Signals In the Dark
Silence plugs in...
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"a beautifully strange offering that invites listeners to step outside themselves and embrace the unknown"
— Honk Magazine
— Honk Magazine
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Lyrics:
Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon I see no need to return any time soon I surf the lunar craters and wheel around on the dunes Comb the shores of the maria like a private lagoon Scoop up her wat’ry beams with my trusty teaspoon Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon It’s much more cozy up here than one would assume Here I'm able to float like a hot air balloon Watch the cows leaping by as I fiddle my tunes Bake rice cakes with rabbits, eat cheese all afternoon Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon Folks from the big blue marble in my sky Keep sending messages to check if I’m alright When they’re the ones who get so bored they end up picking fights On a world that’s desperate and so homogenized Don’t twist my deprivations into a careless sleights Then ask why I even gotta have an appetite Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon It feels so snug to be wrapped in an airtight cocoon I’ve grown quite accustomed to her ashen gloom Got myself plenty of nutmeg and the mugwort’s in bloom Prick my finger on a spindle as I weave gold on a loom Please Don’t Make Me Come Back From the Moon |
"Phillips’s singing is both controlled and moving, suggesting quiet resistance beneath the song’s silly surface"
— Up Here Magazine " the idea of “Miles Davis in space” is a handy starting point for the song" — Dave Franklin, The Big Takeover "The music breathes, slowly, as if it were rejecting any form of earthly urgency." — Extravafrench Credits:
vocals: E.G. Phillips backing vocals: nyssa trumpet, flugelhorn: Lucas Davis electric guitar: Xifer Fortier keys: Kevin Seal upright bass: Bryan Horne drums: Chris McGrew recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C), in San Francisco mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal written by E.G. Phillips © 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP) Notes I’m not sure if I had been aware that the Artemis II mission was taking place the same month that I planned to release this track that I would have done it — it seems like a risky move if something more major than their issues with Microsoft Outlook had happened. As it was, I was blissfully aware from the writing to the recording up until I started writing my newsletter to discuss the April launch of the track that this return to the moon was even happening. In concept, musically this is the B side of “In a Silent Way” in miniature — while lyrically we’re sort of in lunar wonderland that may owe a bit to post-pandemic anxieties. |
"The track gives the impression of listening to a whispered thought, an inner dialogue that nyssa embodies with disarming precision."
— Extravafrench
— Extravafrench
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Lyrics:
I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher… Maybe I’d catch you I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher… So I could hold you You act as though I’m a spider’s web You avoid entanglement In my threads Do I really come across like I would drain the life from you? I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher… Maybe I’d catch you I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher… So I could hold you I’m catnip for nightmares, I’m their siren’s song They’re woven into my tapestry as if that’s where they belong How’d I ever manage to get so caught up in all of this? I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher… Maybe I’d catch you I wish I weren’t such a Dreamcatcher… So I could hold you But I’m a Dreamcatcher… Notes: I met Anyssa at one of Aleta Simone’s residency shows at Bazaar Cafe (always fertile hunting ground for musicians to partner with) while I was in the process of recording the tracks for Signals in the Dark at Hyde Street Studios. She struck me as a perfect fit for doing the vocals on Dreamcatcher, which I never felt like I could really pull off myself to get the vibe I was looking for on this recording. |
"This work of rare emotional nakedness confirms Phillips as a master of shadow and nuance, capable of transforming absence into a vibrant presence."
