Familiar, but better
ATeacherFromFlorida | Tallahassee, FL | 10/26/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"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."
Mostly More Of The Same - Not A Bad Thing - Plus Some New Tw
Marcus Tullius Wardo | 11/08/2008
(4 out of 5 stars)
"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."