The Jimmy Cake - Brains The Jimmy Cake

Available on vinyl for the first time, the 2001 debut album from The Jimmy Cake.

The Jimmy Cake formed in Dublin at the turn of the century as a nine-piece, building accordion, clarinet, saxophone, glockenspiel, trumpet and DIY percussion around guitars, bass and drums. Brains came out on their own Pilatus label in 2001 and moved between folk, post-rock and something harder to name across five tracks. It was one of the fastest-selling independent Irish releases of the year. Reviewers called it “mind-blowing” and “spellbinding”, and The Irish Times wrote, “despite the multitude of cooks, the broth tastes damn fine.” Its influence can be heard in many of the bands that followed.

The band came together in early 2000 with a gig booked and nothing to play. “We had no songs and no real idea what we were doing,” says bassist Dip. “We sat around looking at each other, just hoping something would happen.” Something did. Jürgen Simpson, who joined on accordion soon after, was in the audience for that first gig. “The music was just not at all what I was expecting. It was this rigorous, unsentimental, patient, really beautiful thing.” Within months they were in the studio. Multi-instrumentalist and producer Diarmuid MacDiarmada says most Irish records of the time just tried to capture the live band, and he wanted Brains to have a “grand, imaginative space”. The band recorded it in November 2000, only six months after they first played together. “I love that you can hear us just on the cusp of being able to play this stuff,” says Jürgen.

Shawn Joseph remastered the album at Optimum Mastering in Bristol. It is pressed on heavyweight double gatefold vinyl, the first time Brains has been released on vinyl. An extra side gathers material from the period, including recordings from the band’s rehearsal MiniDiscs, a track released only on a 7-inch single and another that only appeared on a compilation.