— Iggy "an intimate, almost hypnotic listening experience that feels like more than just a ballad: a small, clear universe between dream and reality" — NenesButler “Fans of reflective indie jazz will be entranced by the song’s atmospheric beauty and want to listen to it on repeat.” — UpHere Magazine "Built on a delicately interwoven foundation of acoustic piano, the track moves with an unhurried elegance. Kevin Seal’s piano work on the song has to be the emotional spine here, each note placed with care, allowing silence to become just as important as sound." — Austin Sher, We Write About Music "The interplay between voice and instrumentation creates a sublime balance. Nothing feels rushed, and nothing feels overstated. " — Edgar Allen Poets "nyssa’s airy and rich vocals are undoubtedly the main event: hushed, vulnerable, and reflective, they draw you in slowly, and before you know it, they’re lingering in your mind, tinging everything you think" — Lost in the Manor Credits: vocals: nyssa guitar: Xifer Fortier keys: Kevin Seal bass: Liam Craddock drums: Chris McGrew recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C), in San Francisco mixed by Chris McGrew mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal written by E.G. Phillips © 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP) |
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Lyrics
I’ve been on both sides of Radio Silence Mode I’ve been on the side where no answer was received I’ve been on the side where no answer was owed Annie drives around town in her little red mini She always seems to be running late We’ve both got feelings for someone else That we’re hoping they’ll reciprocate We can be each other’s back ups she says For Valentine’s Day dates We’ll just be friends and she’ll coach me On how the dating game should be played But despite the fact we’d formed this alliance As time has passed by All I hear from her is radio silence I’ve been on both sides of Radio Silence Mode I’ve been on the side where no answer was received I’ve been on the side where no answer was owed Gabrielle sent me a photo of her wrists Saying it was so much harder than she thought I spent what felt like forever Trying to reach her hometown’s 9-1-1 I’d already sent her back to her parents After I found her collapsed on my hallway floor Her alcoholism, her depression -- I couldn’t continue being her sole support The last time we talked, I had to hang up I’m so low; it’s for the best That all she hears from me is radio silence There are times when I don’t reply – And I don’t even know why Maybe I didn’t want to talk with anyone at the time Or maybe I didn’t have anything to say Sometimes I wonder if my messages Are getting lost out in the ether Then there are times where it feels like We just can’t communicate When we first turned our eyes inward We could not comprehend what we saw So we told ourselves stories And from these stories we created gods In our infancy, when we were still subject To the power and the whims of the elements Our gods were capricious and vengeful Constantly at war and malevolent But now we know how to forge high strength alloys We’ve expelled the dark with the electric light We’ve purged the great plains of the buffalo Dammed the mighty rivers and mastered flight We dominate every biome and continent Our population grows without providence We endlessly manipulate of our environment Our God is all knowing and omnipotent But whether we’re bent in prayer, devout and pious Or sending signals out to the stars All we deserve is radio silence I’ve been on both sides of Radio Silence Mode I’ve been on the side where no answer was received I’ve been on the side where no answer was owed |
Credits
vocals: E.G. Phillips electric guitar: Xifer Fortier keys: Kevin Seal electric bass: Liam Craddock drums: Chris McGrew recorded at Wally’s HydeOut, Hyde Street Studios (Studio C) in San Francisco mixed by Chris McGrew mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal cover photo by Michael Nuzzo written by E.G. Phillips © 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP) Notes A blend of gritty jazz-rock and lyrics that morph from intimate diary entries to a monologue that is part history, part modern mythology, part sermon, and part manifesto. Angular guitars duel and dissolve into atmospheric textures, while the vocals—processed to feel like a transmission half-caught between frequencies—underscore the song’s central tension: reaching out, pulling away, and all the emotional static in between. |
"...sounds like a quiet conversation with the past, where memory is a friend alive and changing"
— Uphere Magazine
— Uphere Magazine
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Lyrics
I’ve got daggers in my mind Glass shards work’n through my chest I need to walk and wander While my thoughts crash and crest Blossoms saturate the air As I head down towards the Fillmore Inside the Elite cafe A jazz combo does it’s thing And I remember… Ahh… yes… That’s the music I still adore I’ve been spinning my wheels Seed corn’s all I have to eat My eyes are red and sunken My soles have worn into the streets Why’d I stop listening to these sounds? How’d I forget this feeling of rapport? The gentle rhythmic swings The plunk of the upright’s strings Now I remember… Ahh… yes… That’s the music I still adore A couple passes by arm in arm They lean into one another The daggers and the glass Dig even deeper I catch a bus back home Strung out and near collapse As I crawl onto my couch I see you’ve sent me a text Though you’re never quite in reach You’re always a source of support And though you don’t use words Just little pictures It reminds me… Ahh… yes… You are the music I still adore |
Credits
vocals: E.G. Phillips backing vocals: nyssa, Kevin Seal electric guitar: Xifer Fortier rhodes piano: Kevin Seal upright bass: Bryan Horne drums: Chris McGrew recorded at in San Francisco Wally’s HydeOut (Hyde Street Studios, Studio C), mixed by Chris McGrew mastered by Justin Weis, www.trakworx.com produced by Chris McGrew and Kevin Seal written by E.G. Phillips © 2026 Ducks With Pants Music (ASCAP) cover photo by Sonya Herrera 
Xifer Fortier on guitar
Notes
With a recording built around Fortier playing a warm semi-hollow body guitar (a Reverend Manta Ray, if you must know) that gives hints of a country-tinged twang to flavor an overall vintage swing jazz vibe, this song is a wistful love letter to the sounds and relationships that shape us. I don't see this as some sort of saccharine exercise in nostalgia — rather it is a moment of rediscovery and relief that feels like a cool breeze in the oppressive heat of emotional turmoil. |