**1/2

SAM PREKOP

(Thrill Jockey)

The Sea and Cake -- Sam Prekop's still-active band -- specialized in jazzy and rhythmically sophisticated indie pop until percussionist/engineer John McEntire got hold of them on 1997's The Fawn. That disc found three-fourths of the band playing second fiddle to layers of post-rock synth and programmed drum tracks. One couldn't help wondering whether Prekop, the group's ostensible leader, mightn't be suffocating under this thick coat of electronic sound.

On his solo debut, Prekop does break away from McEntire, and his new supporting cast -- percussionist Chad Taylor and bassist Josh Abrams -- both come from jazz backgrounds and use acoustic instruments. But Prekop hasn't shaken the influence of McEntire's rigid programming. Whereas early Sea and Cake numbers like "Culabra Cut" and "Bombay" employed rhythms that were recognizably swing and funk based, Prekop's songs now seem to be more in synch with a metronome than with the human heart. This disc also features a couple of instrumental interludes ("Faces and People" and "A Cloud to the Back") that follow minimalist strategies with their complex layering and use of repetition. Whether this is merely the influence of producer and Chicago avant-star Jim O'Rourke or evidence of Prekop's expanding palette of musical interests is yet another question.

-- Alec Hanley Bemis

(Sam Prekop headlines downstairs at the Middle East next Saturday, April 3. Call 864-EAST.)