[5] In January 2010, Gwyneth Herbert was commissioned by Snape Maltings in Suffolk as artist in residence to write, record and perform a new body of work based on stories of the sea.

[7][8] Reviewing the performance, The Guardian's jazz critic John Fordham said that "Herbert's imaginative narrative, and her casually commanding voice – whether softly nuanced as confiding speech or at full soaring-contralto stretch – were the central characters in an entertaining and often moving show that opens a new chapter in her creative story".

[8] In a performance described as "mesmerising"[9] and "a surreal delight",[10] with "beautiful entrancing music",[11] Theatre Elision gave the song cycle its United States premiere from 30 May to 9 June 2019 at The Southern Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The album takes the form of a song cycle and a storyline[23] which Herbert describes as follows: "Every day, a woman walks the beach alone, obsessively collecting every discarded and washed up object that she finds.

[23] In a metaphor for an eroded love affair, "I Still Hear the Bells", co-written by Gwyneth Herbert and Fiona Bevan, refers to the "drowned" Suffolk village of Dunwich[22] which was severely flooded in the 13th century.

[2] Holly Williams, in a four-starred review for The Independent, described it as a "cabinet of curiosities" with "a cabaret approach to storytelling, in rollicking sea shanties and waltzes", and "inventive" instrumentation "featuring wheezing accordions, warbling woodwind, tinkling music boxes and rolling bells".

[3] Andrew Clarke, writing in the East Anglian Daily Times, described the album's "collection of unusual percussive bells, bottles and ringing sounds" as "rather reminiscent of Benjamin Britten’s slung mugs in Noyes Fludde".

[20] Lance Liddle, for the North East England jazz website bebop spoken here, said: "A full decade after her debut album First Songs, The Sea Cabinet finds Gwyneth at her most mature as a writer.