The Sea and Cake gears up for new album

By Alex Young on June 30th, 2008

The title would have been too easy. So I didn’t go with it.

Still, the title of The Sea and Cake’s newly announced upcoming album, Car Alarm, does allow for an endless list of fun puns, and in end, likely some good tunes as well. Set for release on October 21, the Chicago native’s second new album since their three year hiatus, and seventh overall, will feature 12 new tracks, described as the next stage in the band’s 20+ year development.

The Sea and Cake’s aim in creating Car Alarm was to follow up quickly on its precursor, the stripped down Everybody. Sam Prekop says the band wanted to make a record that felt like they had never stopped playing, a continuously limbered up ensemble that parlayed its last tour into new material. They started working on it right after an Australian tour in March, and finished it after a miraculous three-month gestation. If the usual process in pop music is to make a record and then breathe life into it on the road, this flips that presumption on its head, starting with a vital, pulsing set-list on disc; what heights they’ll take the new songs to in concert only remains to be seen.

Car Alarm Tracklisting:
01. Aerial
02. a Fuller Moon
03. on a Letter
04. CMS Sequence
05. Car Alarm
06. Weekend
07. New Schools
08. Window Sills
09. Down in the City
10. Pages
11. the Staircase
12. Mirrors