Nothing beats French punk, or to quote their website, “new wave punk français.” I was sold from the first note of this Quebecois
garage-rock band’s CD. Just under 25 minutes of hooky,
jeans-and-t-shirts punk rock, the sludgy, lo-fi French vocals take a
few listens to make out and then don’t require much more than an
elementary French class vocabulary to understand. Sweetheart
Sebastian is packed with energetic, infectious pop punk. Though
straddling a line between punk and cute, they manage to come off more
punk than sweet. Fans of The Stolen Minks, Ramones and fellow
Montrealers Les Breastfeeders, seek this out. Laura Kenins
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.