YOUNG AND SEXY
Panic When You Find It
Mint
· Panic When You Find It marks the culmination of Young and Sexy’s sound, a glistening brand of indie pop that straddles the gap between the Clientele’s reverb-soaked AM anthems and West Coast comrade Dan Bejar’s curiously tough tunefulness.
Young and Sexy’s songs are certainly sweet, thanks particularly to Lucy Brain and Paul Hixon Pittman’s devastatingly pretty harmonies, but they also have a strength lacking in most of their overly twee contemporaries.
Not to say that Panic is a subdued affair, "The Curious Organ" is about as rousing as this type of music gets without distortion – all rollicking drum fills and bursts of brilliant horns, and "Conventional Lullabies" starts off punctuated by exuberant handclaps before building towards a soaring climax, but Young and Sexy clearly prefer melody to intensity. The softer moments hold their share of surprises, too. The gorgeous "5/4" would actually be better off if the song title didn’t draw attention to the time signature and just let the listener be lulled by the off-kilter strumming, and the quickie "Turn On Your Weakness" reuses Organ’s chorus with a much subtler backing.
The album works as the near-flawless soundtrack to a hazy Sunday afternoon, music best heard when nursing a slight hangover or a major crush. Fitting then that it came out on Valentine’s Day, when lonesome romantics and jilted lovers most need to spend their time with something young and sexy.
YOUNG AND SEXY
Panic When You Find It
Mint/Outside
· Vancouver’s other girl-boy group get fierce on their third album
In general, Vancouver’s Paul Hixon Pittman writes songs for Young and Sexy that make Carl Newman’s The New Pornographers tracks sound like Motorhead. But on their third album, Panic When you Find It, Pittman and co-singer Lucy Brain kick things off with the relatively raucous "Your Enemy’s Asleep," which builds to a powerful, almost noisy chorus. Later, on "Conventional Lullabies," which may be Panic’s best song, they counter the smoothness of their voices with phrasing that’s similar to that of Carl and Neko, if not Dan Bejar. While their first two albums revelled in softness, and they still remain based in vocal melodies that prove the efficacy of tandem girl/boy vocals, this is their most dynamic record to date. "Without Your Love" showcases Brain’s simple, pure voice combined with dissonant guitars and a simple, slightly jazzy drum beat.
It’s like an aural thunderstorm and it’s a definite highlight. At times Pittman’s vaguely English, sad-sack enunciation wears a bit thin, but on "5/4" it provides the perfect foil for Brain's unfaltering notes. It’s like he’s the mope and she’s the hope, even when they’re both imploring the song’s subject to "hold on." Panic When you Find It ups the ante for Young and Sexy, showing that they can excel even when things get a little louder, a little less polite.
YOUNG AND SEXY
Panic When You Find It
Mint
· Trust me – it’s not just a clever name, and it takes one to know others.
Sometimes, it takes a release like this one to realize how muddy contemporary music can be. Producer Colin Stewart, who has recorded Black Mountain, p:ano, Black Rice and Destroyer, to name a very select few, is my new favourite person. His clear vision for Young and Sexy serves them well. Panic When You Find It is a simple recording – and that is no insult. There is nice instrumentation and some catchy melodies, but no one feature is drowning under the weight of anything else.
Vocalists Lucy Brain and Paul Hixon Pittman sing as one on this recording, breathes through its 10 bittersweet pop songs. The inclusion of piano and trumpet accent the charming sounds of the guitar, bass and percussion (including tambourines and shaker).
Panic When You Find It will help you while away a snowy afternoon, accompany you on a long walk or enjoy twilight on a summer night as your thoughts linger from first dates to heartbreak.
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