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When The Ink Dries

by West My Friend

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  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    West My Friend's Canadian Folk Music Award nominated sophomore album, with artwork by Sarah Clement. Produced by Joby Baker and mastered by David Travers-Smith.

    Includes unlimited streaming of When The Ink Dries via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 6 West My Friend releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of In Constellation, Quiet Hum, Shape of a Home, When The Ink Dries, Take It Slow, and Place. , and , .

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1.
When the ink dries on the page 
When the head stands on his stage When the creature's in her cage 
Come what may When the winter does not stay When the summer turns to haze 
When the paper goes in flames Come what may When the northern starts to blaze
 When the darkness finds the waves
 When the boats lie in decay Come what may

 When the suits lay down their claim
 When the people do the same 
When the hopeful find a maze
 When the wicked do not pay
 When the waters start to stain
 When the peaceful turn to rage
 When the rifles take aim
 Come what may
2.
Green for the envy that rises in her gut And a pink blush as a betraying hue Purple and blue for how she misses you Each memory is a bruise of its own She was lonely lonely Ordinary lonesome blue But now she’s tinted special And she don’t need a soul, especially not you White for the ghost of a kiss on her lips Covered under coats of lipstick red Jaundice yellow to remind her of her fellow And all he took and all he left alone Paisley plaid polkadots and stripes Pinstripes tweed and corduroy All the colours of the rainbow are my keepers now I’ll never be alone, never be alone It was the tattoo that loved her anyway It drenched her skin, coloured every inch that it could fill in The tattoo that loved her always It held her close and whispered “Je t’aimerai pour toujours.”
3.
Missing You 03:01
In the densest cities in the busiest parts Sometimes the traffic noise gets so loud Amidst the clap and thunder of SUVs There isn’t room for romance Two birds can’t even hear the love calls they’re singing out I don’t know what I would do If that was me missing you Singing my heart out but never getting through If that was me missing you, missing you On the tallest mountains at the highest peaks Sometimes compassion is thinner than air Amidst a sudden flurry of summer snow She focuses on the goal And doesn’t see the stumbled footsteps she passes by I don’t know what I would do If that was me missing you Reaching the summit but never knowing the truth If that was me missing you, missing you In the constellations in every person’s night sky Some people say that our fate is inscribed Do you believe that our fate is inscribed? And in the horoscope that he read that day It said the same, but it wouldn’t give him a name Above his head, as he read shot a shooting star I don’t know what I would do If that was me missing you Shooting through life but never catching my cue If that was me missing you, missing you If that was me missing you Singing my heart out but never getting through If that was me missing you, missing you
4.
Thin Hope 05:21
Place her in a box on the stove and turn it up a little It’ll be someone’s job to help her grow We live on thin hope, thin hope “Look at what I drew,” he said, and held it up a little “Did you know they took children from their homes?” “Look at what I did,” she thought, and pressed a little deeper “This is the one thing that I can control myself” A shallow winter’s riverbed visited at nightfall And even though this mountain side’s not quite as familiar Under every stone I think there must be a secret Of how I came and how I lived and how I went So choose your words like you choose one another Charge your words with humility And chew on your words like they’re the last supper you’ll eat Place her in a box on the stove and turn it up a little It’ll be someone’s job to help her grow if they can
5.
My Lover 02:59
My lover lives upon the moon
 She bares her cheek to me at noon Unseen she rises at dawn
 But at midnight she's in silver from her breasts down to her toes My lover lives upon the moon
 And I know that I'll see her soon My lover lives up in a tree Washes her cheek with the cold sea She works with needle and thread Knitting new hands in the springtime for the cedar and the oaks My lover lives up in a tree And I know that she'll save room for me My lover lives upon the ground She keeps her cheek cool and brown These days she takes in the rain But come summer she'll be dancing with her finery in rows My lover lives upon the ground 
