Young Doctors in Love

My introduction to the world of Toronto’s Young Doctors In Love began a little over four years ago. I was late for my first day of work and the Pandora app on my phone crapped out halfway through my commute. I stumbled upon a livestream of CBC Radio 3, which hipped me to three amazing bands from the Great White North: Japandroids, The Golden Dogs and Young Doctors In Love. Their song “The Sound Of Broken Glass,” which appears on their 2010′s 5 Golden Greats, epitomized what is so fun about indie pop in the first place: bubbly melodies that evoke strange feelings of giddiness.

Since the release of 5 Golden Greats, Young Doctors In Love underwent a couple of lineup changes including the addition of new lead singer Katie Pearson whom replaced former vocalist Lesley D’Souza last year. With Pearson at the helm and fellow vocalist Amanda Li providing her signature harmonies, the band has returned with a renewed purpose. The new single “10:35″ serves a dual purpose: on one end it is a great launching point for new listeners who may not have checked out their debut EP. All of those classic elements are still in place: Guitarist Clay Puddester once again assumes his role of the group’s songwriting mastermind, making sure all the pieces fall perfectly in place. Pete Gorman’s keys bounce along in time with Chris Hudson’s drumbeats. Pearson and Li make a dynamic duo and I’m always a sucker for shout-along vocals. The most impressive portion of the song is the bridge, which is quite an interesting departure from the verses and chorus. The dramatic key change sounds jarring initially, but it proves that even in the realm of indie pop there’s still plenty of room for experimentation. - Hobsnobbery

THURSDAY — Donned in sparkly dresses, light-up guitars in hand, Young Doctors In Love offered non-stop power pop to the sparse, but engaged audience at Hard Luck Bar with enough charisma to wake the dead. New discoveries are key during Canadian Music Week and Young Doctors In Love, as you can probably predict from my gushing above, is a band worth searching for. They command the stage in perfect unison — almost as if The B-52s and The Breeders had a really cool baby. Their infectious tunes, including a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend the Night Together", showed great verve and musicianship within the band. It made the group incredibly likeable and clearly left some in the audience wanting to be their new best friends. (I know I wish I had friends who randomly wore 3-D glasses. And not in an annoyingly ironic way.) Young Doctors In Love have the potential to soon be filling up local venues — and most certainly will when they finally catch on. Why? Because you want to shake that. Don't act like that's a lie. We're on to you, Toronto. Plus: light-up guitars. - See more at: http://www.littleredumbrella.com/2014/05/cmw-2014-young-doctors-in-love-hard.html#sthash.rpKIeuum.dpuf - Little Red Umbrella

If television has taught us anything at all time and time again over the past thirty years, then we all know what happens when young doctors fall in love. Glances turn into long gazes, talk in the OR become flirtatious, repudiation turns to infatuation. And eventually, they venture forth and take that impassioned tumble together…as keyboard and guitar play in concord with each other. Wait, what did you think I was talking about? You people disgust me…

The six-piece Young Doctors In Love from Toronto have been plying their trade since they were founded by guitarist (and as their website refers to him) ‘genius composer’ Clay Puddester. They released their debut EP 5 Golden Greats in 2010, and after a lineup change that saw Katie Pearson taking over the reigns as the group’s lead singer, the band (also comprised of Pete Gorman, Chris Hudson, Jon Marck, and Amanda Li) is preparing to release their first full-length album sometime later this spring.

The band’s latest single “10:35″ is a bouncing, bubbly burst of energetic, twee-tinged indie pop. From the first listen there is little if anything to dissent about as the band seems to strike with a sonically perfect balance and sense of assembly. But there is far more to the song and the band then initially meets the eye (and ear), which elevates them from indie-pop also rans into something far more stellar and meaningful. This song demonstrates the band’s deft ability to pack more into a three-minute song than most bands can even begin to imagine. “10:35″ possesses a bevy of little melodic twists and turns, propelled by a series of key changes that the band employs halfway through, a swath of fetching vocal harmonies/interplay between Pearson and Li, and a dexterous sense of song structure. All of these factors come together to transform “10:35″ from another bit of twee-heavy indie pop into arguably the most refreshing and enthralling song of the type that I’ve heard in a long time.

Of course, we trusted them all along. After all, they are doctors…

The upcoming album from Young Doctors in Love called World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band is set to be released later this Spring. - Striker Bill

Refreshing candy music, with bloopy bits up top and a bluesy groove below. These Toronto indie popsters, who sing “Oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh, oh oh oh oh oh oh-oh” delightfully, are up to something – and we wanna know what.

