When your life looks grey for whatever reason, you might consider listening to ‘Just summer’.

(With warm regards from Chris Bouchard, Steve Johnson, Elizabeth Auzan, Kat Orlando, Katiria Mar and me.)

Baila conmigo
Baila conmigo

Rumba y salsa
Vengo con una propuesta
Dime, quien falta?
Time for the fiesta
Plumber, drummer, lover
Let’s enjoy the summer
Plumber, drummer, lover
Let’s enjoy the summer

Ocean breeze
Come with me
Let’s have some fun
Sex and sun
Let it be
Set me free
Summertime love
Hit and run

Summer love
Summer love

Caipirinha
Lazy siesta
Ken and Barbie
Marvelous party
Sun is shinning
Wine and dining
Catwalk stunner
Just strut the summer

Baila conmigo
Baila conmigo

Dime, que quieres cariño?
Que decida el destino
Si somos amigo
Solo baila conmigo, baila conmigo
Baila conmigo

(Lyrics Elizabeth Auzan/Katiria Mar, vocals Katiria Mar)

Richard Lunt’s brilliant lyrics and vocal performance. JustVera’s view on people with despicable ideas and actions. You may find them all over the world, but one specific Russian barbarian stands out. Peace to all.

Are you receiving me?
Receiving.
Do you hear my call?
Who’s there?
Well what you fighting for?

He’s calling you – it’s war.
You’ve got no fight,
You’ve got no hope,
You’ve got no life left in those bones.

One day you’ll look around and you’ll feel
‘I’m so ashamed’, such shame,
and I’ll be there pointing out the mistakes you made.

King of the fools, you made the rules up,
Queen of the losers, you put us down to hide incompetence.
Your destiny, oh, OBE will be lost on you.
Because I can see eternity, and it looks lonely,
OBE, wait and see.

It’s war baby, what’s it like to be,
wouldn’t want to be you,
I wouldn’t want to be, oh, you.

All the lives you’ve lost, for what, ego?
All the love you killed, ego.

King of the fools, you made the rules up,
Queen of the losers, you put us down to hide incompetence.

It’s war baby, what’s it like to be you.
It’s war lately, I feel so confused,
over you, all this war, all this war.

(Lyrics and vocals by Richard Lunt)

Are you ready?…
Inspired by vibes of Lucy in the sky and Lesley Gore. With inimitable contributions of Kat Orlando and Jarek Adamowski grooving on this 2022 JustVera dance classic. Please do come to our party.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all!

Neo- mythological, post apocalyptic, dark alternative, lyrical electronica.
(Thank you, Elizabeth Auzan, Steve Johnson, Mark Miller, liljoesixstring and Oana Gottschald).

Pale Cassandra speaks
But no one listens
Hear her cry
The end is nigh

There’s no escape.
Deep, dark doom is close at hand
Sea will rise and humans
Make their very final stand

Pale Cassandra speaks
But no one listens
Hear her cry
The end is nigh

There’s no return
Armageddon’s come and gone
Noah’s ark is shipwrecked
No one left to carry on

Pale Cassandra speaks
But no one listens
Hear her cry
The end is nigh

So, the end is nigh
Wave goodbye
The end is nigh
Goodbye

So,this is it, now
Curtain fall
We got what
We deserved

(Lyrics by Elizabeth Auzan, vocals by Oana Gottschald)

My initial idea was to create a musical piece like a kind of film score. Then Ramlee came along and provided an extra layered bassline. Much to my surprise Richard Lunt joined in with an amazing vocal performance. His lyrics were written in the context of a long term relation where one person has mental health issues and has become a stranger to themselves and their environment. Shivers…

I wake up in the morning,
This isn’t my head,
Thinking thoughts I never had – I feel like a stranger.

Stranger days, stranger ways

Strange that
You said
I said
Til death doeth apart

Strangest thing is
I never left your side
Just my mind wonders lonely as a clown

Stranger ways, strange days, stranger
Crazy ways
Stranger
I lost my mind

One day we’ll look back and say
Those were the days of our time
Mind declined

One of these days my mind will be mine
You’ll be denied

One of these crazy days, we’ll smile
Smile denied

Oh I want to be in control
I’ve lost control
Give me control

You lost control
You left me feeling way behind
You lost your soul
You left me feeling cold inside

Stranger days, stranger ways
Stranger days, stranger ways

(Lyrics and vocals by Richard Lunt)

This is what you get when talented people -like Bill McCarthy, Steve Johnson, John Heavern and Tarjei Skarlund- put their skills and love in an idea. Enjoy.

