GOBBLE GOBBLE: a candy-kid rave on the scorched earth after the bomb drops

GOBBLE GOBBLE

MP3s:

Meteor Eschat

Alabaster Bodyworlds

High resolution photos:

photo one

photo two

Neon Graveyard lyrics:

page one

page two

GOBBLE GOBBLE on the web:

www.myspace.com/leatherjowels

www.sonicbids.com/GOBBLEGOBBLE

Like a reanimated turkey stalking the streets after nightfall, the music of GOBBLE GOBBLE is both hilarious and horrifying. Edmonton’s Cecil Frena is the wily mastermind behind this skewed science project of sound, and he’s now opened the gates to his debut album Neon Graveyard, released on limited-run cassette tape through Bart Records or available as a download. Across 11 songs, this alchemist of awesome has unleashed an eerily emotive amalgamation of video game bleeps, guitars that alternately undulate and crackle, field-recorded noise that announces itself in pulsating squalls, lush arrangements that crumble into tape hiss like dried flowers, and desiccate, otherworldly vocals. He describes it as “flu pop.”

“Flu pop expresses anxious celebration: having a full-on candy kid rave on the scorched earth after the bomb drops,” Frena explains. “I’m aiming for this to be like riding the Ring of Fire at your local carnival. The carny who is operating the machine is wearing sweatpants and has an erection that keeps brushing up against the machine’s knobs as he’s dancing to the ambient carnival music. You keep spinning faster and faster, and just start projectile vomiting, and you can’t stop.”

This sort of vivid surrealism and semi-confrontational humour is prevalent in the lyrics of GOBBLE GOBBLE as well. Through twisting turns of phrase and evocative imagery, Frena conjures pregnant ghosts, sacred dandruff and mountains of flesh, while repeatedly returning to the universal themes of death and dying. Fear not if you don’t understand on the first spin. The vocals have been carefully obfuscated by a seemingly impenetrable layer of fuzz, but like a lonely but articulate grandparent, they’re sure to reward with each return visit. If only grandma had a lyric sheet.

“My whole life, I’ve had a fantasy where I dictate the events of my funeral, and transform it suddenly from a time of solemnity and mourning into a kind of celebratory, absurdist theater that forces laughter,” he says. “I hope more than anything that this record will be awkward and emotionally dissonant for people — in a good way, a cathartic dissonance.”

In his Canadian hometown, Frena is highly involved in the local musical community, having founded DIY venue The Hydeaway All Ages Arts Space and the all-ages promotional collective Push Pins. Now, he's bringing his bizarre-o dance party to a town near you, with a jam-packed cross-Canada tour this summer. To help recreate his psychedelic visions live, he’s assembled a crack band of miscreants, complete with a collection of one-of-a-kind instruments.

“Exuberance is the founding principle of the GOBBLE GOBBLE live set,” Frena says. “For this tour, [the live band has] been carefully building [its] implements. A tree of garbage, a toy chest of circuit bent and monstrous toys, multi-generational Game Boys, hand-soldered monosynths, homemade noise makers, and I’ll be cutting things up and remixing live. We’re bringing the total spectacle out on the road with us.”

If you’d like to set up an interview with Cecil Frena or receive a review copy of Neon Graveyard, contact Jesse Locke at Heavy Vectors promotions: jesse [at] heavyvectors.com

Select press quotes:

"[A] crunchy and buzzy bird's nest of sound over which discernible and catchy melodies more than peek through — they fight for centre stage and win." – Bryan Birtles, Vue Weekly

“Imagine Radiohead's Kid A on some sort of acid-spiked Kool-Aid.” – Francois Marchand, The Edmonton Journal

“It’s the voice of a mummy, the voice of a dying toy robot, a voice without a trace of saliva or phlegm in it… decay was never this much fun.” – Paul Matwychuk, The Musicgoer

Tour Dates