The Idyllists put a lot of love into this album.

Whoa there... What have we here?

• 7 dapper young men (6 parts American, 1 part British)
• 6 nice jackets
  
• 5 pairs of Chuck Taylors
• 4 pairs of Jarvis Cocker glasses
• 1 swanky hat
  

Dammit, I'm already sold but you just keep selling! I've latched onto The Idyllists as one of my favourites for 2009, and I swear it's not just for aesthetic reasons. It's for their wonderfully ear-pleasing blend of new and old-timey britpop, even though they're based in LA.

The Idyllists released their debut The Long Hours Between Sunset & Morning earlier this year and it's eleven tracks about love. No kidding, I think they use "love", "loving", "lover" or another variation of the word at least once in every track. Even so, I wouldn't have it any other way. It's really all those details in youthful love sickness and longing that make this album as good as it is.

On their press release, they're described as the sound of Morrissey having a drink with Elvis and Johnny Cash at a Buddy Holly show. But all name dropping aside, the Idyllists are instantly charming and smile-inducing, even if they do tend to remind you of the one that got away. You're Gonna Break My Heart Someday opens the album, and is really a perfect introductory song to the band and what they're all about. They're the culmination of bright acoustic guitars, jaunty keyboards and pianos and group harmonies. They're infectious hand-clapping and catchy pop choruses topped with puppy-dog-eyed vocals. The bittersweet track I Think It's Going To Rain solidifies my belief that a lot of the best songs in the world are about rain and tracks like The Long Way make me actually miss the feeling of being lovesick. Yes again, this is an album of love songs. So it's something incredibly hard-hitting when the final track on the album, A Different Affair, keeps insisting that there's nothing in a love song that I could say or do. The power of persuasion never worked on you.

The Idyllists - You're Gonna Break My Heart Someday (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

The Idyllists - I Think It's Going To Rain (mp3) (amazon) (iTunes)

The Long Hours Between Sunset & Morning is a short and sweet. It totals to just about forty minutes, and most tracks are under three minutes long which leaves us wanting more. Luckily, the boys waste no time because according to their facebook page, they're finishing up the sophomore album already. Fantastic! I can hardly contain myself. I hope I'm correct to assume that Sweet Loretta will be on that track list.



Happy days lie ahead, readers.

Oh, and for anyone that might be interested, I've done a proper tally now. Ten out of the eleven tracks on the The Long Hours Between Sunset & Morning use "love" or another variation of the word in the lyrics. But don't go thinking that the one outlier song isn't about love. Because it totally is.