SONG OF THE DAY
“Cake Parade” by Georgie James (Places, Saddle Creek Records, 2007).
MY TAKE
This song was featured on my July 2010 playlist.
I bought this album, Places, two years ago for the song “Long Week,†which I had heard late at night on a Connecticut college radio station while visiting my fiancee. After playing the album once through, I had a breakthrough that “Cake Parade†was actually the best track on the album.
I really love this album, the dichotomy between soft girl vocals that seem harmless and harsh, poetic lyrics, like these from “Cake Paradeâ€: “The sun is gone, looks like a perfect day, to put our soldiers in an early grave, / we can line them up and lay them on the lawn, / with all their purple hearts and badges of courage on.†It sounds sweet and flip flopsy like Colbie Caillat, but of course those lyrics hit hard and resonate for awhile. Enjoy!
BRIEF BIO (a la wikipedia)
– Places is the lone album by the Washington, D.C. indie rock band Georgie James, released on September 25, 2007. It includes the singles “Need Your Needs” and “Cake Parade.”
– Guest musicians include Andrew Black (The Explosion), T.J. Lipple (Aloha), Tony Cavallario (Aloha) and Matthew Gengler (Aloha).
– The artwork for the album was designed by the band and Zack Nipper.
– Georgie James was an indie pop/rock group from Washington D.C. composed of John Davis (formerly of Q and Not U) and Laura Burhenn.
– When Q and Not U called it quits in 2005 after releasing three albums, the band split into three different projects:Â Ris Paul Ric, a folk/electronic solo effort from Chris Richards; Harris Klahr commenced work on his new project, President; and finally, Georgie James, featuring Q And Not U’s drummer Davis.
– Having met through the D.C. music scene, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Davis and vocalist/pianist Burhenn (who had released two solo albums on her own Laboratory Records prior to this project) discovered that they had similar tastes in classic pop music from the 1950s to the 1970s.
– They decided to start working together as a band, Davis writing the guitars, bass and drums, Burhenn on the Rhodes Electric Piano. A few hours later they had written a few songs, and decided it was a worthy project to pursue.
– Later in 2005, the duo recorded demos at Silver Sonya Studio in Arlington, VA. with producers Chad Clark and TJ Lipple and also at their practice space in NE D.C.
– By November 2005, they produced a 7-song demo, showcasing a mix of cool pop production, dancey riffs reminiscent of Power-era Q and Not U and unexplored territory for the both of them.
– The resulting demo was entitled Demos at Dance Place(named after the arts center adjacent to their practice space) and was self-released in 2006.
– In February 2007, they released their first single, “Need Your Needs,” on Burhenn’s label, Laboratory Records.
– That spring, Georgie James signed a record contract with indie label Saddle Creek Records.
– They toured North America and Europe extensively to promote their debut full length, Places, which was released in September 2007.
– The final touring version of the band included Davis on guitar/vocals, Burhenn on keyboard/vocals, Michael Cotterman (formerly of The Loved Ones and Kid Dynamite) on bass and Andrew Black (formerly of The Explosion) on drums. Other musicians that played in the live version of the band included Cale Parks, James Canty, Adam Robinson and Paul Michel.
– It was announced on August 4, 2008 that the duo had broken up with hopes of focusing more on respective solo projects.
– Davis formed a solo project called Title Tracks. The debut Title Tracks album, It Was Easy, was released by The Ernest Jenning Record Co. in February 2010.
– Burhenn formed a solo project called The Mynabirds. The debut Mynabirds album, What We Lose In The Fire We Gain In The Flood, was released by Saddle Creek in April 2010.