The Secret Life Of The Wife Of The Captain Of The Ship In A Bottle On The Mantle Piece

Caz Mechanic

Big Potato

2008-03-03

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Caz Mechanic is Caroline Banks of Seafood and Sleeping States fame and The Secret Life Of The Wife Of The Captain Of The Ship In A Bottle On The Mantle Piece is her debut long-player. Caz’s vocals and work across guitar and piano, melodica and even kazoo forms the basis of the music here but she generally receives accompaniment from an assortment of musicians and vocalists — though she also often joins herself on multi-tracked vocal lines.

The mood is varied on the record, with bright and sunny, upbeat folk and pop songs interspersed with softer, emotion-tinged, minor-key numbers. The style also switches between the loose and casual (as in the Kimya Dawson-style folk of “Beat In Here”), sometimes verging on abstract (see “Elephant Song” — and listen to its lyrics) to the very focused and together (like the great pop balladry of “Cold Black Eyes” or the Beatles-isms of “Smell of last night”).

the innocence and whimsy is brushed away to reveal more of an edge

The title track and others such as “if I see a Bear”, “5 knights” and “crocodile” show the album at its summery best — with bouncing beats and instruments. But on the other side of the coin the darker or more contemplative moods drift in to tracks like “Go Home” and “buried under sea”, where the innocence and whimsy is brushed away to reveal more of an edge — the emotion of the former track aided by a latin brass-style accompaniment. Aiding the feel of variety even more so, in the middle of the album sits “Can’t Help Yourself”, a song which starts intimate with quiet guitar and close, multi-layered vocals which starts to pick up with a repeating vocal and synth riff and develops into a long, drawn-out slow. instrumental build. 

The Secret Life Of The Wife Of The Captain Of The Ship In A Bottle On The Mantle Piece is perhaps better when more focused, though perhaps more interesting when casual, and though is an interesting prospect throughout as a whole doesn’t quite get to where you want it to. It works as a statement of intent though, or more a prospect for the future — Caz Mechanic is by no means just Caroline Banks the drummer from Seafood, however, this solo project just isn’t yet anywhere near the heights reached as part of her former band.