q magazine

i've seen everything record review

It's possible they're going about this too quietly, but, 30 months on from their enticing debut, Cake, the Sinatras are much the same band, just a bit better at everything. Their most engaging songs ("Easy Read", "Send For Henry" and "Earlies") follow the sweet-melancholy voice of Frank Reader (Eddi's sibling) through thickets of Smiley Smile-ish whimsical harmony and a cyclic guitar jangling that's solemn and repetitive but right. Lyrically, the touted clever clogs tap dance through the sustained imagery of "Worked A Miracle" (a Thespian theme) and "I'm Immortal" (love's trials as soccerspeak: Out for a spell I got neglected/Lay on the bench unselected). The only gripe is that in "Killing The Cabinet" the details of their interesting proposal are lost in waves of that wistful Kilmarnock surf sound.
Q Rating: ****

Reviewed By: Phil Sutcliffe