And I know that she'll grow me a crown My lover lives inside my heart Gifted her cheek right from the start She smoothes my skin with her hands
 And it fills me up with lightness from my fingers to my nose My lover lives inside my heart And in hers she has given a part
6.
Troubles 04:30
I have troubles, I have troubles raining down, raining down All of our bodies are tender on the underside So please don’t pack it up underneath your pride In that tattered suitcase no If you hit the ground running without a pause to where you’ll go Then you’re only running Then you’re only running from I have troubles, I have troubles raining down on me Yeah and this old road is a bringing me far from my home All of our tender is held in place by what we’re owed So never guarantee, watch for careful eyes Aglow in morning light ‘Cause your skin’s only good as a shield if you hold it just so So hold your choices So hold your choices tight Your burlesque show would be the best I’d know Wrapped in shadows and fierce as hell Your radio show would be the best I’d know Listen closely and you’d hear an echo Your travelling show would be the best I’d know So familiar the tales you’d tell And anything and everything you’d show would be the best I’d know And I know, yeah I know, now I know that 
Callus won’t form on broken skin And I’m always shocked by the mess I’m in And a thistle it knows, though it bends in the wind That you can’t stop a-reaching and a-growing, no
7.
Lady Doubt 03:55
The birds out my window are a cacophony of sound it’s undeniable That they’re happy, they’re happy And I’m not a widow but this nagging sense of loss is undeniable Watching a spider hang from a thread two thousand times its body height above the ground It’s fearless and carefree And I’m not in free fall, but the bottom of stomach’s hanging out for sure What are you a monster of? What are you if not my love? It’s fumbling for a light switch in the slowly creeping darkness growing in your absence Lady, Lady Doubt, that’s me A man stacking boxes and another man unstacking so methodically They’re piling with persistence And from my vantage point oh I could never say with certainty when they’ll stop False appearances are often made of naught But when we place them at the edge of thought They fester and they grow, choking row on row Casting shade about, hiding secret doubt But no the birds out my window are a cacophony of sound And there is no denying it No the birds out my window are a cacophony of sound
8.
It was moony and misty on a midsummer’s night There was naught to do but watch the sparrows in flight From two distant windows they stared through the panes Contemplating why the moon waxes and wanes And whether it wants to be nearer the earth Or to come and curl up by the sun’s fiery hearth These thoughts two soul mates did unknowingly share As they purred and they pondered and groomed their fine hair Tawny and scrawny and full of emotion Sam was the cat who thought up the potion To seal their owners’ love He was not a cat to be stopped Claire was a retired orthodontist People said she was like a meteor but she burned brighter Her shadow tried desperately to keep up each day As she catapulted through life Noah was salty and gray like the ocean Once a sailor, now a cat, who preferred constant motion He strolled through the garden each day Pausing for flowers on his way Nancy was a kindergarten teacher Round around the edges and a smile like honey When people asked her, “How do you do it all day?” She said, “How could I not?” Sam watched from high above as Noah smelled each lily bud He thought, “I may be young and novice in love, and he looks much the same.” “But if there’s a cat I do adore, Noah is his name.”
So he prepared a lover’s speech Announced his presence with a screech A cat’s love cannot be contained Strings, strings, strings, oh lugubrious strings Will be the song for me to you No yowl or scowl from opposing feral feline Will keep me from my prowl So stare with me in awe Stare with me in awe at the moon’s efficacy Which not only pertains to its waxes and wanes And the tides and the tide pools But to the love of fools for those as priceless as thee Noah turned his head skyward and responded to Sam He said “Please don’t think that I’m not interested, ‘cause believe me I am. It’s just that human society is unreliable. Feline ferocity is undeniable. How can you be sure our affections will not be treated as an affliction? Maybe we should wait ‘till we’re older. Maybe then we’ll be a little bolder.” “It gets better,” yeah I heard that one before If we’re cautious young the habit takes hold So I’ll make you an offer you can’t ignore I know a thing or two about chemistry I bet your Claire and my Nancy know a thing too I saw some sparks when she was over for tea