THE SEA AND CAKE Glass EP (Thrill Jockey) Rating: NNN Rating: NNN
The creeping electronic influence in the Sea and Cake’s winsome pop comes to the fore on this seven-song mini-LP available at the band’s live shows. The four original tracks build on the subtle breakbeat pop of the Chicago quartet’s One Bedroom disc, stretching, crunching and tinkering with the group’s strummy sound but largely retaining the shape of the songs. Somewhat less successful are the songs they’ve turned over to others to remix. Stereolab add some blips and bloops, Broadcast turn Interiors into, uh, a Broadcast song, and Carl Craig adds a four-four thump to the final track. The idea of techno hero Craig reworking the Sea and Cake is a novel one, but the result, like the rest of the remixes, is more of a curio than anything else. It doesn’t add anything to the original, and where the band’s electro experiments sound natural, this comes off as forced.
The Sea And Cake play Lee’s Palace Sunday (April 13).
