The Sea and Cake - One Bedroom
(Thrill Jockey)
While 2000's Oui orchestrated pop sounds seemed like more of a collaboration between Sam Prekop and Archer Prewitt, One Bedroom is more of a return to the highly structured, more modern songs of 1997's The Fawn, with John McEntire and Eric Claridge both having a much greater impact on the record than they did with Oui.
The Sea and Cake albums always start off with an amazing track, like "Sporting Life" on The Fawn and "Jacking the Ball" on their self-titled debut, and One Bedroom is no exception. However, "Four Corners" doesn't start the album with a chorus and a meaty hook, but rather an intense three-minute instrumental prelude. The repetition of the guitar builds the framework for the song, against which McEntire adds a bevy of accoutrement, including drum pitter-patterns, keyboard melodies, soft atmospherics, and the odd production flourish. When Prekop's vocals finally come in, you are fully ready and set for a super Sea and Cake album.
Much of One Bedroom is the perfect sister album to The Fawn (in other words, exactly what a lot of The Sea and Cake fans have been waiting for), however the two albums are not completely alike. While many songs on the album are highly structured, several songs are decidedly more loose and low key, sounding like Sam Prekop solo recordings with only minimal accompaniment added later during post production. "Le Baron" is a quiet song that gently lurches back and forth, Prekop's lyrics as high in the mix as they've ever been. Similarly, "Interiors" follows a very moderate pace for the first three minutes, Prekop singing with little more than a simple keyboard melody to accompany him. Songs like these are like daydreams, setting the mind free for a few minutes, and can be a welcome respite between the more uptempo songs.
The uptempo songs are bad-ass though! There songs that make you go "no, no, no, ...," shaking your head from left to right, and there are songs that make you go "yes, yes, yes,...," shaking your head up and down, and The Sea and Cake has at least two of each kind. "Shoulder Length" is one of The Sea and Cake's best songs and is a totally killer "yes, yes, yes" song. Feel the bounce? Yeah, it is great! "Mr. F" is great as well, but this time in the style of a "no, no, no" song. Feel the sway back and forth? Alright! The whole album is just really groovy, in the literal sense: Claridge's bass is alive and McEntire's percussion is highly active, giving the album a tight rhythmic core.
The album closes with "Sound and Vision," a David Bowie cover. Nothing against Bowie or Brian Eno, but placed behind nine decidedly modern sounding songs from The Sea and Cake, a recreation of Low-era Bowie sounds dated with its amped up 70s keyboards and over-processed guitar. The song does give the album a syrupy sing-along to close the album, Prekop joined by the Navins of The Aluminum Group, and it's an interesting choice of cover given Bowie is not the first artist I'd consider when thinking of The Sea and Cake or those previous nine tracks.
The artist I would first think of is Coloring Book-era Stevie Wonder: overflowing with soul, and an incredible rhythm section that's never in your face. As both mainstream and underground music leave soul music to the wayside for the pop sounds of "hip hop," The Sea and Cake are almost singlehandedly keeping it fresh and up-to-date.
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