New to Us with Laura Stevenson

New To Us, New to You / Laura Stevenson

Posted on December 13th, 2011 by Jim

Words by Will

This is about to get all weird, existential, and meta-(whatever adjective you want to inject here). This is a new to us, new to you post, but what happens when the artist is neither new to us? What happens when the artist in question isn’t even in new to you? I am grossly unqualified to answer those questions. I don’t have a doctorate, but I do have a keen ear (or at least this is what I tell myself). Done pondering? Because this train is moving forward, with or without you. Now I just need to remind myself where this out-of-control train of awesomeness was headed… (And I can absolutely assure you that this train will be life-alteringly fantastic and magical.)

<a href="http://laurastevensonandthecans.bandcamp.com/album/sit-resist" onclick="javascript:_gaq.push(['_trackEvent','outbound-article','http://laurastevensonandthecans.bandcamp.com']);">Sit Resist by Laura Stevenson and The Cans</a>

Avid and faithful readers of this fine blog (and yes, I realize I am patting my own back here, but this superlative is absolutely earned and necessary), will already be familiar with enchanting singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson. Brendan highlighted her fantastic work in an astute concert review last year. And if you haven’t familiarized yourself with that fine piece of work, please take the requisite few minutes to do so now. We will wait patiently while you catch up.

All set? Good. Now the train can keep on rolling…

Laura Stevenson is a 27-year-old singer-songwriter from the fine area of Long Island. She specializes in plaintive, quirky indie rock. Her current band is called Laura Stevenson & The Cans. And their current album, Sit, Resist, was released on Don Giovanni Records in April. I first found out about Ms. Stevenson after I read a blog post that trumpeted the fact that she was giving away her album as a free digital download. (That offer has seen passed.) But I figured I would give it a shot since free so nicely fits my budget (where all my money goes toward insane student loan payments and the rest goes toward beer, music, and peanut butter and jelly). For the price of free, it is really hard to be disappointed. Amazingly enough, I was floored. It’s a true album. Every song is interesting and the pieces add up to a lovely, formidable whole.

At first, you are hit by Stevenson’s remarkably honest vocal delivery. Her sound is unique. The other things that immediately hits you is the variety of instruments on the album. You get some awesome accordion. (ACCORDION!) And then you also get some lovely crescendos that add up to blissful pop. Highlights of the album include opener “Halloween , Pts. 1 & 2,” “Master of Art,” and “Peachy.”

This album was one of those that I downloaded and instantly liked. But it didn’t really hit me until I found out that Stevenson would be bringing her wandering minstrel show to my hood (Rochester, N.Y.). When I saw her name on the Bug Jar calendar (an insanely awesome and tiny, dingy music venue here), I made sure I had the night off and I rediscovered the album. Her live show was utterly fantastic. (And yes, I am a huge fan of meaningless adjectives. It’s the reformed English grad student in me.) I told you the train wouldn’t stop.