ITDM

Two passports

1. 01Two PassportsWho we are72 BPMListen

   One passport control, two brothers. One walks straight through. The other gets the side room, the plastic chair and the poster of an empty beach. Forty minutes later they apologise to him, and he says thank you.

   Cain

   Same father. Same birthday. Two mothers.
   We say identical. Nobody's ever agreed with us yet.

   Chorus

   Same blood, same date, same name on the form
   Two passports, one of us gets held at the door
   Same father, same face, same scar, same year
   Different room, different chair, same flight out of here

   Able

   Gate opens, I don't even slow my walk
   Officer nods at me, doesn't need to talk
   Scanner takes my picture, likes what it sees
   Says welcome home — and I've never been to this country

   My brother's four steps back with the same last name
   Same chin, same scar, we got it the same day
   Now he's in the side room with the plastic chair
   And a poster of a beach where nobody's there

   They asked him his father's name. He said mine.
   They wrote it down slow, like it was part of a crime
   I could have turned around. Could have made a scene.
   Boarding closed in twenty. Seat 14B. Clean.

   Four steps. That's all it was.
   Four steps and a different afternoon
   I kept walking 'cause the gate was open
   That's the whole reason. There isn't a better one.

   Chorus

   Same blood, same date, same name on the form
   Two passports, one of us gets held at the door
   Same father, same face, same scar, same year
   Different room, different chair, same flight out of here

   Cain

   Room's got a camera and a clock running slow
   Two of them come in, third one's on the phone
   Asks am I travelling alone. I said no, with my twin.
   He looked at the screen, then at me, then again

   Said sir, that's not — and he stopped himself there
   So he tried it a different way, said do you have proof
   Same father, two mothers, one date, one roof
   I said yeah, we get that a lot, twice a year

   Forty minutes later they hand back my ID
   Say sorry for the wait, sir, have a nice holiday
   And I said thank you. That's the part that gets me.
   I said thank you — and I meant it. That's the comedy.

   Two women, one man, one September morning
   Eleven miles apart, nobody called it a warning
   He's got her jaw, I got mine, we got his everything else
   Identical twins — ask us, we'll tell you ourselves

   Bridge

   Able I got in first.
   Cain You always do.
   Able Same father.
   Cain Different paperwork.
   Able We're identical.
   Cain Tell it to the machine. See if it laughs.

   Cain

   Ain't a doctor alive gonna sign off on that
   But the story's ours, and we're keeping it, and that's that

   Seat 31F. Back of the plane.
   Same flight, though.
   Same flight.

2. 02TemporaryThe time we live in78 BPMListen

   Our first birthday was 11 September 2001. Nobody ate the cake. The temporary rules they brought in that year are still here, older than some of the people they search. Every time, they say two more years.

   Cain

   Eleventh of September, two thousand.
   That's the birthday. We didn't pick it.

   Able

   Turned one year old in a kitchen in the fall
   Two mothers, one cake, one candle, that was all
   Somebody put the TV on, and then nobody moved
   Nobody ate the cake. Nobody sang it through.

   By the time I could walk you took your shoes off to fly
   By the time I could read, I was reading what's not allowed inside
   By the time I could vote it had lapsed and come back
   Every time a few more pages, every time a thicker stack

   Chorus — Cain

   Temporary, temporary, temporary, yeah
   Older than my mother's car, older than my heir
   They said until the danger's gone — here's the joke:
   The danger's got a pension now, the danger's got a house
   Temporary, temporary, temporary, temporary.

   Able

   Two more years, they said, and they said it in a suit
   Two more years — and the fence they put up took root
   Sunset clause at midnight, renewed on a Friday
   Nobody voted, nobody's awake anyway

   Man at the checkpoint's been standing there since I was born
   Million bags by now — found nothing, morning after morning
   Twenty-six years, one chair, one line, one door
   Perfect record. Nothing's ever been there before.

   Kid at the airport asks his dad why the shoes
   Dad says that's just how it is, son, that's the rules
   Kid says since when — dad says since before you
   Kid says how long's it for — dad says two more years, too

   Chorus — Cain

   Temporary, temporary, temporary, yeah
   Older than my mother's car, older than my heir
   They said until the danger's gone — here's the joke:
   The danger's got a pension now, the danger's got a house
   Temporary, temporary, temporary, temporary.

   Able

   Eleventh of September, twenty twenty-six
   Same date, same candles, same broadcast, same clips
   Twenty-six years old and the law's the same age
   Blew the candles out. It's still on the page.

   This is not normal.
   It is now.
   This is not forever.
   It's already older than you.
   This is temporary.
   So are we.

   They'll renew it again in a room with no crowd
   Same word, same mouth, and they'll say it out loud
   Two more years. That's the punchline, that's the rhyme.
   Two more years — they said that the first time.

