MY FRIEND THE CHOCOLATE CAKE DELIVER THEIR LONG AWAITED EIGHTH STUDIO ALBUM, THE REVIVAL MEETING.
The song writing genius of David Bridie combined with the glorious strings of Helen Mountfort’s cello and Hope Csutoros’ violin are high in the curious collision of elements that have made My Friend The Chocolate Cake a big concert draw, triple ARIA winners and a vivid presence on countless film and TV soundtracks for more than two and a half decades. Their album history is a multi-dimensional mural of modern Australia that illustrates its geography, its political mores and its predominantly suburban identity, all by the kind of stealth that makes the most haunting, exhilarating and enduring pop music.
David Bridie saysThe Revival Meeting is “a collection of songs in which the protagonist (who could be you, who could be me, who could be the woman next door) is trying to find their place in an increasingly mad world… Songs that seek out beauty in the simple, wisdom in the plain, sparkle in the ordinary.
To see the world through a similar prism to the Sydney painter Jeffrey Smart –urban landscapes, stark portrayals of contemporary life, the joy of shape and light and colour.
Songs about love and small noises and futility and travelling and vague notions of justice and dying, the Pacific and balloons and odd people. Instrumentals from both ends of the spectrum, that make you tap your feet, or ponder. Songs with three notes in them, beats that hammer, chords that ring out, tunes that meander and make you shrug your shoulders, melodies to make you hum or single along. Cello is the voice, Violin the expression, and piano notes ring out through the valley.”
To record the album the band retired to a cosy shack past Flowerdale in regional Victoria to work up arrangements for songs brought to the table by David Bridie (piano and vocals) and Helen Mountfort (cello). David had his customary doubt, Helen her no nonsense drive. Greg Patten (drums) and Dean Addison (double bass) brought the big gear, food, groove, attitude and the odd red wine and cigar. Andrew Richardson (guitar) had to cover Jim’s (the groups original mandolin player) mandolin parts as well as his own guitar noodles, and Hope Csuteros (violin) adds the final spark.
Instruments lay strewn around a rustic cluttered living room. Amongst books, drawing pads and dusty furniture, 15 tunes were fleshed out, 4 daysof playing and conversation, laughs and food.
David says, “We all get along pretty well after all these years. These new tunes still have that certain feel that makes us go “yeah, it’s worth all the effort”.
For a while we’d pondered our mortality as a band, weren’t sure whether we’d make another one. However we’re on the creative quest yet again. And we followed through recording the album in my ToRurua studio in Thornbury with Andy Robinson, and we asked the wonderful sound artisan Simon Polinski to mix it. We’ve recorded it,we like it, and now we just hope that others will like it too. Otherwise we’ll just enjoy it on our desert island.
“A new album called The Revival Meeting. A band still called My Friend the Chocolate Cake after all these years.”
MFTCC play the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts, Brisbane QLD on Friday 28 July (2017)
