Belfast dream-pop duo, Beauty Sleep, made up of Cheylene Murphy and Ryan McGroarty, release their second album, The Whole Damn Cake on October 17th via Alcopop! Records. The long-awaited album comes after a period of intense emotion and self-discovery for the band, and presents 13 tracks, each with their own unique encouragement and power.
The album’s opener, “Up for Air” builds from a serene sadness into a powerful opener that acts as a transition from “holding onto fear” to “moving on cuz nothing ever stays.” The track sets the tone for embracing change and all of the different emotions that are explored throughout the rest of the album. “You (You’re All I Wanted)” immediately follows, and acts as a parallel conversation between the past and future self. The bridge of the track is among the album’s most powerful and energetic moments, saying “Don’t give up on the life you’ve chosen/ you’re waiting just for me.”
“We Don’t Talk About It” switches main vocalist from Ryan McGroarty to Cheylene Murphy for a more romantic track about queer love and sexual freedom. In the song, Murphy finds power in doing whatever she wants, singing “It stops me in my tracks, oh lord I’m getting…/ a pull from deep within urging me to give in.” The track is followed by “Big + Bad.” One of the album’s singles, the track begins with a muffled audio clip from an old tv show, then goes into imagery, fittingly, of the big bad wolf: “Flex your muscles, bare your teeth/ Whatever you need to hide beneath.”
Track five, “Radical Happiness,” comes straight out of a video game, with its otherworldly production and Murphy’s flowing vocals. The chorus of this track “I’m all that you want/ I’m all that you need” serves as a thesis for the album as a whole. Beauty Sleep is The Whole Damn Cake: Confident and happy and proud. The album’s sixth track, “Unfamiliar” revolves around feelings that aren’t at all unfamiliar: going through the same cycles and feeling the same negative feelings towards others and yourself. Throughout the song, Ryan McGroarty yearns for a feeling that’s unfamiliar and better.
“No Fever Ever Lasts” takes on a much edgier sound, with a prominent electric guitar. The track opens with the lines “When I fall in step/ With an aching in my chest/ I want to move it forward and fast.” These lines position this song as one of the album’s angrier tracks, aimed at the need for creative freedom in a competitive and sometimes suffocating industry. “No Fever Ever Lasts” also holds a valuable place in the album as an anchor for the hopes and dreams of its neighboring tracks. "Send it out to Sea,” by refreshing contrast, is the lightest-sounding track. With its simplistic piano and vocal progression, the track feels like the wind flowing through your hair and getting to a place of feeling increasingly at peace with yourself.
“Keep Your Eyes Up” continues the dreamy sound of the previous track, but in a much heavier and more atmospheric way. Instead of floating along, the track completely engulfs the listener in its calm embrace of emotions. The song is an optimistic motion forward, with lines like “Just keep your eyes up/ And believe/ The best parts are still coming through.” “Keep Your Eyes Up” is one of the album’s undeniable high points. The following track, “Stars,” far from fumbles that previously established energy. Bright and hopeful, the track embodies a metaphor of neurodivergent people being connected with each other like constellations.
“Am I Real?” begins with a stark change of pace from the rest of the album, with Murphy’s spoken-word lyrics replacing her previously calming and ethereal voice. The track seeks to ground both Murphy and its listeners who question their own existence and validity. When stable structures of daily life are taken away, Murphy uses this song to question, panic, evaluate, and calm. Track 12, “Big Sky,” is a thank you card and forehead kiss to life and all of its good moments. Lines like “I see a sparkle in our eye” and “all at once there’s so much freedom” are a tribute to how much friends and a simple good night can change one’s entire perception of their life and produce so much gratitude.
The album closes with “Take A Look Back,” which uses its position at the end of the album to encourage taking a look back at all of its feelings and acknowledge that the story is not over. It also prompts listening to the album again to go back to all of those feelings, good and bad. Throughout this album, McGroarty and Murphy use each track as a dwelling place for a story or an emotion, whether that be seeking to stay rooted in its joys and attempting to grow past it. They do all of this with a comforting voice and style, allowing listeners to feel every track for themselves.
The full album, The Whole Damn Cake, is set to release October 17th across all platforms. Read more about the album and the journey that led to it in our previous interview with the band.
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