Close Enough to Hear You Dream

Wide Awake in Love asked how love stays alive. This album goes into the room where it lives.

This album is about closeness. About two people who already know each other completely and let it all in - skin, breath, heartbeat, the hours that belong only to them.

Staying in love is something you do.
Dreaming side by side is what it is for.

It grows out of Wide Awake in Love. That album followed the long arc of a love: a kitchen at sunrise, mountains, cities, the sea, and home again. This album steps into one part of that life and stays there - the most intimate one, where two people stop explaining themselves and are simply near. It speaks in senses, never explicitly: warmth, hands, breath, a pulse under a palm, light on skin.

And that closeness carries more than it seems to. Being this near to another person is one of the ways we learn to understand life at all: to feel how precious it is, to feel love without holding back, and to let go of fears that once seemed immovable.

So the eighteen songs go deeper and wider at the same time: from a key turning in the lock, through candlelight and slow dances, until the room dissolves into the night sky. Set against the vastness of space and time, one life looks small and finite. In the arms of someone who knows you, that stops hurting and turns into lightness. Never preached, only felt: as light, as breath, as a choir, as space.

Together, the two albums say one thing from two sides. Wide Awake in Love: choosing each other, every day. Close Enough to Hear You Dream: and then being close enough to dream together.

If one song lets someone feel a little safer in another person's arms, it did its job.

The Journey in Eight Acts

All 18 tracks in album order, with the story behind each song and the lyrics.

Act IThe Threshold

Arriving, the door closing behind us, the promise of the night.

Key in the Lock

4:04

A stairwell late at night, rain still on the coats, the hallway light clicking off. Her cold fingers miss the lock twice, his hand closes over hers, and neither of them turns it yet. The album opens on the held breath before a door opens: the whole night is waiting on the other side, and the waiting already belongs to it.

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The stairwell light clicks off again
Our coats still heavy with the rain
A thin line from the street below
Is all that's left to see you by

My fingers miss it once, then twice
And then your hand is there

Key in the lock
Your hand over mine
The whole night waiting behind the door
Turn it slow
Key in the lock

I hear you breathing close behind
The quiet of the sleeping house
I know what waits on the other side
I want to feel this moment too

My fingers miss it once, then twice
And then your hand is there

Key in the lock
Your hand over mine
The whole night waiting behind the door
Turn it slow
Key in the lock

Let me remember the dark on the stairs
The cold of the key and the warmth of your palm
Whatever comes after, this counts as well
The waiting is already us

Key in the lock
Your hand over mine
The whole night waiting behind the door
Turn it slow
Key in the lock

Turn it slow

Leave the Lights Low

3:59

The door stands open, the city still humming behind them on the stairs. He reaches for the main light, she asks him to leave it, so a single lamp is dimmed until only the outline of her face glows. A song about letting the world outside grow quiet: nothing to perform, no hurry, just enough light to find each other.

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The door swings open on the dark
The city humming on the stairs
I reach for the switch like I always do
And you say softly, leave it there

One lamp, the lowest it will go
Just gold along your cheek

Leave the lights low
Just enough light to find your face
Let the city talk to itself
Leave the lights low

You laugh, a sound I barely hear
Your shoulders loosen in the glow
There's nothing here we need to show
No one to be but who we are

One lamp, the lowest it will go
Just gold along your cheek

Leave the lights low
Just enough light to find your face
Let the city talk to itself
Leave the lights low

I used to fill each silence up
With words to keep the quiet away
Tonight the quiet is the plan
And I have nothing more to say

Leave the lights low
Just enough light to find your face
Let the city talk to itself
Leave the lights low

Leave the lights low

4:34

The door has just fallen shut, coats still on, rain on the window. He rests his forehead against her chest and feels his breathing slow down to match hers. This is the promise the album is named after, made at the threshold of the night: every hour from here belongs to the two of them, and he will keep watch over the quiet until she sleeps. Track 16 keeps the promise.

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The door falls shut and the rain begins
One lamp is burning low and gold
I lay my forehead on your chest
And feel your breathing fall with mine

Every hour from here is ours
Every hour from here

Close enough to hear you dream
Close enough to feel you breathe
Let the night come in slow
I'll be here when the dreaming starts
Close enough to hear you dream

Your hair still carries the cold outside
Your hand finds mine before I reach
I want to learn the calm in you
The place you go when your eyes close

Every hour from here is ours
Every hour from here

Close enough to hear you dream
Close enough to feel you breathe
Let the night come in slow
I'll be here when the dreaming starts
Close enough to hear you dream

Let the world grow still outside the door
Let the clocks forget our names
I'll keep watch over the quiet
Until you drift where dreams begin

Close enough to hear you dream
Close enough to feel you breathe
Let the night come in slow
I'll be here when the dreaming starts
Close enough to hear you dream

Close enough to hear you dream

Act IIDrawing Near

Conversation, silence, touch.

