The Bicycles are an odd bunch. On record, they are one of the most frenetic, impatient and genuinely boisterous bands in Canada. With songs barely lasting past two minutes and albums rarely exceeding the 35-minute mark, The Bicycles rarely dwell on a song, preferring to rush on to the next bubbly pop melody as quickly as possible. Yet, their debut album, The Good, The Bad and the Cuddly, took them nearly five years to finish. Now, the quartet has released a new record — another set of short and slurry pop tunes, titled Oh No, It’s Love, that took nearly two years to complete.

“Our first album was recorded by ourselves, so basically what we did this time was try to keep some of the best aspects of recording ourselves, like [being able to use a] zillion overdubs and the ability to experiment with instrumentation, while speeding up the process slightly,” says vocalist and guitarist Matt Beckett. “To be honest, we did face the challenge of staying on budget and finishing it in a reasonable time. But it's only our second album, so it took us awhile to realize that staying on budget is a required skill like any other, when it comes to making records. It is also difficult when all four of us have input; entertaining each cool idea takes time.”

Their record label, Fuzzy Logic Recordings, lit a fire under the band to acquire this budgetary skill as quickly as possible, and the result is a refined, tighter and bubblier version of the band than the one featured on The Good, The Bad and the Cuddly. The record is focused, while still wildly unpredictable and frenzied. Like their debut, it’s a collection bursting with gorgeous pop sensibilities and thoughtful arrangements, leaving no doubt as to why such short songs took so long to create. As usual, it’s all wrapped around Beckett’s saccharine vocals, whipping autobiographical tales of love around sticky, syrupy harmonies.

“We all tend to write autobiographically, as we're all a bunch of sensitive fluffs,” says Beckett. “In essence, all our songs are about our love lives. Saying that, all the songs were written before recording began, so we all had a pretty specific idea of what the general themes and ideas were going in. It helps that we hang out a lot — we read the same books, see the same movies and recommend similar music. We all know exactly where everything is coming from.”

Despite all the pre-planning, Oh No is a more relaxed affair than the band’s debut. The songs flow more freely, allowing the whole set to breathe easier.

“To be honest, we felt the first record was pretty stiff sounding, so this time we made a concentrated effort to avoid that,” adds Beckett. “By noticing that, we strived to get more of that live band feeling we felt was missing from the first album.”

And it shows. It’s a lovely set of quick ditties