Album "Ultrabliss"

Mother’s Cake focus on a free anti-rock show

Retreaded and with a great desire to experiment: The Tyrolean rock collective Mother's Cake.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Embassy Of Music, Benjamin Thomes)

Progressive hard rock from Austria: Mother's Cake's new studio album "Ultrabliss" is being released these days. The band's fifth album marks the beginning of a new chapter, which is unmistakable, according to the pre-announcement. The group has largely freed itself from song-structural constraints and peppered its songs with jams. In terms of sound, synth swathes, kraut beats, hard rock and a funky discourse meet Brit-pop in the style of Franz Ferdinand.

"I was actively involved in this whole 2008 indie era, the new album has a lot of these vibes," says singer, guitarist and song architect Yves Krismer, who is just as enthusiastic about the classics of the 60s and 70s from the Beatles to Jimi Hendrix, as quoted in the press release. Another influence was Stanley Kubrick: the ten-minute opener "Clockwork" borrows the main musical motif from the cult film "A Clockwork Orange". Mother's Cake are happy to incorporate a few "Easter eggs" - for example, at some point you can even hear a reference to the NDW hit "Eisbär" by Grauzone.

Dissolving the classic structures
Krismer on Mother's Cake's approach to the production of "Ultrabliss": "This time we didn't think so much about the songwriting. Simply because I would like to dissolve these classic structures of verse, bridge and chorus more and more, so that the songs have more of a free flow. Similar to the musical experience you have when you go to a club."

While bassist Benedikt Trenkwalder was unexpectedly prevented from recording due to illness and Arthur Darnhofer-Demar stood in for him, founding drummer Jan Haußels left the band on good terms after the end of the album sessions and after 14 years together. A successor has already been found in Alex Kerbl.

Tour through Austria
Next year, the band will be going on tour: on April 4 in Dornbirn (Conrad Sohm), on April 5 in Innsbruck (Treibhaus), on April 12 in Vienna (Arena) and on April 25 in Neusserling (Noppen Air). The musicians want to do without frippery at the gigs and prefer to concentrate on the music. "That's why we're doing more of an anti-rock show," says Krismer.