Brad Wheeler March 30/2010 - The Globe and Mail

The splashy shows at this year’s North by Northeast festival are what generate buzz – we’re talking about the big, free concerts at Yonge-Dundas Square, including Iggy and the Stooges on Saturday – but the club shows are where the nitty and the gritty happen. The bright, promising Young Doctors in Love hope to get themselves in front of the right eyes in order to keep its career momentum continuing. “For all of us, this is our first successful band,” says guitarist-songwriter Clay Puddester. “A lot of people might think it’s unfashionable to sign with a label, but I don’t see how we could do it on our own, financially.

The Toronto guy-girl group, which came together through the magic of Craig’s List, this spring released its debut 5 Golden Greats, an EP of effervescent, well-crafted pop. The members are all trained musicians, and Puddester favours what he calls “fancy chords,” but there’s also an emphasis on entertainment. “The name of band comes from a film comedy from 1982,” explains Puddester. “It’s a constant reminder to use to keep it fun.”

Fun, clever pop music? Just what the doctor ordered.

Brad Wheeler

Published on Wednesday, Jun. 16, 2010 5:05PM EDT - The Globe and Mail

Their encounters were anything but casual when this Toronto band began to pick up steam, thanks to the irresistible pop found on their EP, 5 Golden Greats.

Who are they?
Neither MDs nor a band of lovers (though keyboardist Jen Short does work as a practising physiotherapist), shiny, poppy local five-piece Young Doctors In Love met on craigslist, when songwriter Clay Puddester posted an ad looking to form a new band after the demise of his terribly named venture, The Dreamy Boom Booms. Thanks to his flashy advertisement, he soon recruited Lesley McRae (vocals, guitar), Paul Erlichman (bass), Short (vocals, keyboards) and Chris Hudson (drums) into the fold, with the current lineup solidified less than a year after the initial ad was posted. Their encounters were anything but casual when Young Doctors In Love began to pick up steam, garnering favourable reviews on Herohill and in The Toronto Star, as well as cracking the top 10 charts at CIUT thanks to the irresistible pop found on their EP, 5 Golden Greats. This week they’ll make their NXNE debut at The Dakota Tavern. A full length is expected next year.

Cute name, but what does it mean?
Though Puddester and Erlichman insist their catchy name enjoys multiple meanings, the Garry Marshall movie satire of hospital dramas from the ’80s is “besides the point,” Erlichman suggests over an espresso at Manic Coffee on College. “I guess we wanted something that wasn’t taken, that was nerdy, fun and romantic.” The more cerebral Puddester has a different take:

“At a more deep level, our name both represents us and music itself, because there’s a technical side to music as well as an emotional side. So doctors are scientific people who analyze things, but they are capable of great love.”

Erlichman adds, “We’re essentially robots that know how to love.”

Do I hear an Of Montreal influence?
Toronto boy-girl bands are a dime a dozen, but rarely do they make songs like “Eloise and Her Sister Marta,” a blues-based candy confection whose lyrical verbosity matches its happy-go-lucky rhythms. Puddester’s songwriting on 5 Golden Greats reflects both his fondness for modal music and baroque Beach Boys harmonies, and the band build on these influences live, pulling off complex vocal arrangements thanks to the talented singing duo of McRae and Short. So maybe they’re secretly Toronto’s next Dirty Projectors, even if Puddester hasn’t employed his cannibal resources, just quite yet.

“People tend to say our music is quirky, but I don’t think it is,” Puddester insists. “I just think it’s rock ’n’ roll. I have my master’s in music from U of T, so I tend to think of music in orchestral arrangements, which is why I hand out sheet music for the band to play when we practice. I think there’s a difference between being direct and being simple. This music isn’t obvious on first listen.”

Enough with this shiny, happy people stuff. Where’s the sexual tension?
“We’re not Fleetwood Mac,” insists Erlichman. “I know you want us to be Fleetwood Mac, but I haven’t been within seven feet of any of these females. There’s a no-touching policy in the band.”

For now, Puddester insists that any romances among the members of Young Doctors In Love are with music only. And if the lineup doesn’t work out, there’s always craigslist.

Erlichman: “I got a bookshelf from there about a month ago. It was $30, which I suppose is a pretty good deal. But hopefully this band will last longer than the bookshelf.”

BY CHANDLER LEVACK June 16, 2010 21:06 - Eye Weekly

Toronto five-piece Young Doctors In Love has recently released 5 Golden Greats, an EP that is aptly titled and perfectly suited for sunny days and hot weather. These five tunes are catchy without being repetitive, hefty without being heavy, and unique without being precious.

Opening track “(And If You Really Want To) Say That Again” features an incredibly groovy bass line, and accompanied with throaty-yet-sweet girlie harmonies and zingy keyboards, it is somewhat reminiscent of “Echo Beach” by Martha and the Muffins, but still stands proudly on its own two (or ten?) feet.

