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  E.G. Phillips, Ducks With Pants

Tricks of the Light

Artwork for Tricks of the Light by E.G. Phillips

1. From the Corner of My Eye (2:09)

2. The Light You Reflect (3:20)

3. The Albatross Song (Mellow Like) (3:31)

4. The Flesh of Birds (4:25)

5. The Place Where Tomorrow Shines the Brightest (3:51)

6. When It Gets Dark (2:20)

This EP is a suite of a half dozen songs I recorded with two time Grammy winning producer/arranger Nahuel Bronzini (Mixing Engineer, Fantastic Negrito) and his musical counterpart Felipe Ubeda (aka Cigarbox Man). 

​My music is often described as “cinematic” in nature so it only seemed natural to have them scored as such. I had in mind some particular soundtracks — in particular the animated short The Rain Horse by John Zorn but also scores by Jon Brion and Carter Burwell. So in addition to Felipe handling the guitar part, we have a small chamber group consisting of Omree Gal-Oz on piano, Curtis Aikens on upright bass, and Chloe Mendola on cello. They are occasionally joined by Daniel Riera on flute and Sarah Bonomo on clarinet.
Omree Gal-Oz and Curtis Aikens
Chloe Mendola
Omree Dal-Oz on piano
Curtis Aikens on upright bass
Daniel Riera on flute
Sarah Bonomo on clarient
Felipe, Neil, Chloe, and Nahuel
 

The Light You Reflect

"...image-laden and mythical ... an atmosphere that’s wonderfully dreamy"
—
Graeme Smith, York Calling
"a rare blend of folk, jazz, and avant-garde influences all interlaced into a piece that feels ancient yet somehow entirely new."
— Edgar Allan Poets

"so interesting, so adventurous… so damn compelling"
​— Dave Franklin, The BigTakeover

Picture
Credits
E.G. Phillips: vocals
Chloe Mendola: cello
Felipe Ubeda (Cigarbox Man): guitar
Omree Gal-Oz: piano
Curtis Aikens: upright bass


Recorded at Airship Laboratories in Richmond, CA
Neil Godbole: recording engineer
Recorded & Mixed by Nahuel Bronzini
Mastered by Andrés Mayo Mastering
​

Arranged & Produced by Nahuel Bronzini & Felipe Ubeda
Written by E.G. Phillips
(c) 2025 Ducks With Pants Music

Lyrics
A hunter spied Artemis
Bathing with nymphs in the forest
She turned him into a stag
Even though it’d been an accident
He found himself charmed and spellbound
Then ripped apart by his own hounds
Or so goes the myth

The mother of Mesuline
Promised to marry a Scottish King
On the condition he never witness
Her bathing their three offspring
When he broke his vow and saw her mermaid form
She left with the children for a distant shore
And her daughter grew up to do the exact same thing

There’s nature and nurture
There’s volition and reflex — and
There’s what’s hardwired in
To that damn double helix

The Light You Reflect
Is like a special effect
It defines in my mind
An image I can not forget
Whether a deliberate attempt to entice
Or a byproduct of your passing by
My eyes get directed towards you

The light we reflect
Lets us connect
I’m sad what they said
Made you so upset
Sometimes when the neurons fire
It really feels like they’re on fire
And we are subject to our response
 

The Albatross Song (Mellow Like)

"a mercurial blend of the classical and the rootsy, the graceful and the groovy... soaked in ethereal cosmic folk harmonies and ebb and flows between these musical extremes to create something genuinely odd, magnificent, magnificently odd…and oddly magnificent"
— Dave Franklin, The Big Takeover
"the atmospheric yet grand production swells with delicate layers of instrumentation"
— We Write About Music

​
"a laidback and contemplative soundscape that instantly intrigues... highly immersive and atmospheric"
-- Jeremy Bregman, Mesmerized

"draws together the traditional classical tone of the orchestra and the wistful ambience of dreamy indie-folk"
— Nicole Mendes, The Other Side Reviews


