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Chicago Maroon
THE CAKEKITCHEN
Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
(Merge, P. O. Box 1235, Chapel Hill
IL 27514-919-929-0711
Itīs difficult to discern whether the opening guitar salvo
of this, The Cakekitchenīs sixth release, is daring or just
plain stupid. After all, Graeme Jefferies is an amazing
songwriter, but Iīd be concerned that several minutes
of guitar noise at the start of an eleven minute song
might be a little too much. Sure, Graemeīs work with
the Cakekitchen bridges both sides of New Zealandīs
notable music scene, the dirtier, lo-fi Xpressway side
and the cozier, more pastoral Flying Nun side, but nine
minutes is a bit much. Patience, smacience. Some might
call it atmosphere; I call it tedium.
So what do I propose? Skip the first song, because the
rest of The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea is simply great.
While Devil may not recall the heavenly heights of
Stompin Thru the Boneyard, itīs a superb record
regardless. While Stompin provoked prayers for better
production values, the lo-fi approach somehow suits
this album just fine, capably cohering the occasionally
loose structure of the neo-psychedelic songs under a
big blanket of muted noise. Still, the best songs are the
quiet ones, leading me to believe that Graemeīs a folky
at heart, albeit a fuzzy one.
Bill Meyer
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