A litte bit garage. A little bit twee. A little bit power pop. A little bit soul. Lots of little bits can add up to good things that sound big and beautiful like The Bicylces, from Toronto. The Bicycles first CD, The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly featured 60's inspired sound with catchy and memorable harmonies. They've got that group harmonizing ability down pat, and when backed with jangly guitars and a driving beat it sort of reminds me of Couple, or The Lodgers. It was a packed with great songs power pop songs like "Gotta Get Out" and "Two Girls From Montreal", and a song only a Canadian band could get away with without being band from Montreal, "Paris Be Mine". Earlier this year a stripped version of the down band (from a quintet to a quartet) dropped their sophmore release, Oh No, It's Love, bursting with another 19 poppy gems. While the band may be short a player, the sound builds nicely on their earlier work and shows a maturity that usually is harbinger of the band breaking out into the mainstream. Both are so good, that I've got the title track of the latest for you, as well as "B-B-Bicycles" from the first. Sadly, all that potential notwhithstanding, the band is on "hiatius" and you know what that means. No bursting forth into the mainstream view is likely to happen.
