Monday, April 13, 2009 MAKING MUSIC WITH CHUNGKING
An unofficial sequel to Feist’s Let It Die
Photo: www.myspace.com/chungking20
MP3: Chungking - “Making Music” (from The Hungry Years, 2005)
nbeknownst to me until a couple minutes ago, this blog’s been a straight-up sausage party. Since Make-Out Music’s January inception, I’ve accidentally forgotten about our female counterparts. So, in the name of Equal Opportunity, today the ladies get their due with a trio from Brighton known as Chungking.
Chungking came onto my radar in 2005 when their second LP, The Hungry Years, was released. At the time I was still flirting with Feist’s Let It Die and I viewed The Hungry Years as its unofficial sequel. Both LPs bore smokey white girls who knew their Jazz. As it turned out, The Hungry Years was better than Feist’s official follow-up, The Reminder, which was a boring, predictable romp through Apple-friendly monotony.
“Making Music,” Hungry Years’ first single, is a classy ode to a dreaming debutante’s favorite comfort zone. The piano-clad song creeps along with a frightful violin and sparse horns until it dips into a huge soulful chorus, following singer Jessie Banks’ blissful exclamation: “I just want to cry / so help me along to where I belong / here I’m safe and sound…making music.” 
