Eat More Cake Best Served Warm As They Climb The Ladder

Not to be confused with the idiosyncratic alternative rockers from Sacramento (who have an album due out next January), Eat More Cake is a four-piece electronica band hailing all the way from Harrow, NW London. And like many bands releasing material today, they're hard to pin down on the first pass.

Depending on the track off Climb The Ladder, Live The Dream (out yesterday), you might catch an eclectic mix of dance, hip hop, pop, or down tempo rock beats. It's the latter that peaks and keeps our interest. As good as the single Red Sky, featuring Alexis Griffith, was, there was no way to really appreciate the diversity and density served up by Andrew Briggs (vocals, guitar) and Matt Pearn (keyboards) along with Alex Lane (drums) and Owen Charles (turntables, Ableton).

Eat More Cake Might Spark A Shift In Music.

When you listen to caustic lyrics and trippy beats tucked inside down tempo Ever So Gently, Glass Houses, and Has To Be Done you almost get the feeling that Eat More Cake wants to reintroduce a modern cut on the psychedelic rock scene from the 1960s. The latter song gives you a taste of what can be done.

It was released with three remixes, each bent on driving the composition in different directions. Lazybones picks up on the low tempo spacey and bassy beats. The Domino State creates an ethereal symphony underscored by whispers. Choking Dolphin changes it up into a strobing lose yourself beat. You can listen to the remixes off their Facebook page. Here's the original album version, which I like best.



The sound might be well off from my alt rock and pop punk roots, but after a couple of listens it seeps in slowly and becomes increasingly addictive. It's the freshness that makes the music riveting. They copy, slice, and steal riffs from no one.

That's not to say everything they do works or needs to be in your playlist. Music Box, despite smart lyrics, quickly becomes annoying and makes you wish someone else might cover it. Computer Apple wants to be more than it is, spoiled by the overproduced electronic beat and baby talk. The vocals on Story Of My Life are too restrained. That track works much better in Underwater with its near folksy straight-up presentation.

Eat More Cake's Climb The Ladder, Live The Dream Debuts At 6.5 On The Liquid Hip Richter Scale.

Too harsh? (I've been getting some feedback than I can be.) Well, it is what it is. I can like a band without becoming infatuated with every track. Forever Dreaming, by the way, is brilliant in another way. Much like Red Sky, Eat More Cake soars when women front the progression whereas Briggs sounds best with his straight-up alternative rock voice. These guys are going places.

You can find everything Eat More Cake has put out on iTunes yesterday. The album is still sliced up into singles on Amazon. Start by downloading Underwater if you like. You might want to, because Eat More Cake is distinct enough that they will fire up some inspired clone bands. Some of the stuff is just that good.