DEBUT ALBUM OUT NOW
AVAILABLE AT
"The Why and How",
the long awaited debut album from Still Life, the Dayton, Ohio based band is here!
The album is laced with Renee Dubis' one of a kind, emotionally raw vocals and harmonies interwoven with Scott Mckinney's compelling and dark music. The lyrics from both writers are powerful and intense. "The Why and How" delivers on an entertaining and emotional level, and the songs leave one singing the lyrics long after.
Still Life debut release! "The Why and How" hits iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and more.
This is the album some call a shift in the musical landscape. Familiar (yet completely different), the songs are like a journey. The lyrics are artfully crafted with imagery that hits home to all. The music is uncompromising as it moves from beautiful to rock, and back. Hearing the album in it's entirety is spellbinding and intoxicating.
A must listen.
BIO
Renee Dubis and Scott Mckinney met in high school in 1978 in Dayton, Ohio. They were fast friends and began to play and write music together in different bands in and around town. In 1985 they won the Dayton Band Playoffs playing strictly original music with a band named Borderline. Life got in the way of their music at this time; marriages, different states, children, careers. In 2014 Scott looked up Renee now that they were both back in Dayton. He had built a small studio in his spare bedroom. Scott would write the music and record it and Renee would come over to sing. Some lyrics Renee had written over the years, and Scott was writing lyrics and music profusely at this time. Life was still busy with work and daily activities but they found time here and there to get in the studio and record. Renee layered her vocal, and at times there were up to 15 tracks of her harmonies alone. Scott played all the instruments / software and recorded, engineered and mixed the project. It took a long time but the album "The Why and How" is the result. We are proud to be from Dayton, Ohio and thank everyone for their support. #daytonstrong
Original Art - Mark D. Tremaine / Photo - Bret Cottingham
ALBUM LYRICS
Falling Again
Winter grips the city
Oh, it's 3 AM
Not looking for pity
Nor to pretend...
I just realized
What it means to be free
Though you're unaware
You're all that I see
Now I'm falling
Where I've never been
Now I'm falling
I'm falling again...x2
Winter turns to spring now
Oh, and still I wait
To whisper my feelings
I hope I'm not late
Understanding now,
The meaning of 'alone'
My secret is safe
Forever unknown...
Now I'm falling
Where I've never been
Now I'm falling
I'm falling again...x2
Lyrics and Music-Mckinney
Pretending I Sleep
Why does the wind grow still
so deep into the night?
Darkness so intense and deep
that it swallows up all the light...
My heart it skips a beat
I cannot break away
From the feel of your body next
to me, so quietly I lay...
Where does the time go?
Was this all a dream?
In the darkness I feel alone
in a stranger's company
I can feel you gaze at me
I'm pretending that I sleep
Longing to reach out to you
Oh, I'm in this way too deep. x2
Lyrics and Music-Mckinney
The Why and How
Make no mistake, I start to shake
There's thunder and lightning here
Do me no harm, sound the alarm
The storm clouds reappear
The answer seems so far away from me
My insecurities, they grow
Dark and lonely places they are calling me, I'm gettin' scared I wanna go...
home...get me through the storm
I must insist, if time permits
I'm seeking a remedy
Expose my wrongs in all these songs
I cry out for amnesty
Forgiveness, oh shine down on me
As I crawl to higher ground
The silence cries together in a symphony
Reaching a crescendo without sound
Exhausted now, the why and how
I will not quit, still won't submit
And comatose without a dose
I've got to get ahead of it
As all my scars give their regards
Release them, now I'm sliding down
My will is gone, I've got to run,
I cannot breathe the air I need to live
Exhausted now, the why and how
Without a sound, I'm sliding down
My will is gone, I've got to run
I cannot breathe the air I need to live.
Lyrics and Music-Mckinney
Stay
Come lie beside me
Keep me safe and sound
I'm afraid, and my head is spinning 'round and 'round
The night is lonely
When love can't be found
All alone...
And my heart is like a stone
Oh, stay..stay with me
Lose yourself and become
part of me
Oh, stay...stay with me
Pull me close, don't let go
Set me free
Love like you mean it
Help me believe it too
For tonight, I am needing something real from you
Always a secret
Hiding behind your eyes
There's a wall
I pretend it isn't meant for me
Oh, stay...stay with me
Lose yourself and become
part of me
Oh, stay...stay with me
Hold me close, don't let go
Set me free x2.
Lyrics-Dubis Music-Mckinney
Winter
Holding his head in his hands,
Heavy with the weight of his plan
Feeling it all slip away
The last of the light at the end of the day
Where did the years disappear to?
The man in the mirror that he once knew?
A shadow is all that remains in the eyes
of the stranger that's taken his place
(The ground is cold now against his cheek
The snow is falling, gathering at his feet)
Whoa...
Seeking relief from the madness
Driven by need for forgiveness
The war rages on in his mind
A fight to the death with his soul on the line
When did his dreams lose their meaning?
Along with the life he's been leading
His hunger is all that he knows and the
longer he feeds it, the more that it grows
Ooo...
The light of the day is slippin' away
Snow gatherin' at his feet
The hunger inside is consuming his mind
The battle bringin' him to his knees.
Whoa...
Lyrics-Dubis Music-Mckinney
Prose and Eloquence
I die wondering how and why
I cry while the sun lights up the sky
I breathe, imagine how I'd like to leave
And I hear the melody of all my years
It comes crashin' down around me
All the prose and eloquence
So many jokers they surround me
Their ramblings just don't make any sense
So I come to you, I can't decide just what to do
As I come unglued, remembering it's nothing new
This emptiness seems like a long lost friend
And I'm so tired now
One foot in the cold, hard ground oh..
There's no light in the tunnel
That story's just not true
There's simply no resisting now
The choices very few
The shimmer on the water
Is masked by all the clouds
I wonder if I've died inside
I'm cloaked within this shroud
It comes crashin' down around me
All the prose and eloquence
So many jokers they surround me now
Their ramblings just don't make any sense
So I come to you, I can't decide just what to do
As I come unglued, remembering it's nothing new
This emptiness seems like a long lost friend
And I'm so tired now
One foot in the cold, hard ground oh..
Lyrics and Music-Mckinney
Carry Me Down
So let it all go
Carry me down
Down to that place in my gut where you win
Take care with me there
'Cause you know
I get scared...
I'm alone in the darkness.
Lyrics-Dubis Music-Mckinney
All lyrics and music sole property of
Scott Mckinney and Renee Dubis.
2019 All rights reserved.
Riley Wills Music
Original Art: Mark D. Tremaine