Free Cake For Every Creature

GENRE: folk/pop LABEL: DOUBLE DOUBLE WHAMMY

At the age of 22, I am at the stage in my life where I am roughly teetering between the stages of uncompromising adulthood and the inscrutability of being a young kid. I’m required to make my own doctors appointments and I drink black coffee, but yet I pick the tomatoes off my sandwich and my mom still offers to do my laundry when I’m home. 

No one has captured the minimal obscurities of everyday life and the inconsistent feelings of getting older such as Katie Bennett and her project called Free Cake For Every Creature. The Philly based soft pop group released their album Talking Quietly of Anything With You in 2016. With a runtime barely over 20 minutes, the album goes through a collection of tracks that soothe and excite the listener, almost like a soundtrack to their own life. On this album, Katie leaned into textures of warmth with her soft voice that almost resembles a close friend whispering to you. Her voice, mixed with the playfulness of her bandmates, make even the catchiest pop songs seem like a closely guarded playground secret. 

 I didn’t find this album until I was 21 years old. This could not have come at a better time. Not only was it fun to have a giggle with my friends when I told them my new favorite band was called Free Cake For Every Creature, there was something about this album in particular that really resonated with me. What I found to be a common theme throughout this album is that it is okay to be unsure about where you’re at in life.

Most pop songs are upfront with how the writer is feeling. Love songs brag about hopeless romantics drooling over their latest attraction and presenting their dream life. Sad songs hold no question as to what emotion is being told. With Katie’s music, she tells us that she doesn’t know what she’s feeling. In her writing she focuses on the miniscule details of the world around her to cement herself in the present rather than worrying about an overarching situation or emotion. 

Lyrically this whole album tells the story of a young adult figuring things out. On the title track, “Talking Quietly of Anything With You”, Katie sings, “we’re not old/but we’re getting older”. This line in and of itself can strike fear in any twenty-something year olds in the midst of a PBR induced all-sharing hangout session. Sitting with a pal and talking about the future and rehashing the days of past laughs and stories. Scientifically speaking, you’re not old at the age of 21, but, fuck, does it feel strange to think of getting older? Following that mini-crisis, the following track happens to be when Katie slows down and takes a breath with you. She sings, “All You Gotta Be When You’re 23 is Yourself”, assuring stability in knowing who you are and where you’re at in life. At 23, it’s okay to be a part-time artist and part time Whole Foods grocery bagger. It’s okay to walk three miles in no direction just for fun. It’s okay to move to a new city and go out wearing funny clothes and make friends with other people wearing funny clothes. You have time at 23. 

When I first came across Free Cake and Talking, I was madly in love. The type of young love where you don’t even know what to do with yourself.  It seems too big to comprehend and place it into one person. The song “For You”, takes a leap of faith into interpreting what it means to be in love. Katie puts focus on the tiny, silly things you do when you’re in this state of tenderness. Instead of the generic and muddled expressions of sexual attraction, Katie sings about saving the brownie from her TV dinner for her love, or writing a “shitty poem on the wall of a dressing room at JCPenney”. She then goes into the reoccurring dream of any two young lovers of leaving town together, committing crimes, and being on the run. But in Katie’s world, this consists of stealing a 50 cent machine and living a life hiding from authorities and surviving off of gumballs. Her view of love turns this scary concept into a simplified, almost childish, game of enjoying life with the person you like like a lot. 

Since finding this album, I have gone through major life changes. My long term relationship ended and I graduated from college with no idea on what to do next. It might be cliché to say that I have found comfort in Katie Bennett’s music, but it couldn’t be more true. Taking a step back and focusing on the miniscule parts of life that you find joy in is the only way of surviving change, as well as, family, friends, enemies, school, jobs, and acts of god. What better way to go about that than a collection of soft pop songs singing about kissing your crush with margarita lips or doodling chubby cows in your journal.

By : Shea Roney

Free Cake For Every Creature Information:

• https://freecakeforeverycreature.bandcamp.com/
• https://dbldblwhmmy.com/store/free_cake_for_every_creature