the Young & Sexy - "Life
Through One Speaker"
Mint Records
Vancouver's
the Young & Sexy owe much of their sound to another Canadian act,
the New Pornographers, who are labelmates of theirs at Mint Records.
They share that same indie-pop sound with dual male and female vocals.
But
where the New Pornographers perform upbeat music that's pretty much
akin to Big Star and Cheap Trick, the Young & Sexy sound like Belle
and Sebastian's slower moments. It's very dreamy, organic pop that
seems suited to a spring afternoon.
The whole of Life Through One Speaker
sounds like it was designed for mix tapes. There's not a song on here
that wouldn't make any girl swoon with your choice of such pretty
music. And pretty music is about the best way to describe the album- it
has swells of melody, harmony, and tunefulness that sounds like Phil
Spector's wet dream gone horrible horribly right.
The amazing
thing is that I saw the Young & Sexy when they opened up for the
New Pornographers last summer, and they sounded nothing like this. They
were dull as dishwater, and had me ready to go into the back of the
club and take a long nap. It may be that they're just a great studio
band, but the difference between that performance and what's coming out
of my speakers is night and fucking day.
Canada's got some great
musicians, it seems, and Mint's nearly got a lock on all of them. This
album is no exception. Go buy it, grab a blanket, and sprawl out in the
sunshine with some iced tea and a good book. You can thank me later.