Cake on Cake
I Guess I Was Dreaming
Desolation Records
By Mike Randall
For all intents and purposes, Cake on Cake isn’t actually a “group.” More accurately they’re the one-woman band of musical savant Helena Sundin. On her second release, I Guess I Was Dreaming, the classically trained singer, pianist and cellist is credited with playing no fewer than 16 instruments. Through those instruments, she fragments together layers of sounds into beautiful atmospheric mood songs with restrained tempos of gentle, dreamy pop.
Since it’s usually just her performing (she has support on a handful of tracks), it’s easy for the listener to figure out how these musical ideas are orchestrated. She takes basic everyday observations, feelings and emotions and transforms them into lyrics. Melodies are then crafted as the words are put to music through the piano, which is the basis of the majority of the songs on the record. She then adds color with synthesized drumbeats and various other flourishes, such as organ, clavinet, harpsichord, xylophone and flute. Many times she harmonizes with herself.
Hailing from a village in the north of Sweden, Sundin’s knowledge of the English language is quite basic and thus, the lyrics are very simple. She carries a voice similar to Deerhoof’s Satomi Matsuzaki in that it’s child-like and full of innocence, and she relies heavily on the repetition of lines and phrases.
With 15 tracks clocking in at well below 40 minutes, I Guess I Was Dreaming doesn’t have a ton of content and there are very few words in each song. The album’s opener, “Come On Rainbow,” is a beautiful downtempo piano piece without any lyrics other than the monotonous, yet catchy, use of the song’s title. “I Guess I Was Daydreaming” and “Sparrows Parade,” which features dueling cross-tempo chants of “hey, hey, hey” and a stunning arpeggio, are both eerily reminiscent to the simulated floating of “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” by The Flaming Lips.
Like the Lips, Cake on Cake doesn’t lack the occasional moment of vocal or instrumental weirdness. “Sea Microphone” utilizes interestingly obscure and surrealistic lyrics that suggest keeping one’s voice low while at sea because it functions as a potentially ear-splitting microphone. “1981,” which is more than likely a reference to Sundin’s birth year, brings to mind the bizarreness of The Fiery Furnaces.
Contrary to The Fiery Furnaces, however, Cake on Cake is typically straightforward. More often than not the titles reference the exact meaning of the song, such as “We Want to Be Happy,” “Lost Friendship” (“My eyes will be dry when they talk about you”), and “English Music,” a Destroyer cover with the line “Write your English music/Run free.” In “Emmylou and You,” an ode to an obvious hero whose music leads to the conjuring of a lover, Sundin sings “When I go back to the city where I live I will play some Emmylou and start longing after you/I love to miss you sometimes.”
Whether or not she intends to, Sundin sounds refreshingly convivial and pleasant even during the most melancholic of moments. Her charm is evident throughout, and she’s the rare voice you find yourself rooting for no matter the situation. Even though she can be redundant, the songs are loaded with texture and feeling, and you can listen over and over without getting tired of her.
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