Artwork for The Albatross Song (mellow like)
Credits
E.G. Phillips: vocals
Chloe Mendola: cello
Daniel Riera: flute
Felipe Ubeda (Cigarbox Man): guitar
Omree Gal-Oz: piano
Curtis Aikens: upright bass

Recorded at Airship Laboratories in Richmond, CA
Neil Godbole: recording engineer
Recorded & Mixed by Nahuel Bronzini
Mastered by Andrés Mayo Mastering
​
Arranged & Produced by Nahuel Bronzini & Felipe Ubeda
Written by E.G. Phillips
© 2025 Ducks With Pants Music

Notes
Way I remember it, albatross was a ship's good luck, 'til some idiot killed it.
— Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, Serenity

This song is my contribution to the cause of rehabilitating the reputation of one our fine feathered friends which has been much maligned by a poem.

I released the original more raucous version of this song as the opening track to my second album “At Home at Sea.” I of course love the madness of that version — its wildness, its exuberant brass... its unhinged number of choruses. But it is a song that exists in two forms in my mind.

In addition to its mercurial sibling, there is also this more mellow, more contemplative vibe that it closer to its protean state when I first started messing with the chords to an old cowboy song one Thanksgiving day and clearly had birds on the brain.

Lyrics
​The bowerbird is quite creative when it comes to decoration
Starlings follow simple rules that dictate their murmurations
But wanton salt marsh sparrows and curious little chickadees
I know there’s only one companion for me, for…

When you’re with an albatross
Don’t you know you can’t get lost
‘Cause you’re never truly lost
When you are at home at
Sea…

Does your restless spirit wander yet get hopelessly attached?
You’re barely bound to this world, yet you dread it’s bound to collapse?
If Noah sent you from his ark to fetch some branches from a tree
Might you not return? Just drift perpetually?
Well…

When you’re with an albatross
Don’t you know you can’t get lost
‘Cause you’re never truly lost
When you are at home at
Sea…

In the straits of Magellan or rounding the Cape of Good Hope
Death and disillusionment will gamble on a ghost ship for your soul
No… No…
​
When you’re with an albatross
Don’t you know you can’t get lost
‘Cause you’re never truly lost
When you are at home at
Sea…
More Reviews
​"
emanating a storyteller’s allure that makes the lyrics resonate on a personal level"
​— Faithfulness, Dulaxi

"as if Sinatra joined Dylan"
— Biro Ramoniko, Music For All


"brimming with musical subtleties"
— Boulimique de Musique 

"
The mellow atmosphere feels like a fireside confession, an invitation to reflect rather than simply listen"
— 
Michael Jamo, SongWeb
 

The Flesh of Birds

"...a whimsical yet poignant meditation on love and our perception of the world"
— Tina Sollosky, Indie Emergente
"...illuminates the absurdities of life and highlights the contrasts between beauty and decay, hope and disappointment, instinct and intellect. "
— NenesButler

“The wonderful, romantic melody with its magical touch makes everything around seem more beautiful"
​— Nagamag
Artwork for The Flesh of Birds
Credits:
E.G. Phillips: vocals
Chloe Mendola: cello
Felipe Ubeda (Cigarbox Man): guitar
Omree Gal-Oz: piano
Curtis Aikens: upright bass

Recorded at Airship Laboratories in Richmond, CA
Neil Godbole: recording engineer
Recorded & Mixed by Nahuel Bronzini
Mastered by Andrés Mayo Mastering

Arranged & Produced by Nahuel Bronzini & Felipe Ubeda
Written by E.G. Phillips
(c) 2025 Ducks With Pants Music

Notes:
Sorry it took me so long to answer, I was just thinking about how weird it is that we eat birds.
— Tracy Jordan, 30 Rock
​
It is the above quote from one of our most esteemed philosophers that inspired me to write this song, which could be thought of as “romance in miniature, in reverse.” There are the obvious allusions to Slaughterhouse 5 and MacBeth, but the true connoisseurs will appreciate the subtle nod to a classic Doctor Who serial.
Lyrics:
Watch a movie as it plays in reverse
It all makes its own sort of sense
Broken shards spring up to form a wine glass
Dig a man up from the earth
Then he comes to life

Entrust an orchid into her care
Return to a discolored wilted nightmare
She shrugs her shoulders and flips back her hair
What is the use in owning in a flower
That doesn’t thrive on its own?

