I Let’s Can – Regular Day EP

I Let’s Can is a long-running colaboration between Erik Schmall and Ben Magnuson. They use acoustic guitar and backing instruments, such as piano, cello, and saxophone. They keep the pace steady, never being too somber or too jangly. Even for a short EP, clocking in at a little over fourteen-minutes, enough works to make Regular Day a winning record.

The big guns come out early with opener, “Don’t Think About It.” An acoustic strummer, the song strikes a chord with its wonderfully quick-snipping verses. The song is pretty blunt in its message: don’t worry, things will either happen or they won’t. I kind of think they talked me into not caring too. I like these guys’ style! “Regular Day” uses cello in addition to acoustic guitar and bells, complete with an accordion outro. It’s a good song, through and through, with decent musicianship, songwriting, and melody. The next two songs are solid, until the EP closes out very nicely with “August,” a saxophone-fueled jazz-pop song. It maybe doesn’t have the melodic power of “Don’t Think About It,” but “August” is robust with innovation.

There is certainly replayablility in I Let’s Can and will hopefully serve as an entry into their other work. It’s well-paced EP that flows easily and holds onto its catchiness without being too jangly. All in all, Regular Day is worth checking out, but be sure to follow up on Schmall and Magnuson and load up on more of their tunes.