Oui

Oui is stunning easy listening in recession, but up close, it's genius. The production, the arrangements, the instrumentation, the electronics would sound cumbersome in the hands of the unexperienced, but the Sea and Cake fuse these elements with economy and care. If Oui doesn't erupt like an outright revolution, it's only because the band makes it look it too easy.

Ultimately The Sea And Cake are just making timeless, faultless pop music.

Effortless, breathy pop music that you just have to close your eyes and smile to.

Quite possibly the finest of the group' s five albums to date.... A sophisticated pop pleasure from start to finish, Oui is the aural equivalent of a perpetual Indian summer.

Their simplest, softest sound yet. While 1997's The Fawn thrived in tender disarray, this 10-track outing sparkles with a warm and graceful confidence.

Liquid guitar licks, bobbing bass lines, slow-tumbling vibes and lush strings float in and out of the mix, wrapping snugly around Sam Prekop's mellow croon. There's nothing life-changing here, but it's nice; and sometimes nice is enough. [#47, p.116]

On Oui, the Sea and Cake continue to pursue their instrumental excursions as they evolve decisively into an art-drone groove band.