Album Review

The Budda Cakes – X

• 10th Apr 2008

Avant-garde London eccentrics, The Budda Cakes unleash the kookily chaotic debut album, “X”.

Fractious and haphazard as a raging manic-depressive, “X” exudes a quirky sense of mystery from beginning to end. Loaded with frantic references to Central London and accompanied by a flurry of accordion-like harmonium notes, “Crystal In A Shadow” evokes poignantly a sense of urban isolation. This, like a number of other tracks on the album, is a catchy, appealing little ditty possessing darker undertones lurking not far beneath its playful exterior.

Inspired by frontman, Gon Von Zola’s favourite cemetery, “Which Side Are You On”, is considerably more subdued than its previous, light-hearted counterparts. The band’s bizarre instrumental components take on a high-pitched, almost anguished sound quality, which is undoubtedly one of the many highlights of “X”. Tapping a similar vein, “Evicted” is a maudlin arrangement of downbeat, acoustic riffs, which stop abruptly after a mere matter of seconds, lending to this piece an edgy improv feel.

By contrast, “I’m Not Listening” features a bizarre amalgamation of croaking electronica, harmonium and half-chanted lyrics. “Full Stop First Step”, is however the band’s most outlandish offering, complete with crazed melodies and gurgled cartoonish vocal effects.

Resting somewhere between giddiness and raving insanity, “X” is by turns both an irrepressibly hyperactive and eerily tender slice of experimentalism.