by James Fast (@oahsick)
There is something so purely free and unfettered about The Cradle’s latest LP for NNA Tapes, Laughing In My Sleep. Drawing from various worlds of music, Laughing is an eclectic listen made up of medieval melodies and Éthiopiques-inspired polyrhythms. Paco Cathcart equally embraces olden folk tunes as much as he does avant-garde / post-punk experiments. This album is a weirdo’s wet dream — if Arthur Russell and Gary Wilson made a record together I think it would sound something like this.
The opening track “Lathe in Reverse” acts as a decree almost: the songs that you will be hearing are simultaneously ancient, but are also the product of a modern mind. “Lathe in Reverse” is an autotuned, imperial jig. In fact, much of this album is spent juxtaposing various qualities of lavish, traditional court music and humble folk tropes.
Laughing boasts an impressive 21 tracks, and as mentioned before the record is quite eclectic (i.e., Cathcart jumps around a lot, stylistically speaking). The real ‘meat’ of the album, however, is comprised of hi-fi(ish) bluesy folk songs. Clocking in at just under one minute and thirty seconds, “Society of Men” is a standout track with its whimsical pacing and stream of consciousness lyrics, similar to that of something from last year’s Arthur Russell collection, Iowa Dream. “Parasite” is a glitched out blues tune, with a southern gothic tinge to it. Towards the end of the album we have the beautiful piano-led ballad (perhaps it’s a Rhodes) a la Todd Rundgren or Chris Cohen, “Eyes So Clear”. Each of these tracks offer a different flavor of folk and showcase how versatile Cathcart is as an artist.
Aside from the quaint, off-kilter acoustic guitar-driven folk songs, the album is littered with various lo-fi field recordings / sketches, as well minimal wave-esque interludes. For example, “Lost In The Glare” is reminiscent of a Tuxedomoon track during their Half-Mute & Desire era; it’s dark, ominous, primal and features processed sax and harmonica. “What’s Your Name,” on the other hand, reminds me of something one would hear in an Ethiopian restaurant (I promised myself I wouldn’t write that, but I guess I just did). There’s even a Steve Reich influence on a couple songs (see: “Jokes on You” & “Night Time”). Some of these interludes are more memorable than others, but so it goes.
Altogether, Laughing In My Sleep is a great foray into the work of The Cradle as it provides the listener with a taste of the variety of styles in which Cathcart likes to operate. No track overstays its welcome, each idea is fresh, and the record, as a whole, is cohesive and gives a glimpse into the creative process of the artist.