TIME Canada Arts: Pick of the Week

In pop music, nothing can kill a band's image faster than trying too hard. Fortunately Young and Sexy has avoided that fate: The five-piece band from Vancouver already knows exactly what it does best. Its third full-length release, Panic When You Find It, is a technically superb, 60s-influenced pop-rock album--and doesn't pretend to be more. There is no overarching theme in the often dark lyrics that songwriter Paul Hixon Pittman says he "usually think[s] about a year later," long after he's written them. Pittman's favorite song on the disc, 5/4, was named after its time signature since the band couldn't come up with another name for it. Even "Young and Sexy"--a tag the band has kept since 1998, through various line-up changes--has little significance. "We were just trying to come up with a band name," Pittman, 34, says simply. "In retrospect, I would never choose it now."

Pittman & Co. keep their focus squarely on the fundamentals--the melodies, the harmonies, the dynamics--and that focus, ultimately, is what makes Panic such a successful and thoroughly enjoyable album. The vocal harmonies of Pittman and Lucy Brain--the two trade off as lead singers--are striking. Brain's voice in particular has a beautiful stand-out quality, shown off on the melancholy Without Your Love." Clean, melodious guitars carry the album, while piano, trumpet, and the use of unconventional time signatures (including, yes, 5/4,) create a sophisticated feel. (Pittman cites British folk rockers Fairport Convention as the single biggest influence on this album.) Young and Sexy sound poppy and full of energy, even on the mellow tracks which are their strongest.

In fact, the real triumph of Panic is that the band never lets its technical mastery get in the way of the album's prettiness. The adept rhythm section keeps things mostly understated. The instrumentation gives the album a full sound, but not one that's over the top. And, perhaps most important of all, Young and Sexy don't drag out a song longer than two minutes if it's not necessary. The result is an album that sounds unified and pleasant, but that you could still offer to your piano teacher as proof that not all pop musicians are talentless hacks.