Young and Sexy
Life Through One Speaker
Mint
While listening to Young and Sexy’s Life Through One Speaker, I was constantly looking at their beachfront cover art and wondering what the average summer water temperature is in their native British Columbia. Latitudinally, they’re slightly north of the Great Lakes and we only get five, six minutes in mid-August where the icebergs sink down to a more avoidable size. I can’t imagine it’s much better over in Vancouver, but the band does their best to convince us otherwise.
Still, for every song that’s brave enough to frolic in the surf, there’re two that remain huddled under a thick beach blanket brooding over wasted days. The band borrows heavily from U2, Lush and the Ladybug Transistor. As the melancholy would indicate, though, their main source of inspiration would seem to be Belle & Sebastian. The lisping nasal male singer, boy-girl harmonies, limp-wristed guitar strum and the smirking humor of the lyrics all top the checklist. They even have the gall to name a song after themselves, and begin it with: “We’re not going to grace the cover of ‘Elle’ / it’s our thoughts in our minds that make us sexy as hell.” Even better is “Herculean Bellboy,” a character study worthy of Morrissey. Female singer Lucy Brain does a turn as Miki Berenyi over a bombastic rehashing of U2’s “Beautiful Day.” I am Jell-o in its presence. I suspect Canadian scientists are now working on plans to harness this song’s happy energy for use in eternally warming their piece of the Pacific Ocean. Just you wait and see…
Mint Records: http://www.mintrecs.com/
