls like you don't deserve assholes like me

    Wake up by your side
    Someone else is sleeping
    So I guess my emptiness was never one for leaving me alone
    I had the choice
    So suffer I should
    I won't talk so you won't know the pain I keep from you

    Hurt me
    Oh hurt me
    Cos a good soul like you - should go and hurt an asshole like me

• I Started Something I Couldn't Finish

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    I started something I couldn't finish
    I couldn't leave my house for days

    Locked in the basement all the lights off
    Burn the candles both ways

    Until it grew unlike before
    A bit too big to ignore

    I started something I couldn't finish
    And it wouldn't leave me alone

    I started something I couldn't finish
    Such a foolish thing to do

    Such simplicity or duplicity
    When you don't know who is who?

    There was peace for a while
    No police that's not my style

    I started something I couldn't finish
    And it wouldn't leave me alone

    It doesn't matter what your friends say
    Doesn't matter what your folks say
    You know when you're through

    It doesn't matter what your friends say
    Doesn't matter what they all say
    You know when you're through

    I started something I couldn't finish
    I couldn't leave my house for days
    Locked in the basement all the lights out
    And it wouldn't leave me alone

• The Lost Ones

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    Will I always be the lost one
    Will I always wonder why
    One foot forward never felt so good or felt so right
    You won't find me for a while

    Fingers crossed I'll find the right way
    Compass always points to north
    I've been circling round the same two spots for far too long
    You won't find me for a while

    The search goes on...

    Falling further than I've been before
    Found a few who knew the way
    Looking backwards for directions for god knows where
    You won't find us for a while

    We will always be the lost ones
    We will always wonder why
    One foot forward never felt so good or felt so right
    You won't find us for a while

• Fade From View

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    The only way I knew to conquer someone like you
    Destroy all in my way the gods decide my fate

    Empires come and go
    They rise and then they fall
    You will never fade from view

    We hibernate for days while winter has its way
    Freezes what stays still and melts what's left behind

    Seasons come and go
    For reasons we don't know
    You will never fade from view

    Comets come and go
    Burn bright and then don't show
    You will never fade from view

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