Why Are We Building Such a Big Ship? combines a folk-punk base with elements of traditional New Orleans music to create a sound that’s half brass-band dirge and half indie-rock sea shanty. This is one of the most unique groups on the New Orleans scene, and their third record finds them in excellent form.

Frontman Walt McClement’s accordion is the dominant presence here, setting the tone in aggressive staccato bursts or melting into the sprawling, tremulous chords that characterize the record’s more contemplative moments. At times, it’s hard not to picture him playing whilst perched on the edge of an old-timey merchant schooner as it bobs across the Atlantic. WAWBSABS is a big group, and their sound is fleshed out by an assortment of brass and saxophones whose stately chorales lend the dignified air of a marching band topped off by McClement’s singing, which veers from sentimental hush to demonic rasp.

I sometimes wish the group would go in for some more raucous breakdowns to counter the stately manner that pervades the album. We get a brief taste of what could be in “1000 Colors” in a high-energy burst of squealing sax and crashing drums. But what these guys do, they do with sincerity and style. The group is adept at blending instrumental and vocal harmonies into lavish choruses, and at marshaling their forces for a syncopated, head-banging accelerando (as in “Hunger”). Of Resolutions and Resolve is an imaginative and finely crafted record.