“Don’t Turn Away,” exposes the gentler side of the band (I’m a sucker for harpsichord) and finishes with the kind of crunchy, wistful guitar solo (yes!) we need more of in modern pop music.

The vocal acrobatics in “Eloise And Her Sister Marta” bring The New Pornographers to mind, but this song has the decidedly unexpected advantage of slide guitar and an awesome bridge. Ending a tune with an “oooohh” full of longing is a superb touch.

“Oh Caroline” lifts its engaging opening riff from The Kinks’ “Come Dancing” and tosses in some harmonica and bouncy bass to make the song perfect for your own impromptu dancing.

Saving its best for last, the EP closes with “The Sound Of Broken Glass,” utilizing even more distinctive vocalizations and a swoony chorus/bridge that is harmonized rather than sung. Again, the band utilizes a longing “oooohh” at the end, this time melded with a musical flourish that makes you want to hear all five songs again right away.

Very well done, ladies and gentlemen. If you’re looking for a new summer jam, please check out Young Doctors In Love and 5 Golden Greats. It might just be the cure for what ails you.

By Less Lee Moore
- Popshifter.com

Toronto girl/boy five-piece Young Doctors in Love deliver five blasts of sugary indie pop on their polished debut EP. With its brisk tempos, relentlessly cheery melodies and lyrics that are all “bah bah bah” and “lah lah lah,” it brings to mind the Canadian west coast power pop of the New Pornographers and the Salteens.

What saves the tunes from saccharine overload are songwriter/guitarist Clay Puddester’s smart arrangements and considered structures. Sure, Oh Caroline veers awfully close to CCR’s Up Around The Bend, but (And If You Really Want To) Say That Again pulls off being disco-danceable and coolly sophisticated at the same time.

Top track: (And If You Really Want To) Say That Again

By Carla Gillis
- NOW Magazine

#5. YOUNG DOCTORS IN LOVE

“(And If You Really Want To) Say That Again”

In the wrong hands, a pop song can be a remarkably fragile thing. At its best, it can withstand all the capriciousness that changing trends can throw at it, yet expose it to even a whiff of irony and it is reduced to an object of pity and derision. Clearly this Toronto five-piece understands that relationship, as this — and all four other songs on their debut EP — demonstrate. So when we describe this track as a cross between Madonna’s “Open Your Heart” and The Divinyls’ “I Touch Myself,” trust that we say so without irony — and with admiration. (From 5 Golden Greats)

by John Sakamoto Mar.26/2010 - The Toronto Star

At some point it just becomes easier to stop looking for the great moment on a good record. It might seem silly to say, but the result is more an more records that get sent our way get tagged with the career stalling descriptor of "they're alright" and proceed to hover near the top of the review pile, but never reach the summit.

That's why when a record explodes out of the speakers with energy, confidence and talent, well, it's something to get excited about. Toronto popsters Young Doctors in Love are a quintet that has seemingly already mastered a recipe that all too many bands struggle with for years and still never get right; three-minute pop tracks built on terrific arrangements, female vocals and a rhythm section that keeps you moving. It's amazing how many bands use the same elements and can't find the right sound.

Instead of trying to craft fuse each track with unnecessary complexities, YDiL opt to follow the sage advice of Thoreau and simplify, simplify, simplify. Song writer Clay Puddester builds the hooks with catchy guitar work, but the rhythm guitar, synths, bass and drums move along side and over top of his chords perfectly. The band seems to know exactly not only who deserves the spotlight, but who should play the crucial supporting role (case in point: the bass line that keeps the harmonica driven Oh Caroline moving) and as a result every melody feels complete.

The 5-song EP never suffer from a letdown, and 5 Golden Greats really lives up to it's title. Now matter how tight and fun the melodies are, it's the vocal work that really seals the deal. Jen and Lesley litter the melodies with "bah, bah, bahs" and "la, la, las" (Eloise And Her Sister Marta and the infectious The Sound Of Broken Glass) and really give the songs the power and punch we've all come to expect from prototypical Canadian pop outfit, The New Pornographers.

Amazingly though, in the quick hitting 16-minutes, Young Doctors in Love not only display the potential to warrant comparisons to established acts with devout fans, but also the talent to stand on their own songs. Even the bold tempo change that starts the EP closer, Don't Turn Away, oozes with charisma and floats nicely, when in the hands of many it would sink. If these 5-songs are an indication of what the band has to offer, I'd guess Canadian indie-pop fans will be filing into their shows very, very soon.

Bryan Acker March 30/2010





- Herohill.com