Malolo (2002) – My Friend the Chocolate Cake

When I first wanted to present today’s featured track as I reached the “M” section of the music library project, Malolo wasn’t even available for sharing online. Now it is. Hurrah! Anyone familiar with this blog will know what an ardent fan I am of the Australian pop-chamber group My Friend the Chocolate Cake. Their founder, vocalist, and songwriter David Bridie is, hands down, my favourite Australian singer-songwriter. Both the band’s work and Bridie’s solo material have appeared here so often I’ve run out of new photos of the group to copy and am now recycling them.

Despite my adoration for them, the love has never quite been reciprocated – not by the wider public (at least in a commercial sense), nor by readers of this blog – and that’s fine – sometimes that’s how it goes. I’m sure many of you have experienced that feeling when something you adore doesn’t ignite the same spark in others. Anyhows, Bridie lived in Melbourne’s inner-north suburbs, where I also lived between 2005 and 2009. I saw them perform a bunch of times around town and even got to chat with them between sets – a massive thrill for a newbie fan.

Such is their prolific presence in my music collection that rarely a day passes without hearing at least one of their songs – or one of David’s solo pieces. I’m always a happy camper when their music starts playing; I know my listening senses will be fully engaged and that I’ll come out the other side somehow more enlightened and invigorated. Their songs manage to coax out every ounce of the romantic pessimist in me. Malolo comes from The Cake’s album Curious (image inset), a record I hold so dear that nearly every song on it will end up here.

The first time I ever heard David Bridie perform was in Melbourne at a 2002 concert with his friend, the late great Archie Roach. I was there with my ex, mainly to see Archie – whose music I’ve always loved and still do. Then this guy I’d never heard of – Bridie – takes to the piano and begins More Heart Than Me, which, ironically, closes Curious. He sang, “She comes every morning at least three times,” and I turned to Susan and said, “Who the f%&k is this guy?” I was floored then, and I still am today. Even more curious (wink, wink), just a few days later we received the Curious CD in the mail as a thank-you gift for attending the show.

And yes, I still have that CD. I played it to death – not because it was a gift (though that was lovely), but because it contains such evocative, atmospheric, and progressive music. I’ve never grown tired of it; on the contrary, it keeps improving with age like a fine vintage wine. Curious is restrained yet deeply ambient, with an alluring sense of intimacy and transcendence.

Today’s song, Malolo, is a beautiful lament for a person by that name. I don’t know if it’s based on someone real – perhaps an asylum seeker in Nauru or someone awaiting their refugee status in Australia – since Bridie takes a jab at then – Prime Minister John Howard, referring to him as “egghead.” This could be an allusion to the Tampa Affair of 2001, when Howard’s government turned back a ship of asylum seekers, sparking national controversy. Bridie also addressed the issue more directly on his solo album Hotel Radio, particularly in Nation (Of the Heartless Kind) and Safety Haven – both terrific songs in their own right.

I can’t help but be swayed by Bridie’s music and the worlds he creates, even when my own politics don’t fully align with his. Only David himself can reveal who Malolo truly is – but until then, I’m happy just to listen and wonder.

Your head’s light and breezy but your thinking is slow
Everything’s just wait a little bit not go go go
The sun shimmer it’s a lazy one it burns on your skin
You’re smooth loose and tired now it’s beginning to kick in

Malolo don’t you care less for the things that they say
Malolo

The big sky on top of the deep sea below
They join there in the middle it’s as far as it goes
You wait here for hours but you don’t mind a bit
The bus that you’re waiting for won’t come til next week
And when it arrives you may find there’s no seat

Malolo don’t you care less for the things that they say
Malolo malolo stay

The fishing boats huddle close out on the bay
The Egg Head prime minister he’s a long way away
And nothing like him is going to ruin your day
Just wait for the rain to come

Malolo don’t you care less for the thing that they say
Malolo malolo stay