The Cakekitchen - Calm Before The Storm LP

$19.98

Edition of 300.

"The Cakekitchen which revolves around former This Kind of Punishment/Nocturnal Projections singer/guitarist Graeme Jefferies have been around since the late Eighties. Calm Before The Storm opens with the nine minute "For So Long" which comes off like something out of the Can/Neu! axis but could equally have its origins in the Middle East or the Appalachians as odd guitar phrases overlap and what sounds like electric sitar or banjos are part of the tapestry. Elsewhere piano and guitar adopt a more stately and disembodied sound ("Little Blue Penguins" which, with the sound of wildlife incorporated, cries out for a nature soundtrack to be part of, as does the gentle "Parrot Island"), there are eccentric acoustic stories ("Back of the Bus," the rolling and quirky "Mrs Fishbone," the orchestrated and odd "Little Shit of the Week") and the music is layered with enticing found sounds and field recordings (water lapping, rain and wind sounds). There is also a charmingly minimal approach in places (the spare piano piece "Come Back Home"), amusing throwaways (the schizophrenic and brief "Work Today") and some broadly political ideas infiltrated. The gentle title track which closes the album with wind and rain, strings and singing bass lines is a sheer, simple delight." – Graham Reid (Elsewhere Magazine)