Had a Burning

Wisconsin-based alt-country songwriter Carl Gustav Johns continues, on his second album under the Noahjohn moniker, to explore the territory he himself has labelled "post-modern hillbilly." Mostly, he travels over the same kind of dark and surreal territory as many of his ilk, letting inscrutable lines such as "she embraced me with seven hands and a tongue of fire" or "we didn't have enough money for a grandfather clock" trickle out with a carefully calculated understated delivery, in the certain knowledge that whether they mean anything or not his audience will imbue them with meaning anyway. Musically, it's all a bit of a lucky bag. The scratchy fiddle in the jolly rant he calls "Porter" recalls nothing so much as the Holy Modal Rounders, while the dickering guitar/viola work in "Lady Macbeth" sounds like an unplugged out-take from the first Velvet Underground album. But when he hits on a lively tune such as "Bitch Lounge", he can sound quite heavenly, in a slacker sort of way. --Johnny Black

Label: Unknown
Studio: Speakeasy
Released: 2001-03-12
Format: Audio CD