A quiet evening at home, enjoying a meal together as a family.
02 Come To Me
Walking through the valley of the shadow of death. For my dad.
03 My Stop Is Grand
Fantastic imagery recounting an ordinary commute. Very moving (pun intended). A poem from Once in the West: Poems (Wiman 2015)
04 One by One
A song about slowing down. Feeling down? Looking up.
"From where does my help come?"
05 Here Visible
Close your eyes and picture a choir kind of space. A poem from Once in the West: Poems (Wiman 2015)
06 Old McDonald
Polaroid pictures of silly times with the kids.
07 Iris Eyes
A song about being married and trying to understand and connect with each other.
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Human Toddler is the latest project by Louisville musician Paul Sridhar.
His sound ranges from stripped down acoustic guitar to crunchier alternative textures. His songs are filled with the stuff of daily life: Friday night dinners, wrestling with his kids, walking through dark days, hoping for heaven. His new self-titled album comes out on September 6, 2023. Guitars and vocals are primary. The production is unassuming. The lyrics are obscured at times yet the meaning shines through nonetheless.
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It has been almost five years since the release of my previous record Sing With The Voice God Gave You. Everyday life was a big theme on that one. It bounced around between the nursery and the open road and even a snowy mountain metaphor. My new project Human Toddler deals with much of the same stuff. It turns out that everyday life is a pretty solid prompt for writing a song. Go figure. I have worked on this new project in piece-meal fashion over the past few years, late at night mostly, squeezing it into the margins of life. Looking back now, a lot of the songwriting was my way of processing through struggles I was having. More precisely, it helped me release burdens. Long and trying days often gave way to quiet evenings of playing the guitar in the living room. I couldn't play very loud because everyone else was sleeping, but it was cathartic nonetheless. Sometimes I played melancholy songs to lament hard times. At other times I needed to sing about Friday night dinners. And of course reflections on my family are everywhere too. I have had a lot of fun producing this record, and I'm excited to finally share it with you.
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My Stop Is Grand is a poem by Christian Wiman. This is actually one of two songs on the album that feature Wiman poems. One of my good friends recommended his work a few years back. I was instantly impressed by his unique cadence and striking imagery. He writes about his upbringing in west Texas, living with cancer, spirituality, religion, and God, among other things. It takes some work to read his poems, but it is gratifying to finally figure out (or think you figured out) what he is trying to say! He doesn't shy away from sorrow and pain and death, even desolation. But he is not morbid or callous. Like all of us, he is struggling to navigate through life, yet I get the impression that he is not without hope. His poetry reminds me of the Psalms in that way, albeit they are a bit more abstract.
My Stop Is Grand describes an ordinary run of the mill experience in vivid terms. He draws multiple pictures throughout the poem that if they were to stand alone would be captivating; but when they are linked together as a complete thought, it becomes clear that Wiman has the whip hand over the English language. And the best part is that when you realize what he is describing, it brings a smile to your face.
Originally I worked out the chord progression on an acoustic guitar and then performed it for NPR's Tiny Desk Contest in 2021. My son provided some killer percussion in the video. The final version that appears on Human Toddler is crunchy and loud, and I like it that way.
credits
released September 6, 2023
All songs written and produced by Paul Sridhar
All songs recorded at Paul's house in Louisville, Kentucky
Paul plays a Simon & Patrick acoustic guitar from Yancey's in Ormond Beach, Florida. His Martin acoustic guitar does not appear on this album
He plays a Peavey electric guitar given to him by his older brother Andrew
His bass guitar was given to him by his brother-in-law Luke
An ice cream sprinkles container was used to create the shaker sounds on Friday Night
My Stop is Grand and Here Visible are poems in Christian Wiman's book Once In The West (2015).
Drums on My Stop is Grand performed by Ben A.
Drums on One by One and Iris Eyes performed by Mason A.
Kids Shouting on My Stop Is Grand performed by Son and Daughter.
Artwork by Crystal Sridhar (pen & ink)
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Song Lyrics
Friday Night
Friday night is here again
Season the steak throw it in the pan
Sizzle and pop and pour some wine
Yell to the kids “It’s dinner time!”
Plates and cups and silverware
Take some bites before the prayer
Some you like and some you don’t
La da da da da da da da da da
Lots to say about the day
Work and school and the noise you made
Playing hard and having fun
It’s always too soon when the day is done
It’s always too soon when the day is done
Don’t look at me when you can blame the sun
Sit by the fire for the last charade
La da da da da da da da da da
Come To Me
Come to me, come to me
Are you weary?
Are you questioning?
A ray of sunlight will find you
Just when the darkness seems so deep
Look with me at the horizon
Hope is headed this way
My eyes are on you
You may not know it, but it’s true
I will not leave you in the day
Surely not in the darkness — I will save
I’m flesh and blood just like you
Been through hard times just a few
I heard you ask for a sign
Listen my son, you are mine
My Stop Is Grand
Poem written by Christian Wiman
I have no illusion
some fusion
of force and form
will save me,
bewilderment
of bonelight
ungrave me
as when the L
shooting through a hell
of ratty alleys
where nothing thrives
but soot
and the ratlike lives
that have learned to eat it
screechingly peacocked
a grace of sparks
so far out and above
the fast curve that jostled
and fastened us
into a single shock of—
I will not call it love
but at least some brief
and no doubt illusionary belief
that in some surge of brain
we were all seeing
one thing:
a lone unearned loveliness
struck from an iron pain.
Already it was gone.
Already it was bone,
the gray sky
and the encroaching skyline
pecked so clean
by raptor night
I shuddered at the cold gleam
we hurtled toward
like some insentient herd
plunging underground at Clark
and Division.
And yet all that day
I had a kind of vision
that’s never gone completely away
of immense clear-paned towers
and endlessly expendable hours
through which I walked
teeming human streets,
filled with a shine
that was most intimately me
and not mine.
One by One
There is a reason
To let things slow down
There is a season
To stop and break down
One by one
Each moment will pass
Some through the valley
And some through the cracks
Look to the heavens
To the open hand
Lay down your worries
And then do it again
Like the foaming river
With its ancient sound
The song of a savior
Will shape your very ground
Old McDonald
Old McDonald makes me laugh hard
I don't know why you keep on smilin
Double stack riders makes them fall hard
One after one, they tumble down
Giggle buggin, some teeth missin
Two by two, shoe and a shoe
Lighting candles, saying prayers
One by one, night by night
Help me find my lost coin
Look at mine!
My nice coin! My nice dime!
Look at me, it’s mine
Iris Eyes
Iris eyes, no surprise
Pearly whites not in yet, wispy hairs on your head
If our supplies were these blue skies
What would be the problem, how could we ever solve it?
Like a spy with no disguise
I came here to be found, giving up the good ground
I wanna understand, not here to reprimand
What’s going on the inside, that’s showing on the outside
I wanna understand, don’t want to take for granted
The love we share between us. The life we have within us.
When the lights comes, it falls my way…
Iris eyes, no surprise
Lotta steps to take, roads and hills to get through
If our supplies were these blue skies
What would be the virtue in saying I won’t hurt you?
Like a spy with no disguise
I know you wanna be found
Ill make it happen somehow
I wanna understand, not here to reprimand
What’s going on the inside, that’s showing on the outside
I wanna understand, don’t want to take for granted
The love we share between us. The life we have within us.
Human Toddler is the latest project by Paul Sridhar, who lives and works in Louisville, Kentucky. He comes from a big family in Central Florida and married into a big one too. Ordinary life provides plenty of source material for his songs.
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