BARD RECORDS

Tag: The Fault Archive

  • Pulse

    Pulse

    Released 10 April 2026

    Pulse

    Sometimes the first person to notice the damage
    is the one allowing it to continue.

    Pulse examines the compromises, confrontations and private adjustments that gradually change how we see ourselves. Across four songs, The Fault Archive moves between outward defiance and uncomfortable self-examination: recognising the moment a boundary is crossed, the lies used to preserve a familiar version of ourselves, and the quiet process by which something once unacceptable can eventually become normal.

    TRACKS

    Select any track to read the lyrics and listen to the recording.

    1. I Watched Myself Change
    2. Wrong One Today
    3. I Smile At Strangers
    4. Baseline
    EPNOTES

    Pulse follows the uneasy distance between what we believe about ourselves and what our behaviour eventually reveals. Across confrontation, compromise, guilt and gradual acceptance, these songs examine the moments when something changes inside us, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.

    ← The Fault Archive

  • Baseline

    Baseline

    Normal doesn’t always mean
    nothing is wrong.

    Baseline is about what happens when something once unacceptable is allowed to remain for long enough. There is no sudden surrender and no obvious point at which the boundary moves. Instead, repeated exposure quietly resets the standard until what once demanded a reaction barely registers. By the time the narrator recognises the distance travelled, the old baseline has disappeared with nothing left against which to measure the new one.

    ► BUY
    ENTRY

    Things that used to stand out don’t register anymore
    Not because they changed, but because I adjusted
    What I would have questioned before
    Now passes without much thought

    There’s no reaction to measure it against
    So it just becomes normal

    I noticed it
    And didn’t act

    What used to feel wrong now feels expected
    What used to stand out blends into everything else
    I don’t track the difference anymore
    I just stay where it settles

    There’s no clear line between where it changed
    Just a point where I stopped comparing it to before
    It’s easier not to measure it
    Than to admit how far it moved

    Nothing pushes back against it now
    So it holds

    I let it settle
    And called it fine

    What used to feel wrong now feels expected
    What used to stand out blends into everything else
    I don’t track the difference anymore
    I just stay where it settles

    What used to feel wrong isn’t something I notice
    There’s nothing left to compare it against
    I don’t question it now, I just move through it
    Like it’s always been this way

  • I Smile At Strangers

    I Smile At Strangers

    It’s easier to look convincing
    when nobody asks what you’re convincing them of.

    I Smile At Strangers turns its attention inward, following someone who can still perform the ordinary rituals of being fine while privately losing faith in the person performing them. Guilt, compromise and self-deception accumulate behind a socially acceptable face until the real conflict is no longer between the narrator and the outside world, but between who he appears to be and what he knows about himself.

    ► BUY
    ENTRY

    Quiet hums, Dark pulses, whispers beneath the surface

    I see the cracks inside my own reflection
    Lie to myself just to hold my place
    Every promise I make dissolves in my hands
    I whisper “I’m fine” while the guilt eats my face

    I smile at strangers, bow to their eyes
    I’m choking in silence, built on disguise

    I rot from the inside, can’t tell who I am
    The mirror knows all, I’m my own worst scam
    Every choice I defend, every word I bend
    I’m collapsing in corners where no one pretends

    I step over morals like they’re broken glass
    Trading pieces of me for what will last
    The lies I tell myself are louder than screams
    A saint in daylight, a shadow in my dreams

    I’ve been my own predator, hunting in my skin
    Chasing the echoes of the man I’ve never been

    I rot from the inside, can’t tell who I am
    The mirror knows all, I’m my own worst scam
    Every choice I defend, every word I bend
    I’m collapsing in corners where no one pretends

    Fading pulses, whispered regrets, silence closing in

  • Wrong One Today

    Wrong One Today

    Staying calm doesn’t mean
    you’re going to keep taking it.

    Wrong One Today captures the moment a familiar argument stops following its usual pattern. One person arrives expecting excuses, accusations and pressure to work as they always have. This time they don’t. The song isn’t about losing control, but finally refusing to surrender it, and the uncomfortable moment when someone realises the person they expected to bend has decided not to.

    ► BUY
    ENTRY

    You call again past midnight tonight
    Your voice calm like nothing happened
    You say we should talk this out
    You say we both said harsh things

    I stand still in the hallway
    Your words land like small stones
    Then something cold locks in place
    I say listen very close

    You chose the wrong one today
    You pushed too far today
    You talk but I cut straight through
    You chose the wrong one today

    You laugh like this is nothing
    You say I always overreact
    You list every fault you know
    You wait for me to bend back

    I lean close across the table
    Your grin fades very slowly
    I say every word clearly
    I say hear this very well

    You chose the wrong one today
    You pushed too far today
    You talk but I cut straight through
    You chose the wrong one today

    The chair scrapes loud behind me
    Your mouth stays open halfway
    I walk out through the doorway

  • I Watched Myself Change

    I Watched Myself Change

    You don’t always lose yourself
    without noticing.

    I Watched Myself Change is about the small compromises that gradually become part of who we are. The narrator sees himself agreeing when he wants to refuse, accepting things he once opposed and calling retreat maturity. There is no single event to blame and no dramatic collapse. What troubles him is simpler: he recognised what was happening, understood his own part in it, and kept going anyway.

    ► BUY
    ENTRY

    I noticed it
    But I kept going

    I said yes when I meant no
    I laughed at things I hate
    I kept the peace
    I kept my place

    I watched my edges getting smooth
    I watched the anger fade
    Not because I grew
    Because I caved

    I told myself
    This is survival

    I watched myself change
    I watched it happen
    Piece by piece
    Decision by decision

    I watched myself change
    And I stayed quiet
    Now I don’t recognise
    The voice inside it

    I defend things I don’t believe
    I nod before they finish
    Every line I swore I’d never cross
    Is now a habit

    I wear the calm like borrowed skin
    I sell it as maturity
    But every compromise
    Was just cowardice in me

    There was no moment
    No disaster
    No collapse

    Just a thousand quiet choices
    I refused to stop

    I watched myself change

    I noticed it
    And I kept going