Presented by MFTCC
@ Idolize Spiegeltent, Garden of Unearthly Delights
TUESDAY March 6 (second show only on March 7)
Upon entering the Idolize Spiegeltent’s ornate confines for the first of two My Friend the Chocolate Cake shows in Adelaide’s Garden of Unearthly Delights, I was struck by the tent dome’s blue and green stain glass panels filtering light down onto the stage. They were suitably calming, organic colours for a band whose entire being seems defined by a natural easiness.
Begun in 1989 as a side project of David Bridie and Helen Mountfort’s work with the world music flavoured ensemble Not Drowning Waving, My Friend the Chocolate Cake was apparently named after a song by electronic Sydney band Ya Ya Corralle. In the words of somebody unfamiliar with The Cake’s work, the name apparently sounds like a middle aged female comedian’s show about why she doesn’t need a husband (it was my girlfriend who said this, by the way). But for those who know and love them, it’s merely another part of their whimsical charm. That being said, it’s also given rise to what must be one of the more well known (and necessary) acronyms in Australian music, MFTCC.
The band has a gentle, laid back presence that reflects their underlying ethos. Formed as an off-shoot, MFTCC continues to be something band members come back to in between other interests and commitments, notwithstanding the fact it has arguably overshadowed both Not Drowning Waving and David Bridie’s solo career in terms of popular recognition. Bridie has said that such intermittency is one reason the group remains together now after more than two decades. Regular hiatuses seem to have ensured MFTCC remain energetic and passionate when they do perform and record together, as on last year’s ‘Fiasco’ – their most recent album and subject of the current tour.
There’s a feeling of coming home when you settle in for a Cake show, a combination of their warm melodies, lyrics that swing between hopeful idealism and bittersweet melancholy, along with the aforementioned semi-regularity of their appearances. They began with only Bridie’s keyboard and vocals, Mountfort’s cello and violinist Xani Kolac (who sometimes fills in for band regular Hope Csutoros on live tours) for the slow, sad movements of new song The Centre Cannot Hold, which laments our need for wisdom now “more than ever”. Joined by Dean Addison on double bass for a long, winding instrumental piece and then guitarist Andrew Richardson and drummer Greg Patten for the full-band sound of long hot summers with Sirens, MFTCC effortlessly proceeded through a selection of songs that sounded like old favorites no matter when they were written or recorded.
The idea of returning home got an explicit airing in two stand outs from the new album, Request and 25 Stations – a song about trains featuring some great melodic onomatopoeia. Meanwhile, the call of adventure far across the sea was the subject of long-standing favorite Nanny’s Farewell. There were some funky grooves on Foreigner, plenty of moving instrumentals (including The Romp, which must be the most well known non-lyrical song in Australia) and even a reference to fast bowler Curtly Ambrose and Sri Lanka as the heroic underdogs of international cricket on Great Expectations.
Closing on sing-along classic I’ve Got a Plan, whose subject happens to be a long journey up South Australia’s Oodnadatta track, MFTCC brought us full circle. Cake fans already know, but seeing them live is a reminder of just how much skill, heart and passion this band brings to their “ageless and eternally devoted” audience.