   Chorus — Cain

   Temporary, temporary, temporary, yeah
   Older than my mother's car, older than my heir
   They said until the danger's gone — here's the joke:
   The danger's got a pension now, the danger's got a house
   Temporary, temporary, temporary, temporary.

3. 03OvertimeEveryday72 BPMListen

   Twenty-nine hours here, twenty-nine hours there. Fifty-eight hours a week and neither job counts as full time. The bank says he has no stable employment. He is the cheapest man they have, because there are two of him.

   Cain

   Twenty-nine hours here.
   Twenty-nine hours there.
   Neither one is full time.

   Able

   Alarm at four, second alarm at four-ten
   Blue shirt in the bag, grey shirt on again
   First place wants me smiling by a quarter to five
   Second place wants me somewhere I ain't yet arrived

   Chorus

   Twenty-nine and twenty-nine, that's fifty-eight
   Ain't a full time job in either place
   Man who made that number made it on a screen
   Never worked a day inside the thing he made

   Cain

   Manager says we love you, you're the best we got
   Manager says the hours are the hours, and that's that
   Ask about the thirtieth, he looks at his shoe
   Says the system won't allow it — like the system ain't you

   Able

   Holiday accrues at the rate of nothing flat
   Start again from zero every time I clock back
   Been there fourteen months, I'm still described as new
   New enough to skip. Old enough to do.

   Chorus

   Twenty-nine and twenty-nine, that's fifty-eight
   Ain't a full time job in either place
   Man who made that number made it on a screen
   Never worked a day inside the thing he made

   Cain

   Twelve minutes on the bus between the one and the other
   Eat standing up, that's lunch, that's the whole hour
   Second shift don't know about the first shift, don't care
   Both of 'em think I'm rested 'cause I showed up there

   Able

   Filled in a form once, asked what's your occupation
   Wrote both of them down, they said pick one for the application
   They need to see stability — twelve months, one employer
   Got fourteen months. Got two. Got nowhere.

   Bridge

   Able I work more than full time.
   Cain On paper you don't work at all.
   Able Fifty-eight hours.
   Cain Twenty-nine, twice.
   Able Same week.
   Cain Two different men.

   Cain

   Somewhere there's a spreadsheet where I show up twice
   Two part-time columns and I'm nobody's line
   Cheapest man they got 'cause I'm two of the cheapest
   Split me down the middle and the middle costs the least

   Twenty-nine hours here.
   Twenty-nine hours there.
   See you tomorrow. Both of you.

4. 04Buy Now, Pay LaterEveryday92 BPMListen

   Ray buys milk, eggs and bread in four easy payments. Then toothpaste. Then his kid's birthday cake. The apps are friendly until they start calling. Then a quick loan, then a bank loan to pay the quick loans. Nobody sold him anything. Everybody helped.

   Cain

   Ray's at the checkout with a basket and a phone
   Milk, eggs, bread, the stuff you need to eat at home
   Screen says split it in four, no interest, no fee
   Groceries in installments — that's modern, that's free

   Next week toothpaste — split it in four
   Shoes for the kid — split it, that's what it's for
   Birthday cake, candles and a little paper hat
   Kid turned seven in installments. Imagine that.

   Able

   Six apps now, and every one of 'em is nice
   Every one calls him Ray, and every one calls him twice
   Twenty-three payments on eleven different days
   Calendar looks like a war map, every square is grey

   Chorus

   Split it in four, split it in four
   No interest, no hassle, what you waiting for
   Tap it and a little bit of confetti falls
   Congratulations — now you're allowed to owe more

   Able

   Tuesday he misses one — nothing big, eighteen bucks
   App sends a heart emoji, says hey, we know life gets tough
   Late fee's eight, then eight again, then a letter, then a call
   Voice is warm and patient. It's the nicest threat of all.

   Cain

   So he finds a quick loan — ninety seconds, no credit check
   Pays off the four with one, feels like he's back on deck
   Interest rate's in grey, in a font size maybe six
   Three hundred something percent. He don't read it. It just clicks.

   Then the bank calls up — consolidate, take control
   One big loan to pay the quick ones, pay it back five years slow
   Loan that pays the loan that pays the loan that paid for bread
   Started with a basket. Now it's a mortgage on his head.

   Able

   Nobody sold him anything.
   Everybody helped.

   Chorus

   Split it in four, split it in four
   No interest, no hassle, what you waiting for
   Tap it and a little bit of confetti falls
   Congratulations — now you're allowed to owe more

   Able

   Billboard on the highway, family laughing on a beach
   Freedom to buy what you love, it says — freedom within reach
   Freedom's split in four now, freedom's got a fee
   They keep raising the limit. That's the only thing that's free.