The Language of Your Skin

3:53

The coats are on the floor, a single lamp burns low and gold. She writes a word on his back with one fingertip, and he guesses wrong on purpose so she has to write it again, slower. Touch as a language you learn one letter at a time: playful, curious, full of desire, with no dictionary and only the wish for a lifetime to learn its grammar.

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You sit with your back turned to the lamp
The gold of it along your spine
I lift one finger, slow and light
And start to write a word on you

You guess it wrong, and on purpose
So I begin again

The language of your skin
I read it with my hands
Every shiver is a word
Write it again, slower
The language of your skin

A letter where your shoulder bends
A comma in the small of your back
You hold your breath at every line
And answer me in goosebumps

You guess it wrong, and on purpose
So I begin again

The language of your skin
I read it with my hands
Every shiver is a word
Write it again, slower
The language of your skin

There is no dictionary for this
No teacher, only you and me
I want a lifetime for the grammar
Every tense of you to learn

The language of your skin
I read it with my hands
Every shiver is a word
Write it again, slower
The language of your skin

Write it again, slower

Your Pulse Under My Palm

4:29

Later in the night, the lamp is off and a pale stripe of street light crosses the floor. His palm rests over her heart, he says her name out loud for the first time tonight, and he feels her pulse answer. A song about finally saying what was always there, and about the body replying before any words can. One of the quietest, most honest minutes of the night.

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The lamp is off, the street light stays
A pale stripe drawn across the floor
The rain is ticking on the glass
And you are warm against my side

I rest my hand above your heart
And let the word come out at last

Your pulse under my palm
Steady as a slow song
I say your name out loud
And I feel it answer
Your pulse under my palm

I carried it like a folded note
For all the years I kept it in
Tonight I let it leave my mouth
And watch it settle on your skin

I rest my hand above your heart
And let the word come out at last

Your pulse under my palm
Steady as a slow song
I say your name out loud
And I feel it answer
Your pulse under my palm

I used to think the silence was enough
That what we knew could stay unsaid
Now read me gently, beat by beat
The way my hand is reading you

Your pulse under my palm
Steady as a slow song
I say your name out loud
And I feel it answer
Your pulse under my palm

Your pulse under my palm

Act IIIThe Depth

Complete closeness, the pull of the cosmos.

Where You Begin

4:22

Face to face in the dark, one blanket around both of them. They press their palms flat together, and neither can tell whose pulse they are feeling. Closeness so complete that the border between two people slowly dissolves, until for a moment the room seems to open into something vast. They let it build, then hold still: not yet. The last calm breath before gravity takes over. In track 12 the thought returns as a homecoming: "home to where we both begin".

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Face to face beneath the blanket
Only the street light on the wall
Your breath is warm against my lips
The world outside has gone so small

Palm to palm and finger to finger
Hold still and feel

Where you begin
The line is gone in the dark
Your pulse or mine in the palm of my hand
Where you begin

I used to know where I stopped
Where my edges met the air
Now every border softly fades
And I can't tell what's mine from yours

Palm to palm and finger to finger
Hold still and feel

Where you begin
The line is gone in the dark
Your pulse or mine in the palm of my hand
Where you begin

Something is pulling from far away
A tide beneath the floor
Let it rise, let it come
Wait for it, not yet, not yet

Where you begin
The line is gone in the dark
Your pulse or mine in the palm of my hand
Where you begin

Where you begin

Gravity (You Pull Me In)

4:26

The deepest hour of the night. The rain has stopped, the window glass is fogged. She pulls him closer by the collar until their foreheads touch, and for a moment they breathe in exactly the same rhythm. No more holding back, only falling toward each other, the way the moon pulls the sea. Everything drops away to a heartbeat and a whispered "closer", and then it breaks open wider than anything before.