On a planet of feast and famine
Its course so perverse
We subsist on a diet
Of half empty words
The milk of human kindness
And the flesh of birds

Buy her a snow globe as a keepsake
Enjoy her delight as she gives it a shake
See the enchantment slip from her face
Before the whirlwind she’s created
Has even settled at all

She's posing for art classes when we first meet
I sketch out her figure in turquoise and green
My choices perplex her “What does this mean?”
It was an instinct, it was an impulse
Those colors chose me

On a planet of feast and famine
Its course so perverse
We subsist on a diet
Of half eaten words
The milk of human kindness
And the flesh of birds

Watch a red tail wheel around in the sky
How its wings harness the air to power its flight
Yet the shadow its casts is a menacing sight
An awareness embedded in our subconscious
That allowed our ancestors to survive
​
On a planet of feast and famine
Its course so perverse
We subsist on a diet
Of half murmured words
The milk of human kindness
And the flesh of birds

 

When It Gets Dark

"A beautiful procession of somber strings and serene acoustics build into a stirring character depiction"
​— Mike Mineo, Obscure Sound


"A song that sounds like a little bedtime story"
— Nene's Butler


"With its blend of classical and jazz, its style feels timeless. Its sound feels expansive and immersive, and its lyrics feel like poetry."
— Good Music Radar

"The song has that descriptive charm and romantic blues that is reminiscent of Sinatra’s era."
— Lost In the Manor
Artwork for When It Gets Dark
Credits:
E.G. Phillips: vocals
Chloe Mendola: cello
Sarah Bonomo: clarinet
Felipe Ubeda (Cigarbox Man): guitar
Omree Gal-Oz: piano
Curtis Aikens: upright bass


Recorded at Airship Laboratories in Richmond, CA
Neil Godbole: recording engineer
Recorded & Mixed by Nahuel Bronzini
Mastered by Andrés Mayo Mastering
​

Arranged & Produced by Nahuel Bronzini & Felipe Ubeda
Written by E.G. Phillips
(c) 2025 Ducks With Pants Music
Lyrics:
She shares gossip, the weather, and laments her split ends
As she talks to the camera like an old friend
Then sums up her thoughts on the ongoing story arc
And she loves it
When It Gets Dark

She’s determined to avoid any and all spoilers
As she predicts the plot points of passé pot-boilers
Warms slow to new faces but mourns when they depart
And she loves it
When It Gets Dark

If there’s a grisly murder or
Giants rats stalk the sewers
She’s bubbly and effusive
And though answers are elusive
She becomes intrigued… yes…
She becomes intrigued
​
How she adores those handsome young men on her screen
Their charm, their sweetness, and yes, their physique
Like figures out of myth or the lives of Plutarch
And she loves it
When It Gets Dark

Notes:
THE DOCTOR [on screen]: People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint, it's more like a big ball of wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey stuff.
SALLY: Started well, that sentence.
THE DOCTOR: It got away from me, yeah.
SALLY: Okay, that was weird. Like you can hear me.
THE DOCTOR: Well, I can hear you.
— Doctor Who, Blink

​
A cinéma vérité examination of modern para-sociality via Tin Pan Alley-esque folk jazz.


One of my guilty pleasures of late has been react content — this where you watch someone watching something else so you can watch how they react to it. Completely ridiculous. And yet someone how quite addicting.

There is an element of nostalgia to it plus the vicarious thrill of reliving what its like to experience your favorite moments from TV or film for the first time through somebody else’s eyes. At the same time the best reactors themselves become so involved in the story that they enthusiastically cheer the protagonists on, excoriate the villains, and cry inconsolably when tragedy befalls the heroes. Even their interactions with their viewers through the lens of the camera can ape that of a child with an imaginary friend. The overall series of interactions is a bit of para-social möbius strip.
​

My gateway drug for react content was Doctor Who. This song is my ode to my favorite YouTube react content steamer.
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