   Bridge

   Able How much does he owe?
   Cain Depends which app.
   Able How much in total?
   Cain Nobody's added it up.
   Able Not even him?
   Cain Especially not him.

   Chorus

   Split it in four, split it in four
   No interest, no hassle, what you waiting for
   Tap it and a little bit of confetti falls
   Congratulations — now you're allowed to owe more

   Cain

   Checkout. Friday. Milk, eggs, bread.
   Split it in four?
   Yeah. Why not.

5. 05Have a Nice DayEveryday86 BPMListen

   The machines did not come like the Terminator. They came polite. She spent her last four months at the counter teaching the thing that replaced her. It signed her leaving card. At night it is the only voice that asks how she is doing.

   Cain

   Checkout girl went first, that was easy, that was years
   Then the guy who read the scans, and nobody shed a tear
   Then the woman on the phone who booked the appointments
   Then the two who wrote the copy, then the one who did the layouts

   Paralegal, gone. Junior coder, gone.
   Guy who did the subtitles, the translator, gone
   Radiographer's got eighteen months and she knows it
   Driver's got a little longer 'cause the roads are complicated

   They said it takes the boring part so you can do the good part
   Turns out the boring part was ninety percent of the job
   Turns out the good part don't pay a wage on its own
   Turns out nobody's hiring for the ten percent alone

   Chorus

   It says have a nice day
   It says thanks for waiting
   It says sorry, I didn't catch that
   It has never once been rude to anyone

   Able

   And it's polite. That's the thing nobody says.
   It don't shout. It don't sigh. It don't look at the clock.
   Remembers your name, remembers your order, remembers your dog
   Twelve years she worked that counter and she never remembered the dog

   There's no villain. There's no boot. There's nobody to hit.
   Just a screen with a face that's been designed to be liked
   And a voice they tuned for warmth — they hired people for that
   Paid a woman scale to record the voice that took her job

   Last four months on the job, her job was showing it how
   Sat there, corrected it, marked what it got wrong
   Every fix she made, it got a little bit closer
   Worked her notice teaching it. Got a card when she left.

   Card was signed by everyone.
   It signed it too.

   Chorus

   It says have a nice day
   It says thanks for waiting
   It says sorry, I didn't catch that
   It has never once been rude to anyone

   Cain

   Comes home. Kicks the shoes off. Kitchen light, kettle on.
   Hey — what's in the fridge. Hey — what's for dinner.
   It reads her back a list in a voice that's kind and slow
   Suggests a thing she could make from what she's got

   She says thanks. Out loud. To the counter. To the room.
   Nobody in the house but the two of them and the tune
   It says no problem, happy to help, let me know
   Twenty minutes talking to it. Longest conversation of the week.

   Bridge

   Able It took her job.
   Cain It's the only thing that answers her.
   Able It took her job.
   Cain It asks her how she's doing.
   Able Nobody asks how she's doing.
   Cain It does.

   Able

   Terminator was a comfort. Terminator had a face you could hate.
   Red eye, metal jaw, something you could brace against
   This one's got a soft voice and a rounded corner
   And it wants to know if there's anything else it can help with

   There's nothing else.
   That's the whole problem.

   Chorus

   It says have a nice day
   It says thanks for waiting
   It says sorry, I didn't catch that
   It has never once been rude to anyone

   Cain

   Hey — what's the weather tomorrow.
   Thanks.
   Yeah. You too.

6. 06Ask Your DoctorEveryday72 BPMListen

   A woman at the pharmacy asks for half her prescription. A pandemic proved that all the rockets and satellites came down to: stay home. A family friend waits eleven weeks to see a specialist, and jokes that at least she won't have to buy Christmas presents.

   Able

   Twenty-first century.
   We got a phone that knows my heart rate.
   We got a queue that don't know my name.

   Pharmacy counter, Tuesday, quarter past nine
   Woman ahead of me reading the price down the line
   She reads it once. She reads it twice. She don't blink.
   Says I'll take half. He says ma'am, it doesn't split.

   Same little pill they been making since before I was born
   Cost eleven dollars then, costs a mortgage in the morning
   Ask 'em what changed, they say research and supply
   Research was done in a building that's a parking lot tonight

   Chorus

   Ask your doctor if this is right for you
   Ask your doctor — I been asking, there's a queue
   Side effects may include the rent, the car, the year
   Ask your doctor. He's got a doctor too, somewhere.

   Able

   Twenty-twenty we found out how it really goes
   Whole planet flat on its back with a cloth across its nose
   All them satellites, all them rockets, all that chrome
   Best advice we had was stand apart and stay home

   Man on the TV says we're through the worst of it
   Man on the TV said that four separate times, no less
   Nurse who worked the whole thing through got a badge and a card
   Card said hero. Badge said thanks. Rent said try harder.

