Contributed by Chris Gedos

Considering there’s more bands than people these days, I’m afraid to say that I’d never listened to The Sea and Cake if only because I wasn’t quite sure what to make of their name. Band names with lowercase articles are highly uncommon in today’s indiedom. I still think The Sea and Cake sounds more like a collection of short stories by the most recent fiction MFA from Hunter College, but presented with the opportunity to see the Chicago collective at Doug Weston’s Troubadour on Tuesday, December 6th 2011, I partook in a 24 hour cram session and familiarized myself with their nine albums: The Sea and Cake, Nassau, The Biz, The Fawn, Oui, One Bedroom, Everybody, Car Alarm and 2011’s The Moonlight Butterfly. They are that rare one trick pony. It’s indie meets jazz, a true marriage at the left end of the dial, a highly professional Chicago sound emanating from the most (i.e. only) outwardly-looking city in the Midwest. First cousin: Tortoise. Second cousin by marriage: Wilco. Third cousin/ black sheep: Smashing Pumpkins.

The Troubadour pays homage to its singer-songwriter alumni in the bar to the left of the entrance, a classic roadhouse with a video feed to the main event in the next room. The venerable institution sports autographed pics of Harry Chapin and Joni Mitchell next to a gold Cure record and a plain OK Computer vinyl sleeve. Few venues in America have adapted to the whirlwind times so commandingly.

Opener Lia Ices played in a minimalist minor key on her red, Nord Electric 3 keyboard, with her brother providing accompaniment on a plugged in acoustic guitar which toes an interesting middle ground. Innumerable comparisons will be drawn between Lia Ices and Feist, but whereas Feist always retains her emotional vulnerability, Lia Ices also has the vocal capacity to go big like Sinead. The fact that she doesn’t speaks to an untapped potential in her music, although the minimalist ethos does provide for some lush ambiance. Her last song, a haunting ballad off her first album, was performed solo and bookended the set nicely. The unavoidable fact is that Lia Ices is very beautiful to the point where it would be purposefully oblivious to ignore it— hopefully the populace will look toward the beauty in her music that’s more than skin deep.

The crowd was older; mean, median and mode each hover around 31. The Sea and Cake are genre-benders, but they’re also a slow burn since they don’t hit you over the head with their experimentation. Therefore, their listeners are older and more mature, having come upon the band at some point during the past 15 years. In spite of their niche status, their music is accessible and conveniently packaged, generally without longer jams and solos; few of their songs stretch beyond six minutes.

The Sea and Cake took the stage and started right off with one of their more recent songs more indie than jazz. The fact that they’re a little older in Rock years, late 40s instead of early 30s, makes their more ‘mainstream’ appeal seem like a strong creative choice as opposed to a dive to the middle. What could easily be four dads from Evanston who play for the agricorp softball team, in fact is one of the more decorated bands in recent memory. What’s even more interesting is they predated the sub-genre craze we’re dealing with right now. Their versatile set spanned a careers worth of material and rang a noteworthy loudness that commanded the audiences attention. Think a little bit of Jonathan Richman next to a little bit of Charlie Haden? The Sea and Cake invites those disparate comparisons, which is precisely what makes their live show so compelling.

The Sea and Cake (Official)

Rating 8.5