A Workshop of Shadows opens A Clockwork Heart in near darkness, both literal and emotional. Alone in her workshop, Florence sings to the rhythm of ticking time and turning cogs, revealing a life withdrawn from the world and sealed inside grief. What first appears to be a place of safety and careful craft slowly reveals itself as something more fragile, a sanctuary built from loss, memory, and avoidance.

Through spare, haunting lyrics, the song introduces Florence as a woman haunted by what she has lost and by the names she cannot forget. The workshop is her refuge, but also her prison. Every wire, spark, and mechanism carries the weight of sorrow she refuses to face. As the music builds, we see that this is not simply a song about isolation, but about the cost of surviving by shutting out the light.

WORKSHOP OF SHADOWS

Chords

Verse: C#m|Cm7|A|A|B|B|E|B|C#m|Cm7|A|A|B|B|E|E

Chorus: Ebm|Ebm7|B|B|Db|Db|F#|Db|Ebm|Ebm7|B|B|Db|Db|F#|F#

Verse 1

In the hush of ticking time,

Where no soul dares to roam,

I stitch with wire thread,

And call this silence home.

Verse 2

Every spark hides sorrow,

Every cog a name I knew.

Ignoring memories,

And rust always hides the truth.

Chorus

This is my sanctuary,

Where broken dreams still breathe.

Ghosts beneath my hands,

With secrets underneath.

Verse 3

I draw curtains on the sun,

Its warmth too sharp to bear,

The world keeps spinning,

But I’ve got no place out there.

Verse 4

This is my fortress,

But now it’s become my prison cell,

I was once a child of the sun,

Now I’m locked in this hell.

(Florence walks over to a sheet and pulls it off. There is a metal skeleton, she pulls a lever, and it lights up. Things inside start to move and the eyes light up)

Bridge

But the dead don’t speak,

the dead don’t knock

They don’t weep,

They don’t leave us alone,

In our sleep.

Chorus

This is my sanctuary,

Where broken dreams still breathe.

Ghosts beneath my hands,

With secrets underneath.

Loneliness, shattered heart,

That’s all that I can see,

Workshop of shadows,

All that’s left for me.