This is The Sea And Cake's debut album, and their second best album next to their sophomore effort "The Biz". I've been a fan of this band for years and own three of their albums which is a minor disappointment since they have seven. I forgot how I got into this group, I think I was just typing in random things on allmusic.com and I clicked on this. I'm glad I found out about them because they are an excellent post-rock band. With only ten tracks this album runs at about 45 minutes long. Please don't stop reading here when you hear the phrase post-rock, I'm writing this to get more people into different types of music.
Everything about The Sea & Cake is cool. The band name, the cover art, and most importantly the music. This is more laid-back, mellow,and peaceful music. The soft, lazy music can put me to sleep it is great to relax to because everything is just so mellow. Now when I say post-rock don't immediately say that this is boring, because it isn't. The Sea & Cake mix in influences of jazz, funk, and reggae into their soft, gentle music.This is very interesting when you mix all of those genres in with post-rock. Everything here is just so calm, the melodies are soft and sweet and they are so damn catchy. This album is just so god damn soothing yet attention grabbing. If you want something you can relax too than get this album. The Sea & Cake are also easy to listen to since their are no boisterious anthems or loud, riff based rockers. I can see how someone wouldn't like this music but this is so accessible and possibly the easiest album to listen to that I know of. Everything is just so simple and carefree, If you want to get into experimental post-rock, than this is a great place to start.
The vocals are just like the album, soft, gentle, and soothing. Sam's voice is gentle and high-pitched, he has a very laid-back and carefree voice. He kind of sounds like a wimpy little high school boy that plays the trumpet in bad. This is a good thing because it mixes almost perfectly with the mellow nature of everything. The instruments work just as well. The sound here is dominated by electric and acoustic guitars. The music presented here is very, very simple. The guitars play simple riffs, with slight jazz and sometimes funk influences. The Sea & Cake never rock out, they always keep a nice mellow melody. The rythm section is almost flawless, although it doesn't make a huge impact on the music it is still excellent. The Sea & Cake are soothing, jazzy, fun, relaxing, and mellow. This is the ideal album if you want something to chill out to.
Well, I realize this is a very brief review but there is not much more that I can tell you. I'm listening to this right now and I feel so relaxed and calm. If you're having a bad day and you're pissed off then give this a spin, it should turn things around. The vocals and the melodies are the high points here. The melodies are catchy and simple while the vocals are soothing and soft. The Sea & Cake don't do so well if you want a lot of style and complex songs. Everything here is simple and these songs may start to get old and annonymous. I guess that happens with every album, but it is obvious here. Once again, the guitar riffs are jazzy and smooth, mixed in with a slight influences of soul and funk. Overall this is a great post-rock album, and The Sea And Cake is a sorely underated band.
Pros: Vocals - Catchy Melodies - Influences of Jazz, and Funk - Relaxing
Cons: Songs can be too simple at times - This album isn't effective if you don't want too relax are chill out
Recommended Tracks:Polio - Bombay - Showboat Angel
