Song Obsession of the Week: "No Wedding Cake" by Fol Chen

When people walk into the Paste office—assuming there's not a band playing in the Paste studio—they're often surprised by how quiet it is. Our space is wide open, so our staff is usually on headphones, since everyone needs to listen to different music. But often you come across a song you just have to play for the everyone around you. And sometimes, you just have to crank that song up, over and over again through the course of a week—no matter how many times Rachael gives you that look. Rather than keep interrupting my co-workers, I thought I'd start sharing those songs with you. I'll start with "No Wedding Cake" by Fol Chen, a quartet from Highland Park, Calif.

In the spirit of I'm From Barcelona, Loney Dear or Boy Least Likely To, Fol Chen employs all my favorite electro-fey devices: cheesy '80s keys, propulsive beats, sporadic strummy guitars that bounce between channels and, of course, xylophone. Beginning with understated, low-register vocals, the keeps building, layering on more instruments and even tossing in a key-change for good measure. Sadly, Fol Chen only flexes their pop chops twice on Part I: John Shade, Your Fortune's Made, the band's Ashtmatic Kitty debut, released Feb. 17—"No Wedding Cake" and "Cable TV" (which appears on Paste Sampler 51). Here's the "No Wedding Cake" video, directed by Los Angeles filmmaker Nancy Jean Tucker:


Fol Chen - No Wedding Cake from Asthmatic Kitty on Vimeo.