The Sea and Cake

The Sea and Cake have one of the most instantly recognisable sounds in indie rock. That’s thanks in large part to the breathy croon of singer-guitarist Sam Prekop, but there’s no mistaking the Chicago group’s intricate chords and clean-toned shimmer. Though often classified as post-rock, their hushed songwriting yields jazzy miniatures as compact as snow globes, the opposite of that genre’s sprawl. Prekop formed the band in the mid-’90s with Eric Claridge, a former bandmate from twangy-punk group Shrimp Boat, and soon added guitarist Archer Prewitt of The Coctails and drummer John McEntire of Tortoise and Gastr del Sol. (The Sea and Cake’s name is a play on Gastr del Sol’s “The C In Cake”.) The group’s winsome, almost yacht-rock sound arrived fully formed on early records like 1995’s Nassau and 1997’s The Fawn, yet in the decades since, The Sea and Cake have continued to find new ways to spin the same slim handful of elements without ever running out of ideas. Not only are they one of indie rock’s most identifiable outfits, but they’re also one of its most effortlessly consistent.