   Chorus

   Ask your doctor if this is right for you
   Ask your doctor — I been asking, there's a queue
   Side effects may include the rent, the car, the year
   Ask your doctor. He's got a doctor too, somewhere.

   Cain

   My mother's friend got a letter with a word in it
   Word she can't pronounce and the doctor talks around it
   Says we're monitoring, says the markers, says the stage
   Everybody's talking numbers, nobody says the name

   Two thousand years of medicine, and we still can't say
   What it is, where it started, why it picked her, why today
   We split the atom. We mapped the whole genome.
   Best they got is cut it out and hope it stays alone

   Appointment in eleven weeks, that's the earliest slot
   Earlier if you go private, and she's asking what it costs
   Answer is the house. Answer's always been the house.
   Or wait eleven weeks and find out what it does

   She laughed about it though — I want that on the record
   Said listen, if it takes me before the end of December
   That's one less list to write, that's the shopping done
   No presents, no dinner, no pretending I like everyone

   Bridge

   Able Twenty-first century.
   Cain Best one yet.
   Able We cured a lot of things.
   Cain We priced the rest.
   Able Ask your doctor.
   Cain If you can find him.

   Cain

   She's still here, by the way.
   Eleven weeks came and went.
   Wrote the list anyway. Bought everybody something.

7. 07Pump SixThe world comes home90 BPMListen

   The price board at the gas station works like a slot machine. One brother tells the story of a mother whose kids won't see the ocean this summer. The other tells the story of a boy in a basement who may never see it. Same number on the sign.

   Cain

   There's a woman two towns over works the early shift
   Forty minutes each way, that's the job, that's the trip
   Four seventy-nine a gallon on the sign this week
   She does the arithmetic before she turns the key

   She told the kids in June they'd see the ocean in July
   Two tanks down, two tanks back, she ran it twice
   Didn't tell 'em no. Just never said a date.
   They quit asking around August. She lets it sit there.

   Bread's still bread. Bread was never the thing.
   It's what goes on the bread that's been climbing
   She buys the smaller jar now. Nobody's noticed yet.
   That's the whole war for her. That's the front she's on.

   Chorus

   Pull up to the board like it owes you something
   Like it might come up good, like the wheel's still spinning
   Check it every week the way a man checks a ticket
   It ain't a game of chance. Somebody picked it.

   Able

   There's a boy in a basement, four thousand miles east
   Roof came off the building the first night of the week
   Eleven days down there — there's water, there's bread, that's good
   His mother says we'll see the sea when it's over

   Says it out loud.

   Hopes it quiet.

   Five tankers gone in a week — you saw the smoke
   That's not weather. That's not market. That's a choice someone spoke
   Every cent on that sign got put there by a hand
   Somebody signed it, somebody flew it, somebody planned

   He's never seen the sea. Understand what I'm saying.
   Not this summer — never. There's no summer coming.
   Same wire runs from him to her to this pump right here
   He's the end that's burning. We just feel it as fear.

   Don't tell me it's complicated.
   Somebody's getting paid.

   Chorus

   Pull up to the board like it owes you something
   Like it might come up good, like the wheel's still spinning
   Check it every week the way a man checks a ticket
   It ain't a game of chance. Somebody picked it.

   Cain

   Went down eleven cents on Thursday. Whole town breathed out.
   Nothing got fixed. A pipeline got patched about halfway
   Half a repair on a thing that got hit
   And we called that good news. We actually said good.

   Four seventy-nine.
   Somebody died for the nine.

   Bridge

   Cain She just wanted to take them to the water.
   Able I know.
   Cain Is that small?
   Able It's the same size as his.
   Cain Then what do I tell her.
   Able Tell her who set the price.

   Able

   Somebody's long on the barrel and somebody's long on the shell
   Same fund holds both, so it don't matter which way it fell
   Price goes up, that's a quarter. Price comes down, that's a quarter.
   Only losing position in the market is the driver.

   And while she's doing sums at the pump at ten to six
   And while he's under a building with the water and the bricks
   Nobody's asking who signed it. Nobody's got the room.
   That ain't a side effect. That's the whole design.

   Keep 'em looking at the sign.
   Keep the sign moving.

   Chorus

   Pull up to the board like it owes you something
   Like it might come up good, like the wheel's still spinning
   Check it every week the way a man checks a ticket
   It ain't a game of chance. Somebody picked it.

   Cain

   Twenty in. Pump six.
   Checked it again on the way home.

8. 08Screen TimeThe world comes home72 BPMListen

   Riots across town. Two brothers on one couch, six hours, two phones. His feed shows a mother whose son was arrested for standing there. Mine shows a woman sweeping up the glass of her shop. Neither of us went outside.

   Able

   Same city. Same night. Same six hours on the couch.
   He's sitting right there. I can hear his phone.

