Death Cake Party is a weird and strange audio journey. Lee Earth created a sort of concept and theatrical album that is wide, expansive, and dense. The album reminds me of my first introduction to Cacophony. There’s a mix of styles and ideas that play off one another and it could have resulted in an album of noise. But Lee Earth created and presented a specific vision over the 10 songs.
“Mouth” is subterfuge. It makes you think that Death Cake Party is a simple indie rock album. But each subsequent song adds another layer to the album’s “cake.” And Lee Earth does it subtly. You don’t realize that you’re getting dragged into this universe.
“Soohee and Hwakyung” is an atmospheric musical ballad and an early sign that Death Cake Party is going to be different.
It’s clear that Lee Earth sorted the album in a specific order and required listeners to go through this album from start to finish. I don’t think you’d get the full color of Death Cake Party if you shuffled the songs around.
Also, the background tension increases. Lee Earth jumps to a new style on every song with a mix-and-match presentation. It’s hard to decide if the ballad-leaning or the indie-theater-leaning tracks are more addictive.
In the end, Death Cake Party’s almost 40-minute length provides a lot of music. It’s not a bad casual, surface-level listen, but if you’re willing to give the album your full attention, you’ll hear a lot under the surface.
I’m not sure if Lee Earth meant this as a full concept album, but it has all the elements and pushes them forward. It’s definitely an interesting album for the start of the year.
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Written by Chris P for Korean Indie.