Seven years is quite the break between albums. With a hiatus that long, a band risks losing fans or having a sound that’s no longer relevant to what people are listening to. Fortunately, neither of these are the case with Showroom of Compassion. Cake has tried some new stuff with this record while maintaining their usual sound enough to keep their original fans happy, while hopefully adding some new, most likely younger, listeners to the flock.
Showroom of Compassion opens with “Federal Funding,” a politically-themed song filled with John McCrea’s usual dry tone (this time with some reverb) and a simple guitar riff. All of this is accompanied by the usual slightly funky sound and some brass to top it all off. This song marks some of the departures Cake has made from their usual sound, namely the slower pace at which this song plays. Don’t fear, for it works quite well, but does not set up the pace of the album very well.
If you’re looking for more traditional Cake, then you should skip ahead to “Long Time” and “Sick of You,” the latter being the first single off of the album. These songs also contain the usual dry tone of McCrea along with the familiar brass and gang vocal choruses. At the same time, these songs mark some departures for the band that may not have been intentional. The production value of the entire album is not quite on mark with their first five albums. This could be due to the independent recording (in a solar-powered studio) of the album.
Showroom of Compassion is Cake trying new genres, instruments, structures and more. It is an album that shows a slight bit more range and shows even more promise of what will hopefully come from them in the future. If you’re a Cake fan, you’ll love Showroom. If you’ve never heard of Cake or weren’t too crazy about them before, please give this a listen. Even if you don’t like it, you will only have wasted 40 minutes. That’s something we can all live with.
Track Listing:
1. Federal Funding
2. Long Time
3. Got To Move
4. What’s Now Is Now
5. Mustache Man (Wasted)
6. Teenage Pregnancy
7. Sick Of You
8. Easy To Crash
9. Bound Away
10. The Winter
11. Italian Guy
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