Casper and the Cookies - Oh!
Hailing from Athens, Georgia, Casper & the Cookies have been hard at work creating their own peculiar brand of power pop since the late ‘90s. They tirelessly test new waters in their songwriting and sonic pallet. Jason NeSmith (aka Casper Fandango, ex- Of Montreal) shares writing and recording duties with Kay Stanton. Drummer Davy Gibbs and a rotating cast of unsavory characters round out the lineup.Casper & the Cookies have shared the stage with Pylon, The Rosebuds, Of Montreal, Elekibass, The Essex Green, Marshmallow Coast, Dressy Bessy, and Elf Power.
1. Triumphant Snow
2. Cockle
3. Adding Up
4. Wisteria
5. A Narrow Escape
6. Bambu
7. Infant Creation
8. Cesar Chavez
9. Intermission
10. O Mar
11. Mi Om Scale
12. Away With Birds
13. A Brave Return
14. Party Stoppers
15. Magic Hour
16. Wo
Casper and the Cookies - Oh! (CD) £8.00
It’s not a concept album, maybe it’s a song cycle. Each song exists around a different protagonist who longs for companionship. Sometimes he is desperate for a friend but cannot overcome obstacles, like in ‘Summer Spider’. Maybe he’s not alone but should be; see ‘Sneaky Snake’. Has it, doesn’t have it, shouldn’t have it, imagines it, has it maybe too good, doesn’t expect it but gets it anyway, we try to run the gamut of emotions here. But even the darkest situation in this collection of songs isn’t without a tiny glint of hope. There’s even one instance where the protagonist is the music, and the companion is the listener. “It’s a thrill to be playing over your stereo/ In stereo./ Thank you for letting me out…/ I can’t grant your wishes/ I just make a pretty sound.” (‘Your Stereo’)
The song-by-song breakdown
1. Your Stereo: This track literally greets the listener to the record and makes some important disclaimers.
2. Take It Away, Kathy: The ‘Kathy’ in this song isn’t necessarily a woman. It could be any addiction that suffocates you. I suspect that for this man it’s an unhealthy religious obsession.
3. Equal Thomas Ford: A grindy pop song about the ultimate imaginary friend. He gets to do all the things you’re not allowed to, including ride his Big Wheels bike through the sky.
4. Sneaky Snake: A cautionary tale using characters from different animal kingdoms that do not belong together. This one is autobiographical.
5. Oh!: A celebration of the heart’s trials and tribulations incorporating as many playground chants as we could remember.
6. Summer Spider: More animals. This song really says enough without any further elaboration. I’m very proud of this melody, even if I had to mug Brian Wilson to get it.
7. Bubblewing Park: I woke up one morning laughing and singing this song. Since it’s a song taken from a dream it’s only fitting that it be an escapist’s anthem.
8. Every Brown Haired Girl: An old forgotten song by my war buddy, Don Condescending, main songwriting muscle for the Shut-Ups. I’m not sure he intended this interpretation, but it seems like the girl’s flippant response to her infidelity leads to the slow collapse of the boy’s sense of distinction between all people. It has a rare sort of doomed whimsy. Not only is it a great tune, but the lost practice of covering songs written by your contemporaries hearkens back to when Nilsson covered Randy Newman, George Harrison covered Dylan, and so on.
9. My Heart is in My Head: I dreamt that Kay was in a car crash and the only thing that survived was her head. So I carried her everywhere I went, and we occasionally freaked people out by making out in public. Kay wrote some lyrics in response to this disturbingly pleasant dream. Then we got in a real life car crash (see Summer Spider), so we left the song alone for a couple of years. I think we’re safe now, but if we’re ever in a car with you and seem uncomfortable, this is why.
10. Mrs. Ford: I tried to write a love song from a young man to an aging Mary Ford, but the lyrics sucked. It could be a musical description of Equal Thomas’ mother, but it’s really the theme from Bel*Air Heights. What you hear is a recording of our back yard with the instrumental track being played back in our guest room. I recorded it twice, once slowed-down and once sped-up, and used them both. So the reverberation from the room and all those birds you hear are not at their natural pitch, but the music is.
11. Barnacle Bill the Sailor: This is a song simultaneously about my grandfather, the Mars Pathfinder mission, and elaboration on an old sea chantey. The Cookies version of the original sea chantey was supposed to go on this album so we could have two different songs with the same name, but it didn’t happen that way.
12. Yer Birthday: Yet another dream song. It’s good that they don’t have copyright law in dreamland, or I’d be screwed. This was a birthday present to Kay, even though she helped write it. The title is a combination of the first two songs on side three of the White Album.
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Cherryade Records