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The rain has stopped, the glass is fogged
One stripe of street light on the wall
I catch your collar in my hand
And bring you down until we touch

We breathe in time, we breathe as one
And something older pulls us on

Gravity
You pull me in like the moon pulls the sea
Every heartbeat falling toward you
Let it take us all the way down
Gravity

I used to hold a careful distance
Now every inch of it is gone
Your hands are warm against my face
And I let go of every wall

We breathe in time, we breathe as one
And something older pulls us on

Gravity
You pull me in like the moon pulls the sea
Every heartbeat falling toward you
Let it take us all the way down
Gravity

Closer
Closer
Stay right here
Closer

Gravity
You pull me in like the moon pulls the sea
Every heartbeat falling toward you
Let it take us all the way down
Gravity

Gravity
Like the moon pulls the sea

Act IVThe Rush

A racing heart.

Heart Like a Drum (Orchestra Under My Skin)

3:43

Moments after the pull, breathless, the rain back on the roof. She takes his hand and presses it to her throat so he can feel how fast her pulse is racing, and she laughs out loud. The pure rush of being alive and wanted, the body turning into music: a whole orchestra under the skin, louder than the city, louder than the rain.

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Breathless on the tangled sheets
The rain is back upon the roof
The street light racing on the ceiling
And laughter rising out of me

Give me your hand, put it here
Feel how fast it goes

Heart like a drum
A whole orchestra under my skin
Louder than the city, louder than the rain
Heart like a drum

Every beat a timpani
Every breath a rising string
I never knew a body could
Become a choir and sing

Give me your hand, put it here
Feel how fast it goes

Heart like a drum
A whole orchestra under my skin
Louder than the city, louder than the rain
Heart like a drum

Can you hear it
Can you feel it

Heart like a drum
A whole orchestra under my skin
Louder than the city, louder than the rain
Heart like a drum

Heart like a drum

Act VThe Infinite

Floating, fear dissolving, gladly getting lost, meeting the endless.

Weightless (Holding Your Hand)

4:34

On their backs on the floor by the open window, the clouds torn open, the sky full of stars. The ceiling seems to dissolve and the room drifts upward. Their hands find each other in the dark and hold on, and with that small anchor the fear they have always carried floats away. He admits he was always afraid of how big the sky is, and then lets it be big: it has room for both of them, exactly big enough for two. The trailer above tells this song in ninety seconds.

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The clouds tore open over the town
We lie on the floor by the open glass
Your hair spread out like a second night
And the ceiling starts to fade away

Give me your hand, just hold it there
That's all the ground I need

Weightless
Holding your hand at the edge of the sky
Every fear I carried turning to light
We rise and the room lets us go
Weightless

I feel your fingers lace through mine
A small warm knot against the dark
The stars come closer one by one
And I remember how to breathe

Give me your hand, just hold it there
That's all the ground I need

Weightless
Holding your hand at the edge of the sky
Every fear I carried turning to light
We rise and the room lets us go
Weightless

I was always afraid of how big it is
The sky that goes on and on
Then let it be big, it has room for us
It's exactly big enough for two

Weightless
Holding your hand at the edge of the sky
Every fear I carried turning to light
We rise and the room lets us go
Weightless

We rise and the room lets us go

Gladly Lost

4:22

In her mind the room has become open space, and she is falling upward through the stars with his heartbeat as her only compass. She closes her eyes and lets go of his hand on purpose, trusting she will still find him. Losing yourself willingly in love, the walls of the self dissolving, and finding that every essential part of you is still there. Where the song before holds on, this one lets go in trust. The peak of the album is made of light.

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The walls have turned to open space
I'm falling upward through the stars
Your heartbeat underneath my ear
Is all the compass that I need

I let go of your hand on purpose
I know I'll find you there

Gladly lost
I let the stars take the shape of me
Gladly lost in you
And every part of me is found
Gladly lost

The edges of me come undone
Like ribbons drifting into light
Each fear I carried starts to shine
And softens into something warm

I let go of your hand on purpose
I know I'll find you there

Gladly lost
I let the stars take the shape of me
Gladly lost in you
And every part of me is found
Gladly lost

I thought that this would be the end
It feels like walking through a door
A thousand voices sing me in
The sound of all that ever loved

Gladly lost
I let the stars take the shape of me
Gladly lost in you
And every part of me is found
Gladly lost

Gladly lost

Made of the Same Light

4:19

The stillest hour of the night, both awake, looking up through the window at stars whose light left them long before either of them was born. He traces the line of her collarbone and thinks that every atom of her was once inside a star. The song faces what everyone fears, that one day we will no longer be here as we are now, and answers with love: what is made of light goes home to light. Held this close, the fear has nowhere left to stand.

