The Sea and Cake

The Sea and Cake is an American indie rock band based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. As part of the Chicago school of post-rock, the group formed in the mid-1990s from members of the Coctails (Archer Prewitt), Shrimp Boat (Sam Prekop and Eric Claridge), and Tortoise (John McEntire); the group's name came from a willful reinterpretation of "The C in Cake", a song by Gastr del Sol, which McEntire was previously a member of. The band's music was described by David Sheppard in Mojo as a "uniquely inventive blend of lilting pop and obtuse art-rock". Starting with its fourth studio album The Fawn (1997), the group has relied on electronic instrumentation such as drum machines and synthesizers to color its music, but has retained its distinctive style with marked influences from jazz, samba and bossa nova.