Tricks
A dramatic, suspenseful piece with a slow tempo and a minor key. The instrumentation features a prominent, deep male voice with a spoken word delivery, often layered with a distorted, almost robotic effect. There are also subtle, eerie synth pads, occasional percussive hits that sound like impacts or metallic clangs, and a low, sustained bass tone. The vocal delivery shifts between a calm, almost conversational tone and a more agitated, desperate plea. Production elements include heavy use of reverb and delay on the vocals, creating a sense of space and unease. The overall mood is dark and unsettling, with a build-up of tension through the vocal performance and sparse instrumentation. The piece lacks a traditional melodic structure, relying instead on rhythmic spoken word and atmospheric sound design.
Tricks
A dramatic, suspenseful piece with a slow tempo and a minor key. The instrumentation features a prominent, deep male voice with a spoken word delivery, often layered with a distorted, almost robotic effect. There are also subtle, eerie synth pads, occasional percussive hits that sound like impacts or metallic clangs, and a low, sustained bass tone. The vocal delivery shifts between a calm, almost conversational tone and a more agitated, desperate plea. Production elements include heavy use of reverb and delay on the vocals, creating a sense of space and unease. The overall mood is dark and unsettling, with a build-up of tension through the vocal performance and sparse instrumentation. The piece lacks a traditional melodic structure, relying instead on rhythmic spoken word and atmospheric sound design.
Lyrics
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The voices ain't real
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This story is ridiculously elaborate and wanted to do a piece that ties different situations into one. Based on conspiracy theories I won't credit.
Too dark to credit anyway;
ChatGPT thinks this is:
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It reads like two interwoven narratives:
Literal summary
One is a survivor’s account of being abducted, drugged, and brutalized by a man who delights in control; the other follows a morally corrupt pair of men involved in a crumbling business and an exploitative sex-work operation, all while one of them is terminally ill and spiraling. Both storylines center on power imbalances, predation, and the way violence—physical, emotional, or economic—spreads through the lives it touches. The abducted survivor speaks from raw trauma, while the men in the secondary thread treat exploitation as routine business, revealing how systems of harm can exist alongside personal decay, denial, and desperation. Together, the piece becomes an unsettling portrait of cruelty, complicity, and the slow rot of people who hurt others and people surviving that hurt.
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I don't know why I got in his car
He was so casual, he made small talk, you know?
Nothing set off any alarms
But then, then I felt this rag over my face
It reeked of chemicals, I couldn't breathe and then
I tried to fight but I blacked out
When I woke up, I couldn't move
My wrists, my ankles, he tied me down
It was dark and the smell, God, that smell
What was the smell? Do you remember?
Um, it smelled like sweat
And something rotting, I guess
And whatever chemical he used...
Oh, go ahead
I remember the sound of his boots on the floor... He told me I'd been chosen
Chosen? Chosen for what?
Chosen for this, I mean he-he hurt me... Over and over again. Choking me with that rag until I blacked out. Waking up to more pain, I couldn't tell what was real anymore... And the worst part, it was in the way that he talked, he sounded so... happy
Speaking of junk. Did you hear about that house over in Summerdale?
No, what happened?
They called me about it, place is falling apart, roof's caving in, foundation's shot... It's gonna take a miracle to save it. But you know me, hahaha, I love a good challenge.
Is he still in there?
Yeah, he has been for a while.
Can I speak with you a moment?
Mhm..
Ahh
When were you going to tell me?
Well, what's it matter... we're both sick
Yeah, I guess so, just in different ways... Yours is physical and mine is mental...
tss
Ah, but eventually... the physical part catches up to the brain. Makes life harder and starts to weigh us down... Here. Six hundred bucks.
What the hell am I supposed to do with that?
It's what you wanted, isn't it? I pay you to stick my d**k in, I pay you for your time?
Yeah, but... John, this is getting to be a little much. Where do you even come up with this money?
You think I don't run a business here? I'm the head of an organization... I have enough money to spare. Heck, I'm dying... let me do you a favor.
At this rate, I might as well be dying too... Thanks...
Come in!
So... how was it?
Ohh, it is what it is. I'm a dying man in Milwaukee, soon I'm going to be losing everything I've ever gotten. The club, the damn chocolate factory...
Okay
You refusing to have sex with me isn't at the top list of my worries
Yeah, well, we've been together for five years...
Is that where this is going?
When I found out you have... I got scared. Then I decided that it was better to let you have what you wanted without me having any part to do with it...
Like I said... I'm not bothered by it. You don't want to catch this disease that is spreading daily, which is understandable.
Jeffrey called...
Did he?
Said he'd been arrested...
Ahh. That man... he's always got one foot in the grave.
mhm, Yeah, seems you two got that in common...
Has he been by the club lately?
Not in a couple of days... that's what I wanted to talk to you about too, actually... I'm... I'm thinking about shutting it down... the club is already taking up a lot of money, and financially we can't afford to invest in both if you're paying these tricks twice an hour
I'm not paying them "twice", I'm paying them once...
I mean, you're also forgetting, you've been slacking on paying Jeff...
Then go on and fire him...
What? If I fire him, he'll lose that job and then he'd not be coming by our bar anymore... he'd have nothing left to spend on our projects
What's one last guy invested in our Strays? We have several more... we'll figure something out, Kevin, get rid of him... if that's what it takes to cut back, then do it
Alright... then what do we tell the tricks?
We tell them what we always do... Unless they want to end up back on the streets empty handed, then they'll continue to stay... they'll "stay" and they'll work for us... simple as that
Then... I'm going to call John, he owes us money...
Good idea.