There’s a line on John Cale’s latest EP Extra Playful that seems to sum up his attitude to music, “You were hopefully looking for perfection”. It’s something he seems to have been searching for during his half a decade as a recording artist, from his classical training to his more experimental rock. As he approaches the elder statesman age of 70, he certainly isn’t calling off the search.Unlike some of his contemporaries who rely on their glory years to sustain their careers, Cale has instead continued to push forward, producing some of his best solo work in the last decade. Extra Playful follows that trend; in the space of just 5 tracks he turns his attention to a variety of different styles, thereby delivering an ideal appetiser for a full-length album in 2012.
