Laura Stevenson & The Cans – Sit Resist

I recently started contemplating what it is that makes a band able to be accepted in the punk scene. How can a band like Tegan and Sara, who are most decisively unpunk, be so welcomed and admired by the punk fans while bands who try to break into the scene (like All Time Low) are heckled and mocked away. It makes perfect sense in my mind, but I can’t find a way to properly explain the feat or supply a reason for it. Nevertheless, after listening to Sit Resist several times over, I can safely say that Laura Stevenson & The Cans are another one of those bands that, while sounding very far removed from the signature punk sound, should still be respected and embraced in the punk community.

Strictly speaking, Sit Resist is an indie pop record. Laura Stevenson and numerous members of The Cans also limelight Bomb The Music Industry, but Sit Resist is far from anything BTMI has ever done.  This is restrained, slowly growing in momentum at times while other times they seem perfectly content to just sit back and ride the wave.

Mellow may definitely be a good descriptor here as Sit Resist is a lush combination of sounds and instruments. There are moments where they hold it in – like the folk inspired Montauk Monster – but Laura Stevenson & The Cans truly shine when they pull in everything in their cannon and push it forward. Keyboards mix with violin while a horn section adds extra depth and propels the song’s emotional crest like on Barnacle. It’s a steep contracts from the minute-forty Red City Radio which passes by with reverberated vocals like an old forties radio folk song. At the same time, the country twang of Caretaker leads into the joyous, glockenspiel poppy ditty of The Healthy One that would make Feist green with even.

The clear standout amidst all the mixed styles and sounds is the lead single Master of Art – the first track that truly caught my ear. Built off of a steady drum beat, a twinkling guitar riff and vocals that simply soar, Master of Art is a piece of art – fully compelling, unifying yet individualistic. It’s a song that has the potential to be the biggest radio chart topper of the year but one that gains those accolades from sincerity rather than prescribed success.

From a punk’s perspective, there are moments where Sit Resist falters. The piano-led Finish Piece is too slow that it disrupts the momentum of the album and you need to be in the right mood to appreciate theDredg-like and scarce 80-8. The Weight has potential that is never capitalized on and instead just fades off into nothingness before the closing I See Dark comes in and conjures up images of a country fair (which probably isn’t the best description but it’s what I thought of first when I heard it).

As a whole though, Sit Resist is well worth the time to listen to – particularly Master of Art. And, despite being a very pop oriented indie-pop outfit, it still somehow makes sense Laura Stevenson & The Cans have found their way into the hearts of punks everywhere.