The Sea and Cake are one of those bands who have an effortless, summery sound. Their fourth album Oui, released in 2000 opens with the lively, skittish pair Afternoon Speaker and All Your Photos. It's not till the album slows, on You Beautiful Bastard, that it settles into a groove. This is subtle music, it doesn't fight hard for your attention. Rather it sits there doing its thing, picking out delicate guitar patterns and conjuring up lazy, hazy vibes with the aid of strings and keyboards.
The Colony Room is another fine example of this, starting out all sunny and carefree, yet the mood darkens as the track wears on with the addition of some lugubrious woodwind. Everyday adds vibraphone, evoking Tim Buckley. Towards the end, Seemingly is a kind of glacial soul, and it's highly effective. However, the album works best as a soporific whole rather than listening to individual tracks.
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