Customer Reviews

Car Alarm

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Customarily Sea and Cake take three or four years between releases (with the exception of their early discography), but Car Alarm, surprisingly, is released fresh on the heels of their last full-length. Sea and Cake are one of those bands like The Fall. Not in sound, but in reliability: always different, always the same. Here, the breezy, light, deft songwriting is still the same, but the hooks are more pronounced, whereas in their early 00s albums some of the numbers tended to dissolve a little too easily on the ear. Think of this as a kind of cross between Oui/One Bedroom and The Biz, a successful hybrid: Sea and Cake's most energetic offering in a while.

At first listen, Car Alarm sounds a lot like The Sea and Cake's last album, Everybody. Sam Prekop's lilting voice still dominates the sound and no one is ever going to mistake these folks for Metallica. The Sea and Cake is understated indie, low on angst and distortion and long on melody and songcraft. However, Car Alarm has more bounce and edge to it than Everybody. The biggest risk of this band is that some of the songs are so smooth and effortless that sometimes they sound too close to "easy listening" or elevator music. With Car Alarm, The Sea and Cake looks to be trying to avoid dead-ending in that direction and add in some rougher guitars (as on "Aerial" or "Car Alarm" or "New Schools") and punchier bass lines ("Weekend" or "Down in the City") and unusual song structure ("Weekend," "The Staircase"). "Weekend" may be the real gem on this album, a delightful melding of acoustic guitars and bass and Prekop vocals. This is mellow stuff, good background music rather than something to listen to with the headphones on and cranked up to 10. If you already like Sea and Cake, you should go ahead and get this one. If you're not sure about the sound, by all means listen to the samples before buying. I suspect most people are going to react with either "kinda like it" or "boring," so test drive a few songs first. I fall into the first camp and find this music to be very likable.

Every single track on this album is INCREDIBLE. There is no filler whatsoever. Easily one of the best albums of 2008 or any year. My first Sea and Cake album and after hearing this amazing masterwork, I am now a fan for life.

Bought this album with high hopes but it didn't deliver. A lot of the songs sounded similar, indie pop-like but not well produced. The singer's voice also gets on my nerves a little bit.

The instrumental mirrors on here is amazing and chilling at the same time. I love the sea and cake's instrumentals which are always a part of their albums. This one takes the "cake" though(no pun intended) when I first heard it I kept listening to it like I was in a trance. I don't know how to describe it. But even if I hated all the other songs on the album(which I don't) I would still be happy just because of the song mirrors is on here.

Anyhow mirrors and the first three tracks on here are really sweet and get you in that SAC mood. But I am not giving it five stars because there are too many songs I don't care for on here. This is probably my least favorite sea and cake album. It has a slightly different sound here...I prefer more of the calmer laid back songs like from the biz and the fawn. But it's interesting nonetheless.

This album deserves no less than 10 stars, but Amazon won't let me go higher! "Car Alarm" blew me away! "Everybody" easily became one of my favorites earlier this year, and I was eagerly looking for more of what this band could offer. I bought their first three albums, and they are classics for sure, and it took me a little longer to get into them. It's always so worth it, though! But this record- oh man! I saw it at the record store used and had to get it instantly. Thank goodness I did! This album quickly alleviated my crappy day. Why the hell are there 4 star reviews? These guys just get inexplicably better with each release! Highlights? Every freakin' song. And besides, The Sea And Cake make albums, not songs. And let me tell you, this and their last album are definitely their best releases to date. They're breezy, relaxing, groovy, fun, and intoxicatingly catchy. What else is there to say? The singing cures cancer, the drum beats are precise to perfection, and the guitars further draw you into the realm of Cake and Sea. And that bass- epic! Were those steel drums I heard? Awesome. Just get it. Get everything by them. I love their guts!

3 1/2


Another collection of suave electro-pop which neither demands attention or insists refusal, these perceptively produced pieces will soothe fans of TSAC's more subdued sonics of late, perhaps without reeling in any new converts of the loose listen.

How can she listen that? Ha ha ha
CD was in good condition & package came on time :)