The Jimmy Cake Return to Dublin: 25 Years of Brains and the Art of Staying Curious
After nearly a decade of silence, Dublin's own nine-piece sonic collective, The Jimmy Cake, is set to grace the National Concert Hall stage this November. The occasion is the 25th anniversary of their seminal debut album, Brains, which they will perform in full. It's a homecoming that feels less like a nostalgia trip and more like a reaffirmation of a singular, restless spirit that has always defined Irish experimental music.
Formed in the late 1990s, the band announced their arrival with Brains, a sprawling work that blended accordion, clarinet, saxophone, glockenspiel, trumpet, and DIY percussion around a core of guitars, bass, and drums. They went on to release lauded efforts such as 2002's Dublin Gone. Everybody Dead and 2008's Spectre and Crown, before later albums Master (2015) and Tough Love (2017).
Parallel to his work with the band, pianist, synthesist, and graphic designer Paul G Smyth has carved out a reputation as a singular voice in Europe's improvised music scene, collaborating with luminaries such as Derek Bailey, Evan Parker, Peter Brötzmann, and Keiji Haino. We asked Paul to share his cultural compass, and his answers are as reflective and grounded as you'd expect from a man who has spent decades listening closely.
What films are haunting Paul G Smyth right now?
“I'm being quietly haunted by a film from 2019 called I'm No Longer Here,” he says. Written and directed by Fernando Frías de la Parra, it follows an exiled Mexican teenager obsessed with slowed-down cumbia music, struggling to adapt in New York after fleeing cartel violence. “There's something unspoken in it that has held me since and I don't know what it is. 'I think I know what it is,' my wife said recently as she left the room. That's helpful, isn't it?”
In other film news, Andrei Tarkovsky's Nostalghia remains his favourite film of all time. And when he last watched Cinema Paradiso, he cried during the opening credits, much to the amusement of his children. “The actual opening credits,” he laughs.
What music is on heavy rotation at home?
“My listening habits are both constant and scattered, as they always have been,” Smyth reflects. “In times of great upheaval, I retreat to the classics. In this house that means a lot of Burning Spear, Culture's Harder Than The Rest, the first B-52's album, Alice Coltrane, Murray Perahia playing Bach's French Suites, and Sleep's Dopesmoker.”
For newer sounds, he points to John Butcher's ongoing Last Dream of the Morning trio, and Barker's Stochastic Drift, an electronic record that “manages to have all these icy cold surfaces and yet feel like a living, breathing thing.” Guitarist Sean Shibe's Lost and Found is also recommended, while a recent drive with David Kitt reminded him of the enduring greatness of the Wu-Tang Clan's Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). And with a newborn in the house, Alabaster DePlume's To Cy and Lee has taken on a new, profound significance.
What books are on the bedside table?
He has just finished Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves and enjoyed it thoroughly. Now, on a tip from David Kitt, he's working through Anthony Cronin's Dead As Doornails, an account of madcap hangs with Brendan Behan, Patrick Kavanagh, and Brian O'Nolan. “The drinking started in earnest on page one and shows no signs of letting up yet. How he remembered any of it is a mystery or a miracle.”
As for David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest, he insists it's not hard, just long. “My wife tells me I have a talent for finding potentially enjoyable things and ruining them by making them really difficult. She also refers to the book pile here as my Dead White Men Collection. She's great.”
What theatre has left a mark?
Smyth admits his engagement with theatre hasn't been what he'd like, but certain experiences have been transformative. “Any encounter I was lucky enough to have with the work of Robert Wilson has been transformative. If money was no object, I would love to go to Paris in November for Romeo Castellucci's production of Faust in the Odéon.” He recalls Castellucci's 2000 production Genesi at the Dublin Theatre Festival: “It broke all of our heads. You'd be shook, like.”
What TV is worth plugging back in for?
“I've kind of plugged the TV out here for a bit,” he says. But he has high praise for Netflix's 2018 series Maniac with Jonah Hill and Emma Stone, calling it “crazy and brave storytelling that was really smart and still managed to be funny.” Donald Glover's Atlanta gets the same recommendation, as does the captivating Top Boy.
Which gigs have been unforgettable?
Fever Ray in Amsterdam in 2024 “humbled me beyond all reason. Totally humiliating to watch as an artist, in my favourite way.” Closer to home, a new hobby is trying not to cry at a Lisa O'Neill show, and failing. Junior Brother opened the last one, sounding like “Captain-Beefheart-plays-Planxty.” My Bloody Valentine twice in one week was a dream come true last year.
Vinnie from The Jimmy Cake promotes gigs as Enthusiastic Eunuch, with a rake of great shows coming up. Smyth picks Marisa Anderson at The Cobblestone, Slovenian avant-folk band Širom at Arthur's, both in September, and Trá Pháidín at The Button Factory in December.
What art and tech is catching the eye?
He recommends Emma Roche's knitted paintings, like Whatcha Doing Again (2026), which captures the chaos of parenting. Sheila Rennick's paintings are “full of action, hyper, exciting and very real.” He also loves John Graham's meditative grid drawings and would gladly accept a massive Diana Copperwhite painting. “Diana, if you're reading this, I can send you my Eircode.”
His favourite thing on the internet is Lost World Radio, a “music appreciation society disguised as a radio station.” And on hardware, he's ready for the minidisc revival. “C'mon. Chop chop.”
Who is the next big thing?
“Late to the party, I only heard Rachael Lavelle's album earlier this year and it knocked me sideways,” he says. With a new album on the way, he's betting on her. “She deserves every good thing that will inevitably come her way. Check out Big Dreams for a deeply moving piece of art pop.”
The Jimmy Cake perform Brains as part of the NCH landmarks series on Saturday 28 November. It's a rare chance to see a band that has always followed its own strange, beautiful path, and to celebrate a quarter-century of music that refuses to sit still.