Album Notes

Straight from the heart and reminiscent of a smoky, French café. Guitarist and vocalist John Baker and accordionist Gayle Buckby create a seductive and potent world with compelling stories and lush instrumentation that carry the listener through elegant ballads, gypsy reggae and a lurching waltz in the rain at night.

2010/2011 sees the global release of their most anticipated album to date, ‘A Quartet for Car Horns and Brakes’, produced by Paul Grabowsky, who also features on piano.

John Baker is a storyteller; his songwriting is intimate, playful and poetic with an ambiguity that draws the listener in.

"I have always treasured great song writing, and after listening to The Baker Suites’ demo recordings I was struck by the depth and authenticity of the material. It harks back to great writers such as James Taylor, Jimmy Webb, Carole King or Burt Bacharach". Paul Grabowsky

“The rich, lush sound of the opening moments of this performance drew the audience in and held it until the standing ovation and cheers for more at the end. John Baker, who writes the songs, has a whispering, almost raspy, vocal style – think Leonard Cohen or Jack Johnson. His acoustic guitar is subtle, rhythmic and tasteful. Buckby gives the band her distinctive sound with her gloriously melancholic accordion”.
Jim Mack, The Independent Weekly

The Baker Suite – A Quartet For Car Horns And Brakes
By Adrian Miller, for SCALA Newsletter Spring 2009
"The Baker Suite introduced the songs from their yet-to-be completed second CD to the Adelaide audience in the Spiegeltent at the Fringe earlier this year. The augmented lineup included the album’s producer Paul Grabowsky sitting in on keyboards like a kindly uncle watching from the side. Liking what I was hearing I forked out for a pre-order copy. It’s been a long wait, but the CD has finally arrived, launched at the Promethean back on September 11. Again Mr Grabowsky was in attendance, adding many keyboard highlights but almost* never trying to dominate proceedings. *(in one exuberant moment in ‘The Rusty Falcon’ the pianist was enjoying an enthusiastic solo while the rest of the band were eyeing each other with a look of obvious panic – how long would they be able to hold it together??!)
It has been worth the wait – the CD is a gem!
The Baker Suite describe their music as ‘reminiscent of a smoky French café’, but it would be selling them short to imagine them as some kind of pastiche of a genre readily available in the easy listening racks. This description is only a starting point made easily because the key elements are the acoustic guitar of John Baker and the accordion of Gayle Buckby. However there is much more to it than that. Quietly spoken John Baker is a gifted storyteller, lyricist, guitarist and writer of memorable melodies. His soft vocal style was never going to require loud and brash accompaniment. The accordion is a perfect choice, so much so that The Baker Suite often perform just as a duo. But rich colours are added to the CD with acoustic bass, drums, violas, electric guitar and loops, as well as the icing on the cake, the inimitable jazz piano of Paul Grabowsky.
The CD starts gently with ‘A Rush of Light’, a low-key but lovely ballad with a romantically poetic lyric.
Fragments of a broken melody
Get washed up on the shores of memory
I think of how you sailed far out of reach
Oh so long ago
Gorgeous, but in case this song gives the impression that this will be an album for cosy candle-lit dinners (I would have been tempted to open with the more uptempo “When Darkness Falls”) the pace is quickly picked up in the second track with the infectious rhythm of “Caravans”. Everyone on the dance-floor please!
The title track is an oddly quirky but tender love song about one of those special moments in a relationship – having to collect an inebriated partner from the pub after an end of year party. Battling the elements and traffic, searching for an elusive taxi. Can there be greater love than this?
“Life is a balancing act/living with me taught you that.”
Set in waltz time this song reminds me of those country dances I attended in my youth and so for me is one of the highlights of the album.
The album peaks for me just after half way with standout tracks “Could I Be Wrong?” and “Armies of the Night”. The former is an edgy Gotan Project-ish tango about nightmares and ‘earthquakes in my sleep’. The arrangement allows each instrument to add something to the haunting mood of the piece. Definitely not background music. Then in a brilliant piece of programming the next song ambles in with a lazy cowboy swagger to sweep away the tension of the previous track. While the singer tells another story about life in a small country town, there is an impossible to resist singalong chorus and a delightful accordion riff sure to make this song a popular favourite.
Twelve tracks which reward repeated listening. There are no dud tracks. The only jarring note for me was a solo in “Shake off the Dust” – not the notes played, but the sound setting used suggests that it may have escaped from a jazz fusion album and sits incongruously with the rest of the CD. Very minor niggle aside, this is an outstanding album sure to bring a lot of listening pleasure".


The Baker Suite, A Quartet For Car Horns And Brakes (Independent)
By Matt Reiner, Quiet Pop Issue 2.
"Their Myspace page describes The Baker Suite and their music as coming ‘straight from the heart and reminiscent of a smoky French Café. This little explanation hits the mark, but as is so often the case with great acts, words become limited when trying to make tangible a musical experience that somehow transcends the listener to another world. Quite simply, The Baker Suite is a first class act and ‘A Quartet For Car Horns and Brakes’ is nothing short of a triumph.
As a follow up to the debut 2006 ‘Slow Music’ this new album displays the deft touch of song-writing maestro John Baker superbly accompanied by piano accordion player Gayle Buckby. The two form a solid core around which other musicians contribute in a tasteful manner. ‘Quartet’ is a step up on all levels. The songs are wonderfully written, the instrumentation is equally great and the production is flawless – helped in no small way by Paul Grabowsky (who also contributes with piano and vibraphone).
The album begins with the breezy ‘Rush of Light’ that shows the wonderful vocal interplay between Baker and Buckby while also highlighting the astuteness of John Baker as a lyricist. ‘Caravans’ is dance-ful, even gypsy-like in its moments. ‘Older Than Time’ continues the melody-ridden odes of sublime other-worldliness. The title track ‘ A Quartet For Car Horns And Brakes’ is an urban love song of devotion and companionship, which for me is the finest moment of the record. Such beauty!
‘When Darkness Falls’ moves along with a vibrant shuffle accompanied by some interesting reversed instrumentation towards the end of the track. ‘Armies of the Night’ starts in a very understated manner before the rest of the band kicks in to produce a cowboy-riding-into-the-distant-horizon kind of vibe, which is topped off by some tinkering of the ivories by Paul Grabowsky. It really is good. ‘Shake Off The Dust’ has an intricate guitar introduction reminiscent of Nick Drake before some swirling snare brushwork as BJ Barker brings the rest of the band into play. The final track ‘The Rusty Falcon’ builds from a sweet ballad and slowly transforms into a jazzy piano driven odyssey featuring the handiwork of Grabowsky. The track then suddenly swings back to the simple chord play of Baker and the sustained notes of Buckby’s piano accordion – leaving the listener in a state of wonder at the quality of musicianship and the joy which this brings.
I am yet to meet anyone who has not been moved and captivated by The Baker Suite in a live setting. The music has a proselytizing effect. It is soothing and pleasing to the average punter and to the musicians – the level of musical sophistication is all too clear. The recent launch for ‘Quartet’ at The Promethean Theatre in Adelaide was a sell-out with the venue at absolute capacity. The crammed venue witnessed something very special – a real gift that has been brilliantly translated to record format in this release. Magnifique!"