The Sea and Cake - Paradise, 5 June 2007

I caught The Sea and Cake in support of their latest effort, Everybody, last night at the Paradise. As they all took the stage after the opener, Loney, Dear(more on them later), finished up, they meticulously prepped their instruments, pedals, environs, etc. No techies or roadies, each musician took care of his own stuff. And I have never seen it taken more seriously, which explains why they were doing it themselves I suppose. John McEntire chose his sticks for the evening like one would examine diamonds for an engagement ring. It was all worthwhile it would turn out. The music was fantastic through and through. They are a motley bunch, seemingly put together by random chance. You would never put them together as a grouping of any sort from a crowd of people. They were individuals. The way they looked for sure set them apart, but also the way the played and enjoyed playing, they each had their own methods. Not to keep picking on McEntire, but I'm not sure I have ever seen a drummer get so much pure and intense enjoyment from playing, his expressions were priceless. I'll hopefully get to see him again next month with Tortoise. Where was I, ah yes, they were all their own individuals...but when they got on stage and played their music, they gelled seamlessly into a BAND. The music flowed effortlessly, and it was TIGHT, no (or very little) leads, just pure solid music. They play peppy without being too poppy, cerebral without getting too out there. The music washes over you like the sea, and is easily digested like cake... (oy) The set was about 80m including encore. The Paradise was comfortably full, I would say around 80% sold? I would have thought they would have drawn better, maybe it's owed a little to the early week slot when school is not in session.



The opener, Loney, Dear, was good. Pleasant Swedish singer-songwriter stuff. Most of it was enjoyable, and a couple songs really stood out. One in particular, Ignorant Boy, really grabbed me. It was described as being simple but difficult by Emil Svanangen, who IS Loney, Dear, apparently. Not sure how I feel about this trend of individuals to give themselves a band name, it's a little odd I think. But there was a band... So anyway, this song, Ignorant Boy (sample on their site) was basically just nomenomeno sung over and over and over in 4 part harmony with a building marching beat, which sounds potentially awful but it worked really well. Listening to the sample of the recording, I must say it sounded way better live. Unfortunately, it wasn't the song I recorded, and this was probably their mellowest and quietest song, so it didn't come out too well.