The discontinuation of Hel part I: Paper House.

I have been procrastinating about this, but it needs to happen. I must tell the world about these 11 stories of Hel's before she steps down. Today we take a look at the first song of the album The Tick Collector: Paper House.

I’m gathering all the letters that didn’t get an answer / I’m picking all the pictures where I’m not smiling / Gonna bleach them white / I’m gonna hang them out in the sun / Gonna find a spot where the grass is so wet that it blocks any fire / Where the rain won’t soak / I’ll get rid of the things I see that never see me / That I can never change but which can slowly change me / I’m gonna call some friends to help me build my paper house / I have been living in a seventh-storey cave / Where the stained concrete and rusty steel seem to crave /For a little light and a little peace and a gust of wind / To blow away the smell of the bitter hearts and the broken dreams / But there are no windows / I’ll get rid of the things I see that never see me that I can never change but which can slowly change me/ I’m gonna call some friends to help me build my paper house /With empty walls I can furnish with the songs that all my clouds are shaped in/ I’m gathering all the letters that didn’t get an answer /I’m picking all the pictures that I’m not smiling.

The true origins of this song are misty in my mind... I remember the tiny flat that inspired the "seventh-storey cave" idea, but I do believe the song was written much later, when my dwellings had improved considerably. At any rate, although that little studio in downtown Barcelona did make me long for things like windows, rooms with doors on them and other similar luxuries, I did spend a pretty happy first year back in the city, after telling myself that was what made sense to do. I had been travelling for almost two years and had had 0 revelations about what to do next, so eventually I made up my mind: go back to a familiar ground and chase my musical dream, since I seemed unable to lose it or think of anything better to do with my life. I bought my first laptop and music editing software, a mic, a new guitar and started making music on my own. This is pretty much the only picture that I keep from those days.

The lyrics of the song are quite straightforward, I think, it's nothing but a dreamer dreaming away, haha! Dreaming of a place that's beautiful and safe, where it will be easier to let things slide and not let them get to you, where you can do your own thing surrounded by your friends, once you have decided you've had enough grey and stale in your life. I never meant it as anything but a fantasy, but the ideal needs to be there even if what you're pursuing is real. I am still working on my paper house. It is a place in my mind.... Sometimes it feels like it's almost finished, but there are hailstorms and tornadoes and all sorts of nasty weather out there, so a lot of time goes into repairs and maintenance but, hey, it's a journey, not a destination, right?