The Sea and Cake are back with Everybody, the band"s first full length in just over four years. The record finds the band continuing to perfect their singular brand of dreamlike, hot-buttered pop music that sounds delicately handcrafted, yet effortless all the same. Sheets of glowing guitar tones skip along propulsive percussion underscored by gently introspective bass lines, all adorned by breathlessly delivered lines of lyrical poetry. As always, the band is made up of Sam Prekop (guitar and vocals), Archer Prewitt (guitar), John McEntire (drums) and Eric Claridge (bass). "It"s a rock album," says Prekop, though its certain that only The Sea and Cake could make a rock album like this. Sam cites rock"s standard bearers The Kinks as an influence on this, "the most straight ahead, even "rootsy" record we"ve ever made," and one hears it right away in the driving opener "Up On Crutches," with its dual guitars meditatively strumming and tolling like bells. The band has focused on bringing more of a live sound to Everybody, employing very little overdubs, and emphasizing sudden contrasts within songs. "A live cut and paste technique," Sam says, borne out of the band"s meticulous songwriting process. The band moves away from their standard sound on a number of tracks here, including the jittery "Exact to Me" with its percussive guitar lines blending African highlife and rocksteady rhythms, and on the intimately spare "Lightning", a song that went through several rewrites and, in the process, revealed the title of the album. "It was such a hard won battle, I don"t think most tunes would have stood up to such abuse." The result is a hauntingly simplified song that serves as a fine centerpiece on this sprawling album.