Grace’s Cradle by Mishkin Fitzgerald & The Chemical Perils: Album Review
Birdeatsbaby’s Mishkin Fitzgerald’s other band Mishkin Fitzgerald & The Chemical Perils’ Debut EP ‘Grace’s Cradle’ is a captivating blend of klezmer folk, jazz, country, and goth rock with a heavy dose of theatrics thrown in. From the very first note, this 9-track album keeps the listeners on the edge of their seats.
The opening track ‘Pink Elephant’ opens with an abrupt fiddle lick that quickly grabs the attention of the listener. The son soon grows into a grand musical blend of klezmer folk and jazz with its brass instrumentation and witty lyrics that sets the tone for the album. This carries on to the next track ‘Legs Broken’ with the introduction of Eastern European style melodies and instrumentation. The album takes a huge turn in sound with the third track, ‘Lou’s Song’. This piano-driven song features Mishkin’s airy vocals singing over cinematic melodies. ‘Blame’ is a call-and-respond duet that introduces a hint of rock. ‘I Only Get What You Give Me’ is a soaring emotional rock ballad. The album brings back the klezmer with the interlude ‘Bleat’ before changing the mood to melancholic with ‘Losing Susan’. The album brings back the folk klezmer surrealism with ‘Himaar Miyet’, a song about a donkey. Concluding the album is the title track ‘Grace’s Cradle’. This mellow piano-driven song is a perfect write-off to the album.
Captivating melodies, brilliant storytelling, and innovation in blending genres with theatrics, the album is a breath of fresh air in a sea of copy-paste sounds.
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Photo credits: Scott Chalmers
Review by: Gabe Finch