Johnny West
The Chicken Angel Woman With a Triangle
Tosteestostas, 2008
By Meryl Howsam
Windsor musician Johnny West describes his latest album, The Chicken Angel Woman With A Triangle, as being one of the strangest collections of music he’s ever created, yet oddly cohesive. On one hand, Chicken Angel Woman includes (but is not limited to) rhyming lyrics and song structures conventional enough to be categorized into genres or sub-genres. On the other hand, any album with song titles such as “He Was Saved by Poultry From the Shadow of Beef,” “Never Bring Lined Paper to a Knife Fight,” and “What Will Become of Luke Perry’s Nipples?” can hardly be described as normal. And the titles are just the beginning.
The album begins with the banjo-heavy “Blue Cheese Necklace,” an alt-country song that is one of the more melodically accessible tracks. The catchy tune — which features unusual rhymes like “I couldn’t come up with a suitable ending / I kicked the vacuum cleaner I was befriending” — is a perfect introduction to the carefree nature of the album. As the album continues, West ensures that each song is different than the last: “Please Remember to Forget Me” and “The Condensed Journey of a Tree” are slower, acoustic guitar-driven songs, while “Random Confessions of a Failed Lothario” and “Mary Anne Says Grace” are off-the-wall, improvised tracks sung in strange voices. The album’s instrumental tracks include a bouncy toy piano tune and a soft organ piece.
All of the instruments on the album are played and recorded by West himself, and include toy ukulele, Wurlitzer and Fender Rhodes, mini glockenspiel, and various percussion, claps, and stomps. West claims to have left various vocal and instrumental mistakes on the album, claiming that they add character and that it wouldn’t be in his nature as a musician to fix them. He clearly isn’t afraid to experiment, yet has a strong concept of what makes music listenable — in this case, the common themes mixed in with the quirkiness and imperfections. And of course, the fun.
all of his albums are beyond amazing, and take some time to fully appreciate
that is what i have discovered