Is it real… or a dream?
I think I’m caught… in between.
My body’s bound… in place.
My mind is found… in outer space.

Livin’ life… in a trance,
a victim of… circumstance.
I should have been… myself,
instead of what… provision dealt.

Now I stay, lost… in a fog,
ain’t got no place… I belong.

Stuck in a nexus,
I’m disconnected
from it all.
But still the voices call.

Chased by a ghost I made
all alone in my head,
but still there’s echoes.
Chased by a ghost of fate,
don’t know where I’m going…
so it’s vexing me…
My heart…
and soul…
are now a ghost in me.

Peace of mind… isn’t known:
my freedom lies… in a ghost.

There’s no prediction
that can give me
any clue.
A ghost is on the loose.

Chased by a ghost I made,
all alone in my head,
but still there’s echoes.
Chased by a ghost of fate,
don’t know where I’m going…
so it’s vexing me…
My heart and soul
are now a ghost in me.

(Lyrics by John Heavern, vocals Tarjei Skarlund)

It took more than 3 years to finish ‘Strangled up by fear’. Lyrics by Mike Mantecon, vocal performance by Dave Budd. Well matured if you ask me.

Etches on the desert sky
A land lost in the wake of time
And here amidst the sands
Lies the shadow of a man

And frantically we run
There is mercy for no one
Without a reason why
We chase the summer skies

Strangled up by hate
Always a ragdoll for fate

We race the essence
Of our frantic selves
An enemy inside
We know all too well

Strangled up by fear
Always sensing danger here

Strangled up by fear
Day to night, night to day
Strangled up by fear
It all begins to fade
Away

(Lyrics by Mike Mantecon, vocals Dave Budd)

Skarlund, Auzan, Mari & me. Be scared.
(Something you might enjoy.)

No-one dare
Cross my path
Be scared
Scared of my wrath
Be scared

I have come
Come for you
Be scared
Of what I’ll do
Be scared

You knew I’d come
You’ve seen my gun
You’re on the run
But you’ll not get far

You possess something
Which is mine not yours
Give it back and I’ll
Maybe let you go
Give it back. Who knows?
I’ll maybe let you go

No-one dare
Cross my path
Be scared
Scared of my wrath
Be scared
Fucking scared

You can’t hide
You can’t hide
Can’t hide
But you can decide
You can decide
You can decide
You’re not scared
Better to dare
If you dare
Your life I’ll spare

(Lyrics by Elizabeth Auzan, vocals Tarjei Skarlund)

What do Kurt Cobain and Winston Churchill have in common?

Both were pursued by the black dog of depression. Other sufferers have described a black hole that engulfs them. It is a solitary and socially paralysing disease. Caught in pure poetry by Elizabeth Auzan. The stark and deceptively simple arrangement, the heart-rending sax of the inimitable Dan Rosati underscore this introspective and troubled state of mind. The chilling vocal performance of Céline Bode fits like a purple velvet glove over a rusting fist…

A big black dog is creeping up on me
I know him well. His name’s Despair.
Nowhere to hide. Nowhere

A big black cloud is hovering over me
My world turns dark. Complete nightmare
Oh, hear my prayer. My prayer

I can’t move
So confused
I can’t choose
Cos I always lose

A big black hole is opening under me
I want to fall. But I don’t dare
Too scared to act. Too scared

I can’t move
So confused
I can’t choose
Cos I always lose

(Lyrics by Elizabeth Auzan, vocals Céline Bode)

The lyrics and vocals of Ramlee, Kat Orlando’s brilliant soprano sax and Timothy Reid’s subtle chords contributed to this intriguing intoxicating track ‘Slowdown’.
Contemporary? Adult? Ambient? Alternative? Cool? You name it.
JustVera agrees with your choice.

First time was a revelation, a conflagration, a coup d’état
Second time was a declination, a desecration, an au revoir
I knew at once that a liberty had been taken
I recognized henceforth that my faith was shaken

Under the right conditions, the speed of light can alter
Close to a singularity, physical laws can falter
The distance between two points in space, the light from a star no longer there
The end of time when all clocks stop, the slowdown of each love affair

Winter sun is a consolation, a mitigation, an empty kiss
Past loves are solo dance, a phantom chance to reminisce
I never doubted the sincerity of your feeling
But there are injuries beyond the power of healing

Under the right conditions, desire becomes disorder
The heart an unmapped island in a wilderness of water
The deepest point of the ocean floor, the ecstasy in deep despair
The darkness that surrounds the sun, the slowdown of each love affair

(Lyrics and vocals by Ramlee)