Cakewalk - Transfixed

by Adrian Huggins

published: 27 / 1 / 2014

Label: Hubro
Format: CD

Disorientating but rewarding second album from adventurous Bergen-based group, Cakewalk

Review

Bergen-based Cakewalk release their second album ‘Transfixed’, two years on from their well- received and critically approved debut album ‘Wired’. The band features Stepan Meidellm, Oystein Skar and Ivar Loe Bjornstad , all of whom play in various other bands based mainly in Norway including Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Sacred Harp and the Sweetest Thrill, so the fact that they managed to get some time between these bands in itself is quite an achievement. They play drone-like futuristic stoner rock, and the initial impact of some of the songs knocks you back and pleads to every one of your senses. While it starts big and loud with ‘Ghosts’, Cakewalk’s gentle, ambient side shine through during ‘Bells’, which is an odd listen but ultimately worth sticking with. ‘Swarm’ is the musical equivalent of flying through space and culminates in a 65 Days Of Static soaring ending, while the title track makes intense use of electronica, disorientating the listener with its warped noises and lagging drums. There is a definite leaning towards the experimental, and fans of Berlin, Explosions In The Sky and the previously mentioned 65 Days Of Static and Aphex Twin will certainly find plenty to indulge themselves with on ‘Transfixed’. ‘Dunes’ finishes up the album , and, rooted more on the guitar, is strewn with hypnotic drum beats and eerie synths that veer between the menacing and the sublime. ‘Transfixed’ is certainly something for the more adventurous, but given the time it is well worth sticking with.