My Friend the Chocolate Cake

History

Bridie and Mountfort had been members of the internationally acclaimed ambient/world music ensemble Not Drowning, Waving since 1983. In 1989, Bridie took a holiday in New Zealand and wrote "a few more breezy compositions" that did not fit into the Not Drowning, Waving style. The side-project that he and Mountfort formed that year, My Friend The Chocolate Cake, took its name from a song title by an obscure Sydney band Ya Ya Coralle. Bridie admitted that one reason the two chose to form an all-acoustic act was so they did not have to carry around amplifiers.

Although the intention was only to play a handful of shows the band quickly developed a following after securing a residency at Madigan's, a now defunct venue in the Melbourne suburb of Brunswick. With a budget of $800, the group recorded My Friend The Chocolate Cake in 1991. Following the split of Not Drowning, Waving in 1992 Bridie and Mountfort shifted their focus towards the band's follow-up album Brood, which began production in mid-1993. Featuring the single "I've Got a Plan", the album was released in 1994 and won the "Best Adult Contemporary Release" at the ARIA Music Awards the following year. Their third album Good Luck (1996) won the same award in 1997. Arguably at the peak of their career, the group played a sell-out show at Edinburgh Festival in Scotland and toured Europe. Helen Mountfort played as a guest musician on the Nick Cave/Kylie Minogue duet "Where the Wild Roses Grow", which was a hit single in 1996.

In the late 1990s, the group spent a long period of inactivity. Bridie developed an interest in the musical environment of Papua New Guinea and decided to move there in 2000. A side-project, Hotel Radio, saw Bridie experimenting with Papuan string music. The group's contract with Mushroom Records ended in 2000 and the band decided to represent themselves independently. Gathering briefly in 2002, the group recorded the up-beat Curious album, which was followed by another hiatus in 2003. In 2005, independent Australian label Liberation Music re-released the entire My Friend The Chocolate Cake back catalogue. The band came together in 2007 to release Home Improvements - the title referring to album's lyrical observations of suburban Australian life, a reoccurring theme in the band's music.

Mandolinist/tin-whistler Andrew Carswell, one of the group's long-time members, retired from performing in July 2010. Fiasco, released in 2011, had Bridie admitting that Carswell's departure had removed a large part of the folky element from the album.

Musical style

Like Not Drowning, Waving, My Friend The Chocolate Cake's music can be seen to straddle the worlds of ambient and world music, with an emphasis on piano and violin-led acoustic music. The band's collective musical influences are diverse and include: Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Irish and Scottish folk music, Joy Division, Arvo Pärt, and folk / pop / rock performers such as Billy Bragg, Talk Talk, John Cale and Michelle Shocked.

Each album displays a range of styles from subtle chamber music instrumentals to atmospheric folk/pop ballad fusions through to full scale romps. The group has a string section as a permanent fixture to their line-up, headed by Helen Mountfort, which greatly affects their song writing. Bridie, the group's main lyricist, often writes songs inspired by Melbourne suburban life. Other themes that are frequent include community politics and young love. Bridie sings with a distinctly Australian accent, differing from most vocalists who tend to emulate an American accent.

Television

In the 1990s, the song "The Romp" was frequently used on promotional adverts on Australia's ABC channel. A number of the band's songs have appeared in the Australian adolescent television drama Heartbreak High including "Salt", "Your Ship Is Gone" and "Talk About Love".

"I've Got a Plan" has been used in episodes of the Australian soap opera Home and Away, broadcast in the UK on 16/03/2012.

Albums

Singles and EPs