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The stars above us through the glass
Sent out their light before our time
It crossed the dark to find us here
The way I crossed the years to you

I trace the line along your collarbone
Every atom once was burning in a star

Made of the same light
Older than the dark we're in
And when I go, I'll go like starlight
Home to where we both begin
Made of the same light

One day this body will be still
And I will leave the way I came
I used to lie awake with that
Tonight it's only warm and near

I trace the line along your collarbone
Every atom once was burning in a star

Made of the same light
Older than the dark we're in
And when I go, I'll go like starlight
Home to where we both begin
Made of the same light

I was afraid of the end for most of my life
Held this close, the fear has nowhere left to stand
Something bigger breathing in this room
And it moves with the rhythm of your breath

Made of the same light
Older than the dark we're in
And when I go, I'll go like starlight
Home to where we both begin
Made of the same light

Home to where we both begin

As the Endless Holds the Stars

4:09

At the edge of the window the first stars begin to fade; the night has passed its deepest point. They lay their joined hands flat over each other's hearts, a vow without any ceremony: to hold each other the way the endless holds the stars, lightly, completely, always. Held in track 9, let go in track 10, now the hands come to rest over the heart. Two voices and a choir, almost a prayer, in a cathedral made of night sky.

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The first stars fade along the glass
The night has turned its deepest page
I lay your hand across my heart
And rest my own on yours

Hold me as the endless holds the stars
Light and wide and always
I will hold you so
As the endless holds the stars

No ring, no speech, no gathered crowd
Just two hands resting where they beat
A vow as quiet as the snow
That settles and remains

Hold me as the endless holds the stars
Light and wide and always
I will hold you so
As the endless holds the stars

Light and wide and always
Light and wide and always

Hold me as the endless holds the stars
Light and wide and always
I will hold you so
As the endless holds the stars

Always

Act VIAfterglow

Breaths, warmth, one last dance by candlelight.

After the Storm (Your Skin Still Warm)

4:02

The rain has stopped completely, the window glass is clearing, the ordinary things of the room are coming back into view. She brushes a damp strand of hair from his forehead, and they both laugh softly at how quiet everything has become. Landing after something infinite: everything is still here, smaller and warmer, and that is more than enough. She thought something so big would leave her empty. It left her full.

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The rain has stopped, the glass is clear
The street lamp settles on the floor
The blanket pulled across us both
The chair, the books, the shape of home

I brush the damp hair from your brow
And we both laugh at how still it is

After the storm
The room comes back one lamp at a time
Your skin still warm from the stars
After the storm

The kettle waiting in the dark
Your jacket fallen by the door
The ordinary coming back
And every piece of it is enough

I brush the damp hair from your brow
And we both laugh at how still it is

After the storm
The room comes back one lamp at a time
Your skin still warm from the stars
After the storm

I thought a night this big would leave me hollow
Emptied out by all that light
It left me full, it left me here
Your heartbeat slowing next to mine

After the storm
The room comes back one lamp at a time
Your skin still warm from the stars
After the storm

After the storm

Candle Waltz

4:08

He lights a single candle on the windowsill, bows with mock formality and asks her to dance. She laughs, steps barefoot onto his feet, and they begin to turn, two people circling each other like two stars in orbit. Joy and play after the stillness: love as a dance in three-four time. The waltz slows almost to a standstill, foreheads together, before the whole orchestra lifts them into the last, widest turn. The last dance of the night, and an echo of "Hallway Dance" and "Candlelight" from the first album.

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One candle on the windowsill
The floorboards warm beneath our feet
I bow as if the room were full
And ask you for this dance

Barefoot, laughing, feet on feet
And we begin to turn

One, two, three and around we go
Candle waltz across the floor
Spinning like two stars in orbit
One, two, three and one turn more

The shadows dancing on the wall
Are taller than the two of us
The city sleeping all around
And we are wide awake in this

Barefoot, laughing, feet on feet
And we begin to turn

One, two, three and around we go
Candle waltz across the floor
Spinning like two stars in orbit
One, two, three and one turn more

Slower now and slower still
Forehead to forehead, hardly moving
The candle trembles, so do we
Hold me here before we fly

One, two, three and around we go
Candle waltz across the floor
Spinning like two stars in orbit
One, two, three and one turn more

One turn more

Counting Your Breath

4:02

She drifts toward sleep with her head on his chest; the street below has gone silent, and now and then a passing car sweeps a slow band of light across the ceiling. He slows his own breathing to match hers so she will not feel him move, and keeps the count: four, five, six and slow. Watching over someone you love, and the quiet gift of being trusted enough to fall asleep beside them. He wants to be the last sound she hears tonight. The quietest song of the album.

