Sea and Cake – Nassau — music review

Posted on December 7, 2005 by Kris Nelson

Call it “variations on a theme” that leads repeat listenings of Nassau, Sea and Cake’s second album. While each song is unique, you might swear you’ve just heard a tune on repeat for they all share the jangly-to-fret-tickled guitar of Archer Prewitt, the energetic basslines of Eric Claridge, John McEntire’s wacky tropical percussion and strong perky drumbeats (performed not programmed this time), and sleepy double-tracked tube-singing leads of Sam Prekop, whose voice is a more amiable version of the mumbly speech-singer Paul Westerberg (the Replacements) or Joey Sweeney (The Trouble with Sweeney) variety. Each player is talented in his own right and each element stands out like an “ensemble of solos”. It is just so cool and so rare.

One could say that this Sea and Cake album is a bit like a culmination of bared bossanova and almost surf-lounge. They are so simultaneously laid-back and peppy and mai-tai groovy. Nassau has always been one of my favorite albums because they make it sound so easy and fun, their recordings are so crisp and casual; it’s like eavesdropping on a primo rehearsal of a friends’ garage band, if the garage were in Bali maybe.

About the Author

Kris Nelson will listen to anything once. Her favorites include Trip Hop, oldschool Jazz (Sonny Rollins), electronica (Drum n Bass, Dubstep, Glitch), Indie, Experimental, Funk, Punk, Folk, Classical (Rachmaninoff, Liszt, Chopin)… footfalls through November leaves, zipper pulls in the dryer, or ice clinking in a Summer glass… music is all around us!