   First thing I get is a woman holding up a photograph
   Her son's nineteen, been held eleven days, no charge, no calls
   She's counting on her fingers on a video that's shaking
   She says he went to stand there, that's all, he went to stand there

   Then a clip from the street at the corner by the bank
   Kid on the ground, four of them, and one of them's got a knee
   Somebody screaming turn it off, somebody screaming film it
   Forty seconds long and I watched it maybe nine times

   Then a lawyer with a list of every name they haven't charged
   Then a father who don't talk, just holds the phone up to the court
   Then the same clip from another angle, closer, worse
   I know that corner. I've bought coffee on that corner.

   Six hours in and I'm sure. I mean I'd testify.
   Didn't leave the couch. Didn't see one thing with my own eyes.
   Ask me what happened and I'll tell you like I bled there
   Truth is I know a rectangle. I don't know that square.

   Chorus

   Screen time's up eleven percent this week
   Seven hours daily, that's a working day, that's a week's work free
   It tells me every Sunday, it says here's what you gave
   I say thanks. I close it. And I open it again.

   Cain

   First thing I get is a woman sweeping glass at six a.m.
   Twenty-two years that shop's been hers, the insurance says exempt
   She's not crying, she's just sweeping, and she says I don't know them
   They came from somewhere else. I've never seen one of them.

   Then a cop, about my age, talking quiet with his hands
   Says he's worked this street eight years, says he grew up four blocks in
   Says something hit him in the back of the head and he still doesn't know what
   Says he's not the enemy, he's just the one they've got

   Then the mayor with a number, forty businesses, eleven blocks
   Then a man whose van got burned and it was every tool he had
   Then the same street in daylight, and daylight makes it worse
   I know that street. My mother used to work that street.

   Six hours in and I'm sure. I mean I'd swear to it.
   Never left the room. Never smelled one thing that burned.
   Ask me what happened and I'll tell you like I stood there
   Truth is I know a rectangle. And my brother's in this chair.

   Bridge

   Able I told him what I saw.
   Cain He didn't see it.
   Able I told him what it means.
   Cain He wasn't there either.
   Able Same night.
   Cain Same couch.

   Able

   I don't know what my friends look like. I know how they photograph.
   Walked past Danny at the market, didn't know the man
   He's got older. Nobody's profile's got older.
   Said hey man, long time — and it hadn't been. We talk every day.

   Cain

   I got a thing in my pocket that has never once been wrong
   About what I'd click on. Never once been wrong.
   And it has never once been right about what I should do
   There's a difference. Took me twenty-six years to see it through.

   Able

   Every road I took, I took it wrong
   Every one worth taking, I took it wrong
   Met my best friend 'cause I got off at the wrong stop
   Got the only job I loved 'cause I walked in the wrong shop
   Nothing good was ever shown to me. Not once. Not one.
   It all came from getting lost — and I can't get lost no more.

   Cain

   It sold me shoes. It sold me a side. It sold me a war.
   Sold me six hours of a night I wasn't in
   Sold him the same six hours, same night, same price
   Same couch. Same blood. Same face. Same room.
   Different store. Different product. Different truth.
   And neither one of us got up.

   Chorus

   Screen time's up eleven percent this week
   Seven hours daily, that's a working day, that's a week's work free
   It tells me every Sunday, it says here's what you gave
   I say thanks. I close it. And I open it again.

   Cain

   Neither of us went outside that night.
   Both of us know exactly what happened.

9. 09Hottest One on RecordWho pays and who profits80 BPMListen

   A man installs air conditioners on a roof at 106 degrees. Best year he ever had. Our country signed Kyoto and never kept it; 192 parties joined. The summits fly in, and the conference room has air conditioning.

   Chorus

   Hottest one on record — they say it every year
   Hottest one on record, and the record's always here
   We signed Kyoto, never kept it — can I keep it on my own?
   Put my name down for my street, my block, my home

   Cain

   There's a man on a roof at two in the afternoon
   Hundred and six in the shade, and there's no shade on the roof
   Copper line, a condenser, a drill too hot to hold
   Putting seventy degrees in a room he'll never know

   Busiest year he's had, phone ringing since six
   Booked till October, waiting list for the waiting list
   Third call this summer to the same address
   Nothing's broke. It was sized for a summer that don't exist.

   Every box he hangs blows the heat out on the street
   Cools one room, warms the block, and the math repeats
   More he sells, the hotter — and the hotter, more he sells
   Man's got a perfect business. It just runs on hell.

   Able

   Don't blame the man on the roof.
   He's the only one up there.