Why don’t we make up a pot of love potion stew? If we think hard oh I’m sure we’ll know just what to do Set up a picnic and wait for the cupid to strike ‘Cause if Nancy loves Claire, and Claire fancies Nancy Soon we’ll be roomies in our cat lady house Our love won’t be tragic like the slow death of a mouse “It gets better,” yeah I heard that one before They can make space for us now, oh not tomorrow ‘Cause nobody says what you ought to do when When two cat ladies fall in love You can sleep until noontime, eat pâté with good wine When cat ladies fall in love You can love whom your heart wants and build up your family tree There is no end to petting and never much fretting When cat ladies fall in love Nobody says what you ought to when When two cat ladies fall in love
9.
Fig tree fruit crawls with worms to the undiscerning eye And like most things, it takes time to cure the meat inside I once sat here in the crux of this tree Watching fruit reach out in front of me I sat there, holding my fear to my heart Watching fruit fall one by one ‘cause I refused to take a part So put all your figs in a basket and float them downstream Where the river goes you’ll never know if you don’t aim to starve Just give it your all ‘till you’ve no more to give All our steps lead somewhere, especially the ones that aren’t taken And I don’t know which you took, but I’m glad they brought you here
10.
Baleen Whale 04:24
Some things sink and some things float, it’s a toss up Some things fly and some things don’t, oh you never know Did you trick me like that baleen whale I know? Are you east or west, am I heads or tails? Who knows ‘Cause I like your salty undertones And I like your skull and your crossbones And sometimes I want, I want to bring you home And sometimes I think you’re quite similar to me You have an octopus hiding beneath the sea And I have a whale on a roof seeing as far as he can see So might you come drop your anchor in my bay? Step off the dock, get land sick for a day And maybe before you go for a while you’ll stay Then kiss my cheek before you set your sail I’ll kiss my kerchief and post it in the mail We all love pirates and all that they entail
11.
Oh in the dark and deep Where the light don’t always reach past the leaves People anthropomorphizing “What a pretty thing.”
“Did you hear her tweet?” Oh in a backroom hall Feet a-tappin’ in a nicotine fog With tunes so supple she spells out trouble Amidst a the rubble of barroom brawl Hear them say “All the pretty little songbirds on a line. So familiar, it’s all in how they try to differ. Each one has a place to define.” Oh in the hush backstage You catch a guarded look that’s hard to gauge You wonder does she sing lullabies To closing eyes or her lover’s sighs? But this story is more old than new And the light don’t always shine on what’s true It’s people anthropomorphizing “What a pretty thing.”
“Did you hear her tweet?”
12.
Last Call 05:25
I could've downed a dozen Old-Fashioneds I could've downed a dozen like they do when they want to feel true I could've downed a dozen but I didn't I've got things to do And it's last call at the bar in my head The numbers on the jukebox are still flashing red The tab has been drowned, you're nowhere around So I'll write a song so maybe you'll come back I could've told a story about the sun 
I could've told a story of driftwood and pebbles and waves I could've told a story of how's the river
 Of how the treaty's in graves And it's last call at the bar in my head The talk has been circling 'round folks long since dead The temperature's lean, you're nowhere to be seen So I'll write a song so maybe you'll come back And it's last call at the bar in my head 
I'm telling this woman of something I'd read My eyes are cast down, you're nowhere to be found So I'll write a song so maybe I could've loved a little closer to home I could've loved a little slower to show 
I could've loved a little lighter, a little softer A little more in my place And it's last call at the bar in my head I pull up my coat for the walk to my bed I'm a stranger tonight, you're nowhere in sight So tomorrow, I'll write a song

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Produced by Joby Baker.

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released March 6, 2014

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West My Friend Victoria, British Columbia

In the modern musical landscape, it’s rare to hear something as put-together as three-piece Cascadian folk outfit West My Friend - something so layered, deeply symphonic, baroque, and mysterious in its own winking way while still courting an edge of disaster. Simple is safe, but complex is fiery, intricate, and ultimately more rewarding. ... more

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