KMA398 Young And Sexy – Life Through One Speaker

This is an thoughtful, well-written record. The songs swirl and soar through the air, and everything is tasteful, sensible and gentle. Acoustic guitars and pianos drive even the faster pop songs and the vocals echo beautifully. A lot of these atmospheric tracks have a later-Beatles quality to them. Lovely.

If life sounds this blissful ‘through one speaker,’ I can’t imagine it through two.

Track Listing:
01 Oh My Love
02 Weekend Warriors
03 Herculean Bellboy
04 Lose Control
05 In This Atmosphere
06 One False Move
07 Ella
08 Life Through One Speaker
09 More Than I Can Say
10 Young & Sexy

KMA299 Young And Sexy – The Arc

Long live Mint Records!!!

We recently received two new Minty releases here in the KMA offices and we couldn’t be more thrilled!

First up for review is the gorgeous new record from Young And Sexy, suitably dubbed The Arc. Oh man, I’ve played this one several times over the past couple of days, and I think it’s fantastic!

I say the album’s name is suitable because here we have 11 tracks of sheer atmospheric bliss that soar across your ears and tell stories just like, well, an arc! My goodness, this band really knows how to set a connected mood, tone and ambiance with their music. Oh sure, it’s a little moody and dark at times, but the vocals are gorgeous, and the musicianship is brilliant throughout. This record is perfect for a late-night drive along a rain-soaked highway, or as the last disc you throw in when the party’s winding down and everyone knows they really should be getting home but yet no one is making the first move for the door (and who would, if this great disc was on?). Hell, wherever you hear them, these are fully realized songs that are just what the doctor ordered.

There’s quite a bit of tasty experimentation with sound throughout these tracks, coming across almost like a 70’s band that has found the perfect, hypnotic combination of thoughtful, tuneful and playful. Their inventiveness here is highly and completely commendable. It sounds warm, to me. Warm and welcoming.

Put another way, think of this record as a house, with each song being its own room. And so, as the listener, you’re the lucky sod who’s been allowed access to all of these rooms as you play through the disc. Each one has its own gripping personality, of course, but they are all still a part of that larger, beautiful and meaningful whole.

I couldn’t pick just one favourite song from this record. I liked them all, for different reasons. So I’ll quite simply just tell you to run out and buy this new record by Young And Sexy, not one minute after your local record shoppe puts it on their shelves. You’ll love it, I promise! And head on over to the Mint web site for more info and releases from this band (handy link on the left of this page)!

It’ll be a long time before this one comes out of my stereo’s rotation.

Thanks heaps, Mint, for sending us this slice of awesome!

Track Listing:
01 Saucerful Of Fire
02 Peer Through The Lock
03 The Poisoned Cup
04 Young & Sexy VS. The Arc
05 Step Inside
06 The Shadow
07 The Fog
08 Demon Dreaming
09 The Echo
10 Spill The Sky
11 Up In The Rafters