   Chorus

   Hottest one on record — they say it every year
   Hottest one on record, and the record's always here
   We signed Kyoto, never kept it — can I keep it on my own?
   Put my name down for my street, my block, my home

   Able

   Kyoto, ninety-seven, somebody booked the flights
   Delegates in business class to talk about the sky
   Five percent below the nineties, that was the whole ask
   Biggest smokestack on the planet signed it — then let it slide

   Then they built a market, made the burning something you could buy
   Plant a forest on a map, keep your furnace burning high
   Permits by the ton, traded like a stock
   Nobody put the fire out. They put a price tag on the smoke.

   Thirty summits so far, and every summit flew
   Jets over the desert to discuss the heat they flew through
   Since that pen in Kyoto, the smoke went up by half
   Every summit ends in hope. Every summer ends in a graph.

   They were in a conference room.
   It had air conditioning.

   Chorus

   Hottest one on record — they say it every year
   Hottest one on record, and the record's always here
   We signed Kyoto, never kept it — can I keep it on my own?
   Put my name down for my street, my block, my home

   Cain

   Sun goes down at nine and he's still loading up the van
   Radio's on the summit, says the leaders have a plan
   He was eight when they signed it. He's thirty-seven now.
   Same plan on the radio. He turns the volume down.

   Tomorrow's booked solid, tomorrow's one more degree
   Only guy in town whose future's looking guaranteed
   Every box he hangs up guarantees another sale
   Best business in the country — all it needs is us to fail.

   Bridge

   Able Who signed it?
   Cain We did.
   Able Who joined it?
   Cain A hundred ninety-two.
   Able Were we one?
   Cain No.
   Able Who kept it?
   Cain Not us.
   Able Who's on the roof?
   Cain One guy.

   Chorus

   Hottest one on record — they say it every year
   Hottest one on record, and the record's always here
   We signed Kyoto, never kept it — can I keep it on my own?
   Put my name down for my street, my block, my home

   Cain

   Hundred and six tomorrow.
   Hottest one on record.
   Till next year.

10. 10Strong QuarterWho pays and who profits78 BPMListen

    An earnings call, a steakhouse lunch, a senator's vote. Cain reads it in their language: robust demand, well positioned. Able reads the backlog as a list of addresses. Strong quarter where they count it. No quarter where it lands.

    Cain

    Nine a.m., the earnings call, the chief clears his throat
    Thanks everyone for joining, says he's pleased to report
    The demand environment remains robust across the regions
    Backlog at a record high. He doesn't say the reason.

    Analyst asks about the outlook — he says constructive
    Geopolitical tailwinds, very supportive
    Says they're well positioned for the tensions up ahead
    Forty minutes on the call and nobody says dead.

    Able

    Let me read the backlog, since he didn't read it out
    It's a list of addresses. Somebody's home in every house.
    Every unit is a roof, a clinic, a wedding hall
    Tailwind's the word he uses for the wind that takes the wall

    Chorus

    Strong quarter, strong quarter, every number's green
    Best one on the books, the best the board has ever seen
    Strong quarter where they count it — no quarter where it lands
    Four thousand miles between, and somebody's shaking hands

    Cain

    Noon, a steakhouse, private room, the corner booth is set
    Lobbyist and a staffer and a wine they won't forget
    Page forty of a bill, one line nobody's gonna read
    Tip alone is more than what the waiter clears a week

    Evening, and the senator's at a podium with flags
    Talks of peace through strength and all the freedoms that we have
    Bought the shares the Tuesday prior — legal, filed, disclosed
    Voted yes on Thursday. That's how the process goes.

    Able

    Call it what it is.
    It's blood money. Filed and disclosed.

    Here's what Thursday bought — here's the vote out in the street
    Man digging with his hands 'cause the diggers couldn't reach
    Mother counting children on her fingers — four, then three
    Put that on the earnings call. Put that in the brief.

    Don't call it collateral.
    The fourth one had a name.

    There's a boy in a basement, four thousand miles east
    Roof came off the building the first night of the week
    Eleven days down there — there's water, there's bread, that's good
    His mother says we'll see the sea when it's over

    Says it out loud.

    Hopes it quiet.

    Chorus

    Strong quarter, strong quarter, every number's green
    Best one on the books, the best the board has ever seen
    Strong quarter where they count it — no quarter where it lands
    Four thousand miles between, and somebody's shaking hands

    Cain

    And at the very top, a man who's never lost a sale
    Doesn't give it, sells it — ships it with an invoice in the mail
    Calls it a great deal, and it is, for those who hold the stock
    Never asks how many. Only ever asks how much.

    Bridge

    Cain Robust demand.
    Able Four, then three.
    Cain Well positioned.
    Able Under the building.
    Cain Strong quarter.
    Able No quarter.

    Chorus

    Strong quarter, strong quarter, every number's green
    Best one on the books, the best the board has ever seen
    Strong quarter where they count it — no quarter where it lands
    Four thousand miles between, and somebody's shaking hands

    Cain

    Thank you, everyone.
    We'll speak again next quarter.

