4 out of 5

Label: Capricorn

Produced by: John McCrea

It sounds like Cake, so you know what you’re going to get, yes?  …So goes the criticism.  And yet, so many bands with better critical reception have pulled similar tricks (especially a group to which Cake, soundwise, gets compared: Soul Coughing).  It seemed like the seeming ease with which McCrea and crew sidled into single territory with ‘The Distance’ invited a lot of ire (including my own at the time), especially given the group’s winky, self-aware stance.  Several years and albums would have to happen before the reviews relented and admitted that the group was more than a flash-in-the-pan.

Yes, McCrea has a very recognizable speak-sing vocalization.  And the production has always been in-house, which allows the songs and clean sound to ring familiar.  I think it’s more that Cake – from Fashion Nugget forward – presented itself nigh fully-formed.  It’s what the group wanted to sound like, they’re good at it, and so they’ve kept producing songs in that fashion.  Which doesn’t at all mean that there hasn’t been growth over the years, or that ‘Prolonging the Magic’ doesn’t have some smile-worthy surprising touches.  And by the same token, I don’t feel like these are clockwork releases.  ‘Magic’ bristles with energy and a snarky honesty in McCrea’s apparent attempt at (according to the Allmusic review) writing love songs like ‘Hem of Your Garment.’  There are some alt-rock, dated missteps, like the fuzz on ‘Cool Blue Reason,’ and there certainly are some stock tracks that just sound like lazy pop tracks – ‘Alpha-Beta Parking Lot’ – but these are truly exceptions on the album.  Opener ‘Satan is My Motor’ is super fun, while the dusty, Calexico-esque followup ‘Mexico’ is a subtle treat.  You still get some fantastic, polished singles (‘Sheep Go to Heaven’) and impressive productions like ‘Never There’ or ‘When You Sleep,’ with that sweet meeting of keys and horns.

It’s true enough to say that if you like Cake (…the band), then you’ll be happy with this disc.  And the opposite is true as well.  Though that statement matches with the criticism of more-of-the-same, ‘Prolonging’ has a distinctly lighter, almost sweeter sense to it than other Cake productions, without sacrificing the pop rock skills that rightfully shot their single/s onto the charts.