Cake
Comfort Eagle
(Columbia Records)

Any band willing to take a risk with its sound deserves to be commended. On Cake’s newest album, the members continue to utilize their unique sound, complete with oddball percussion and lyrics like “onion-shaped hat.”

Fans of Cake will recognize the content without much problem. Lead singer John McCrea’s understated voice and lyrics rise above the steady beats, driving guitar and rumbling bass, along with a few convenient horns and trumpets. The album is no therapeutic session for the performers - the content relies on Cake favorites such as cars, girls and a few new topics like opera singers and Rick James.

It is the sound of the band that makes the album enjoyable. Nothing is overdone or taken for granted in the matter-of-fact way Cake progresses through the recording.

The album starts with the track “Opera Singer,” in which the band describes the life of an opera performer, complete with painted tape and loving fans.

Of course there is also the single “Short Skirt/Long Jacket” that has found its way to radio and MTV rotation. The song is the poppiest song of the 11 on the CD, and those picking up the album hoping for more of the same may be disappointed.

The band delivers a solid performance of the funky-yet-simple rock music that it has been perfecting during the course of its four albums. Cake’s ability to make heads bob while utilizing a steady, monotone vocal is testament to the fact that it has some idea of what it’s doing, especially because each album is better than the last.

The record is enjoyable and fun. Most of all, it is incredibly different from the bulk of what is found in record stores and on radio and television. Any band that can continue to make records while sticking to its guns with a sound like this is as good a reason to turn on the CD player as any listener will find for a while.