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Your head is resting on my chest
The street below has gone to sleep
A passing car across the ceiling
Draws a line of light and fades

I let my breathing follow yours
So you won't feel me move

Counting your breath
Four, five, six and slow
I keep the count until you drift to dreams
Counting your breath

Your fingers loosen on my arm
Your words trail off halfway through
You trust me with the falling part
And that's the softest thing I know

I let my breathing follow yours
So you won't feel me move

Counting your breath
Four, five, six and slow
I keep the count until you drift to dreams
Counting your breath

I don't need to sleep just yet
Let me stay awake a little while
I want to be the last thing that you hear
Before the night takes you in

Counting your breath
Four, five, six and slow
I keep the count until you drift to dreams
Counting your breath

Counting your breath

Act VIISleep

Falling asleep, dreaming, drifting.

Lullaby for Two (Sleep Now, I'm Here)

3:54

The deepest quiet before dawn. She is almost asleep on his chest, the street light has gone pale, the rain is only a memory on the glass. She murmurs half a word in her sleep, maybe his name, and he whispers an answer as if she could still hear him. The promise of the title track kept: now he is close enough to hear her dream. Both voices share the final chorus.

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Your heartbeat slowing under me
The window pale, the rain is gone
I try to stay awake with you
My words are melting one by one

Sleep now, I'm here
Close enough to hear you dream
I'll keep the night around you like a blanket
Sleep now, I'm here

You murmur half my name and smile
Somewhere between the dark and day
I whisper back as if you'd hear
And maybe, somehow, you still do

Sleep now, I'm here
Close enough to hear you dream
I'll keep the night around you like a blanket
Sleep now, I'm here

You laugh so softly in your sleep
I wonder where you've wandered to
But wherever you are tonight
I know that I am with you too

Sleep now, I'm here
Close enough to hear you dream
I'll keep the night around you like a blanket
Sleep now, I'm here

Dreaming Where You Are

4:58

In his dream he walks through an endless field under a sky full of stars, the grass silver, the air warm, and he knows she is somewhere ahead. He follows the sound of her breathing, the same breath he counted before sleep, and when he reaches out his hand finds hers. In the real bed, in the dark, their hands have found each other in their sleep as well. A love that keeps going when both are asleep. At the edge of the dream a light rises that is really the first morning, and he is glad to wake, because she will still be there.

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I'm walking through a silver field
The grass is warm beneath the stars
The sky is wider than I've known
And somewhere up ahead you are

I follow the sound of your breathing
The one I counted in the dark

Dreaming where you are
Every road leads back to you
Even in my sleep I find your hand
Dreaming where you are

The night is built like a cathedral
Its pillars made of shining air
I hear you laughing somewhere near
And all the distance fades from there

I follow the sound of your breathing
The one I counted in the dark

Dreaming where you are
Every road leads back to you
Even in my sleep I find your hand
Dreaming where you are

The edge of the dream is turning gold
A light comes rising, soft and slow
It's only morning through the window
I'm glad to wake, you'll still be there

Dreaming where you are
Every road leads back to you
Even in my sleep I find your hand
Dreaming where you are

Dreaming where you are

Act VIIIFirst Light

Waking up, the circle closes.

Waking Up Here

4:27

The first grey-blue light of morning. The rain has washed the city clean, the first birds are outside, the lamp from last night is pale against the day. She wakes first and finds their hands still laced together, and stays very still so as not to wake him, just watching his face in the light. Waking up inside the love you fell asleep in, and choosing to begin again, today and every day. The door that closed last night now opens onto the day, and the album ends with her whisper: "tell me what you dreamed." A circle across the trilogy, back to "Waking Up" from the first album and "Love Map" from the second.

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The first grey light across the sheets
The rain has washed the city clean
The lamp still burning, pale and small
Against the blue of early day

Our hands are still laced from the night
I hold my breath so you can sleep

Waking up here
The first light finding your face
The whole night still warm in my hands
Waking up here

A single bird outside the glass
The kettle waiting for its turn
I watch you sleeping, slow and deep
And trace the morning on your skin

Our hands are still laced from the night
I hold my breath so you can sleep

Waking up here
The first light finding your face
The whole night still warm in my hands
Waking up here

Today I'll ask you everything again
The small things, the name of your street
I am learning you slowly
And the door from last night opens to the day

Waking up here
The first light finding your face
The whole night still warm in my hands
Waking up here

Tell me what you dreamed

Weightless: The Trailer

The Journey in Eight Acts

Key in the Lock

Leave the Lights Low