Everything - Sea And Cake

The joy of the Internet is that you find yourself discovering bands that you would otherwise have never heard of in a million years. Of course it's not always a good thing, but the positives outweigh the negatives.

A case in point are Chicago natives Sea And Cake. They are already on their seventh studio album, but this week I heard them for the first time. Frankly though, if I'd heard it without prior warning I would have been convinced that we were being transported back into the 1970's. But whilst Bread and Steely Dan might not be the "coolest" of reference points similar influences haven't done the Feeling any harm, and it doesn't do any harm to Sea And Cake either.

What we are presented with is a series of mostly up-beat, rock orientated songs that rarely completely blow you away but rarely disappoint you either.

Highlights include The Crossing Line, with it's almost low-fi feel (it's the "fuzzy" guitars) and the relatively minimalist, and really rather catchy, Lightening.

At a mere 10 tracks this breezes along and makes for a leisurely, but very enjoyable listen. If I'm being honest, and I might as well be, I doubt it's the kind of album that will be constantly on the record player, but it's the kind of album I will delve into from time to time and no doubt be pleasantly surprised at how good it is.