Music: The Jimmy Cake * * * *
Spectre & Crown (Pilatus Records)
Friday April 11 2008
Musos often look beyond this country to find music to obsess about, ignoring some fine work on their own doorstep. Dublin instrumental collective The Jimmy Cake have not encountered this problem -- they have received fawning praise for a pair of albums in the early part of this decade, even if such gushing reviews never turned into sales.
In truth, though, the band named after a venerable Dublin dessert, promised more than they delivered.
Now, six years after their last offering, the nine-strong outfit (with a few replacements for departing members in tow) are back with a nine-track collection that finally justifies the sort of excitement the Dermody brothers et al attracted in the first place.
By turns minimalistic and multi-layered, Spectre & Crown has moments of astonishing beauty. There are plenty of captivating tracks too -- soaring and emotive.
Opener Red Tony starts off as a sparse piano number before dissolving into the sort of sonic bombast that Sigur Ros do best. Jetta's Palace is similarly vast -- an otherworldly, widescreen post-rock epic. And Hugs For Buddy sustains its power and grandeur over nine minutes.
There are some self-indulgent moments -- not least two minutes of sampled rainfall and what sounds like a distant lawn-mower -- but, ultimately, the album succeeds
It's just a shame that a planned collaboration with Tindersticks' Stuart Staples never came to fruition. It would have been the first time that a vocal was added to an impressive array of instruments.
Burn it: Hugs For Buddy; Jetta's Palace