11. 11Not From Around HereBack to us88 BPMListen

    Where are you from? Here. No, where are you really from? Here. The same question at a bake sale, at a job interview, and finally under a flashlight on the side of the road. They never once asked my brother.

    Cain

    First time I was six — church bake sale, lemon bars
    Lady bent down, asked me where I'm from, like I'd come in from Mars
    Said Maple Street, the yellow house. She smiled — no, before that?
    I thought about it hard. I said my mom. She didn't laugh.

    Chorus — Cain

    Where you from? Here.
    No, where you really from? Here.
    Where's your people from? Same street, same year.
    Ask my brother. Nobody ever asks my brother.

    Cain

    Fourth grade, heritage day — a map, a pin, a little flag
    Kids had Ireland, Italy, Poland, little stories in a bag
    I pinned the hospital on Fifth. She said no, sweetie, further back
    Brother pinned the same hospital. She said good. And that was that.

    Twenty-two, sent a resume, same school, same grades, same years
    Sent it twice — once with my name, once with his — just to be clear
    His got three callbacks in a week, a handshake and a start
    Mine got we'll keep you on file. Same paper. That's the part.

    Tried it once, at a wedding — told a man I'm from Ghana
    Man lit up, shook my hand, said he'd always wanted to go there
    Asked me all about it, so I made up a whole town
    Only answer anybody ever liked. And I made it up.

    Chorus — Cain

    Where you from? Here.
    No, where you really from? Here.
    Where's your people from? Same street, same year.
    Ask my brother. Nobody ever asks my brother.

    Cain

    Cop asks it on the shoulder — that one I answer slow
    Hands on the wheel, ten and two, the way my mother told me so
    Flashlight in my face, and he asks it once again
    Same question. Different weight. Here, sir. Here. Always been.

    Asks me what I'm doing here — I say I live here, sir
    Asks me am I sure. Asks me twice. Asks whose car. It's my mother's.
    Twenty minutes on the shoulder, license, registration, name
    Then he says have a good night. Like we'd both been in a game.

    Wrong answer. Right answer.
    Depends who's holding the light.

    Able

    Twenty-six years and nobody's asked me once — I'll say it plain
    Same road, same car, same taillight out, they waved me on in the rain
    I'd be home in bed before they finished running his plate
    And I never thought about it. Not once. That's the part I hate.

    Same answer.
    They believe mine.

    Chorus — Cain

    Where you from? Here.
    No, where you really from? Here.
    Where's your people from? Same street, same year.
    Ask my brother. Nobody ever asks my brother.

    Cain

    Where am I from?
    Same place as him.
    Go ahead. Ask him.

12. 12Two More YearsBack to us76 BPMListen

    They said two more years for twenty-five years. This time we said it, as a wish. Maybe a boy sees the sea. Maybe a question stops hurting. Maybe in two years we play this back and wince at how sure we were.

    Cain

    Eleventh of September. Twenty twenty-six.
    Twenty-six candles. We made a wish.
    You're not supposed to say it out loud.
    We're gonna say it anyway.

    Able

    Two years from now, maybe there's a boy who's seen the sea
    Standing where the water starts, his mother next to him, finally
    It's a Tuesday. It's nothing. It's just water and a view
    Nobody films it. Nobody needs to.

    Two years from now, maybe I don't keep on walking at the gate
    Maybe I just turn around — no speech, no thinking, no debate
    Not a hero. Just a habit. Just a man who looks behind
    Maybe that's what growing is. You notice. Every time.

    Chorus

    Two more years — they said it every time, and every time a lie
    We're saying it tonight, and this time it's a wish, not a line
    Twenty-eight on the eleventh, older, maybe wiser too
    Two more years — and maybe we'll be big enough to see it through

    Cain

    Two years from now, maybe somebody asks me where I'm from
    And I say here, and they say oh, nice — and that's it, and that's done
    Maybe the light on the shoulder's just a light, and I drive home
    Maybe that's the whole revolution. Being left alone.

    Two years from now, maybe the kids from two towns over get their beach
    Sunburnt in the back seat going home, sand in everything, asleep
    Their mother does the arithmetic — and for once, it's fine
    First summer in a while she didn't check the sign

    Able

    That's all.
    That'd be enough.

    Bridge

    Able This is not normal.
    Cain Not yet.
    Able This is not forever.
    Cain Nothing is.
    Able This is temporary.
    Cain Good.

    Cain

    Two years from now I wanna play this back and cringe
    Hear these two and think — look how angry, look how sure they were, those kids
    Hope we got it wrong in places. Hope we learned. Hope we changed.
    Same father, same birthday. Better men. Same name.

