Laura Stevenson seems a little nervous, a little friendly, a little in control during the all too short set with her band the Cans at Mercury Lounge on Friday night.
I've been writing about her album, Sit Resist, quite a bit lately and jumped at the chance to check her out.
What I discovered is the albums' production doesn't catch the bands power live. Laura has a strong voice but on the album she comes across as a Hudee Sills or a Joni Mitchell, live the connection with Don Giovanni makes more sense. She introduces "Peachy" as another song about being unhappy, on record it is jaunty, live it hits much harder and the bass takes the lead. Throughout the six song set, the singer-songwriter vibe is muted and while her stage presence is too sweet to allow for a label mate Marisa Paternosta (Laura onstage is like Marisa offstage), she is sure a screaming voice, a melodic pitch, especially… well not especially but on "Caretaker" for one.
She doesn't play "Barnacles" and I miss "Halloween Pt 1 and 2" whih I sadly miss because THE CANS ARE THE SECOND ACT AND STILL WENT ON STAGE AT 725p! But I do watch the masterful "Master Of Art" and despite Mercury Lounge being ridiculous busy for the time of night, manage to get up close and see the affectionate nature of the bands interaction. On "Healthy the zylophone takes control of the song, elsewhere it is the bass, but always at the center is Laura.
Barely 20 minutes, it was waaaaay to short a set and remakable as being a relentless hit on your rock and roll pleasure bone. It didn't falter and ended with "808" jusr as great as "MOA". I've seldom left a set wanting more more than that night. The album is great, live the band is even better.