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DEBUT ALBUM OUT NOW

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AVAILABLE AT

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"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.

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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

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 ALBUM LYRICS

Falling Again

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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

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Now I'm falling

Where I've never been

Now I'm falling

I'm falling again...x2

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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

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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...

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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

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Lyrics and Music-Mckinney

The Why and How

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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Lyrics and Music-Mckinney

Stay

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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Lyrics-Dubis Music-Mckinney

Winter

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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...

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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...

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Lyrics-Dubis Music-Mckinney

Prose and Eloquence

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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..

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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

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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

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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.

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Lyrics-Dubis Music-Mckinney

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All lyrics and music sole property of

Scott Mckinney and Renee Dubis.

2019 All rights reserved.

Riley Wills Music

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Original Art: Mark D. Tremaine

Lyrics
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