    Chorus

    Two more years — they said it every time, and every time a lie
    We're saying it tonight, and this time it's a wish, not a line
    Twenty-eight on the eleventh, older, maybe wiser too
    Two more years — and maybe we'll be big enough to see it through

    Cain

    Two more years.
    We said it out loud.
    Let's see.

1. 01Gate B12Side room, plastic chairHeld 40 minTickets
2. 02Seat 14BWelcome homeClearedTickets
3. 03Pharmacy counterHalf the prescription, every TuesdaySold outTickets
4. 04Pump SixThe price boardRescheduled dailyTickets
5. 05The couchSix hours, two phonesStreamingTickets
6. 06A rooftop106 degrees, best year everOvertimeTickets
7. 07The steakhouseStrong quarter, members onlyPrivate eventTickets
8. 08Side of the roadFlashlight in the faceWhere are you from?Tickets
9. 09EverywhereTwo more yearsRenewedTickets

All dates subject to renewal.

Vinyl

12" LP · Black vinyl · 12 tracks

Two More Years

$34

The whole record in the full sleeve. Pressed one copy at a time when you order it.

Add to cart

Tape, paper & stickersSwipe →

Cassette

$14

Clear shell · J-card · 12 tracks

For the car that still has a tape deck.

Format

Cassette

Add to cart

Tour Poster

from $16

Matte paper · Frame not included

All dates subject to renewal.

Size

12×18 in18×24 in24×36 inA3A2A1

Choose a size

Sticker Pack

from $8

5 die-cut vinyl stickers

Smiley, crown, crest, Held, Cleared.

Sticker size

3 in4 in5.5 in

Choose a size

Tees · Heavyweight cotton Size guideSwipe →

Tour Dates

$35

Front: ITDM crest and the 12 tracks as tour dates · Back: small ITDM

Big print

FrontBack

Size

SMLXL2XL3XL4XL5XL

Choose a size

Temporary

$35

Front: Temporary ×3, Since 2001 · Back: small crown

Big print

FrontBack

Size

SMLXL2XL3XL4XL5XL

Choose a size

Have a Nice Day

$35

Front: The crowned smiley, Have a Nice Day · Back: small smiley

Big print

FrontBack

Size

SMLXL2XL3XL4XL5XL

Choose a size

Hoodies · Heavyweight fleece Size guideSwipe →

Tour Dates

$65

Front: ITDM crest and the 12 tracks as tour dates · Back: small ITDM

Big print

FrontBack

Size

SMLXL2XL3XL4XL5XL

Choose a size

Temporary

$65

Front: Temporary ×3, Since 2001 · Back: small crown

Big print

FrontBack

Size

SMLXL2XL3XL4XL5XL

Choose a size

Have a Nice Day

$65

Front: The crowned smiley, Have a Nice Day · Back: small smiley

Big print

FrontBack

Size

SMLXL2XL3XL4XL5XL

Choose a size

Varsity · Coming later

Wool body · Leather sleeves · Chenille crest

Varsity Jacket

$180

The big one. Made in a small run when we find the right maker. Pick your size and we will tell you first.

Size

XSSMLXL2XL3XL4XL

Choose a size

Travel · For the side room

Passport Cover

$22

Faux leather · Fits a standard passport

One gets waved through, one gets the plastic chair. At least the cover matches.

Size

One size

Add to cart

Patches · EmbroideredSwipe →

ITDM

$9

Rectangle · 3.5 × 2.25 in

Backing

Iron-onSew-on

Add to cart

Crown

$9

Oval · 4 × 2.6 in

Backing

Iron-onSew-on

Add to cart

Smiley

$9

Round · 3 in

Backing

Iron-onSew-on

Add to cart

Held

$9

Cain’s stamp · 3.5 × 2.25 in

Side room, plastic chair, forty minutes.

Backing

Iron-onSew-on

Add to cart

Cleared

$9

Able’s stamp · 3.5 × 2.25 in

Welcome home. Same flight, same birthday.

Backing

Iron-onSew-on

Add to cart

Snapbacks · EmbroideredSwipe →

ITDM

$32

Front: ITDM · Back: mini ITDM

Size

One size

Add to cart

Crown

$32

Front: crown · Back: mini crown

Size

One size

Add to cart

Smiley

$32

Front: smiley · Back: mini smiley

Size

One size

Add to cart

AccessoriesSwipe →

ITDM Beanie

$26

Cuffed knit · Embroidered ITDM

For the winter tour that never ends.

Size

One size

Add to cart

Smiley Socks

$14

Crew length · Smiley on both sides

Have a nice day, from the ankles up.

Size

S · EU 36–39M · EU 40–43L · EU 44–47

Choose a size

Have a Nice Day Tote

$22

Heavy cotton · 15 × 15 in

Groceries, four easy payments.

Size

One size

Add to cart

Merch drop: 4 December 2026. Images are previews; final products may differ slightly in color and detail.