Project Description

MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE

“Revival Meeting” (album review)

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My Friend The Chocolate Cake

 

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My Friend the Chocolate Cake are something of an anomaly and frankly, always have been. With roots firmly planted in world music and rising from the ashes of Not Drowning Waving, nobody ever really seemed sure whether they spanned many genres, had no genre or were a genre unto themselves.

This latest offering, Revival Meeting, is a continuation, but also a maturation of the work they have always done. Apparent though is the absence of Andrew Carswell, whose mandolin and folk sensibilities helped define MFTCC’s sound in many ways.

That’s not to say this album is lesser, but perhaps noticeably less folkish and more noir pop than previous offerings, particularly those from the bands mid 90s heyday. Having said that, this record still comes with the dark brooding that MFTCC successfully make their own. The pattern on most of the tracks is quite sparse piano layered with, or perhaps haunted by, strings that bring a sense of foreboding to the record as a whole. The effect is unsettling, resulting in an album that is intimate to the point of being, at times, claustrophobic.

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MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE

MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE – Photo by Brian Rosenberg

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As usual Bridie’s vocals and lyrics are resigned and matter of fact about life’s everyday tribulations. The two instrumentals, Middle Veldt and Jims Refrain are built around the final mandolin pieces Carswell created prior to his death and add another dimension to the record’s penetrating discomfiture.

Overall the record is a satisfying one, something unique and unlike most of what pop music can usually do. That alone makes it worth exploring, but more than that the album blends instruments and influences and sentiments in a way that is both striking and sensitive. It is something that could only have been born out of the perspective gifted by age and experience.

 

AMNPLIFY – DB