Young And Sexy - Life Through One Speaker

  by Andrew Carver

published: 3 / 3 / 2004

Label: Mint
Format: CD

intro

Gently meditative pop from stellar Vancouver band, which draws comparisions with Saturday Looks Good To Me, the Clientele, and Belle and Sebastian

Add the name 'Young and Sexy' to the list of stellar Vancouver pop bands. On the evidence of their sopomore album, 'Life Through One A Speaker', they may even challenge the New Pornographers for the title of best of the bunch. 'Life' is a gentle but incisive examination of obsessed lovers, housebound music fans (the protagonist of 'Herculean Bellboy'  doesn’t like anything recorded after 1984 and “Questions the taste/Of the human race” after watching MTV — well, we’ve all done that, haven’t we?!?), people slipping into the 9-to-5 world, and others on the border between hope and desperation. Creative mainman Paul Hixon Pittman isn’t the first musician to wonder if people in the “regular world” are missing out, or if he’s the one wasting his time; as an album 'Life Through One Speaker' is a remarkable meditation on how both romance and music  can leave one feeling left behind — or is it others who are stuck in place? The narratives receive a superb musical interpretation from the lovely singing of Lucy Brain and Pittman’s own voice (they seem to be each other’s perfect backing vocalist.Ted Bois’ stellar work on keyboards and Andrew Lagace’s tasteful guitar are perfectly buttressed by Ron Teardrop’s percussion. While the music soars, it’s never heavyhanded, and unlike the New Pornographers it avoids excessive production sheen. The band aren’t afraid to get noisy either, releasing some cutting guitar squeal in the middle section of 'One False Move'. Anyone who likes Saturday Looks Good To Me, the Clientele, or Belle and Sebastian will not only have a new favourite band. They’ll be scurrying out the door to track down the band’s equally great debut 'Stand Up For Your Mother'.

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