(Bakeallday, released Fri 28 Apr 2017)
Cooking enthusiasts often remark that baking (not boxing) is a sweet science: an alchemy of ingredients, precise measurement and technique that takes advantage of the laws of physics and chemistry to create the perfect airy sponge of sugary satisfaction. What could be sweeter or simpler?
It should be no coincidence, then, that Bakery, with their recent bakeallday EP, fits the cake tin mould of this concept of creation; a rolling out of “laid back grooves”, a whisking of “psychedelic soundscapes”, and rich layers of “electronica, hip/trip-hop and lo-fi soul”, all oven-baked to perfection, leaving a sweet, warm aroma of noise reverberating in the mind long after the initial powder of muffled audio from an untitled live track is sieved through to hungry ears.
Despite the band’s striking originality and unique sound, as a collection of songs the release comes across as somewhat hodgepodge, with little discernible cohesion or order. But luckily, lead single Perceive/Pursue rises like a soufflé as the most visible and accomplished piece: echoes of guitar are sprinkled throughout like a generous dusting of icing sugar; Jeff Buckley-esque falsetto cutting through the din like sharp blueberry in a warm molten filling; ominous nauseous drones as the song comes to a close like the abdominal bellowing of a stuffed and satisfied diner as they pat their quivering belly in acknowledgement of a sturdy meal.
It is difficult to criticise Bakery when you think about their music within the parameters of such a ridiculously insane and yet curiously appropriate conceptual affair of music and baking. They are airy and dense at the same time, weirdly hypnotic, and though this release might not be anything to shout home about in the revolutionary sense, there is the unmistakeable whiff of a new musical recipe on the horizon just waiting to be baked.