Last week I asked “Whither twee?”, and the postman must have heard my question because what should show up in my mailbox but the debut album from UK duo The Boy Least Likely To. Released in the UK last year but only getting a North American issue last month (though I’m not sure how distribution on it is – Amazon still only has it as an import), The Best Party Ever revels in the duo’s wimpiness.

From the cover art on down, this package is about as edgy as a rubber ball and unashamedly so. Even though some of the song titles hint at something a bit darker (“I Sleep With A Gun Under My Pillow”, “I See Spiders When I Close My Eyes”), there’s nothing here so sinister that it can’t be dispelled with a night light and security blanket. The songs are gently adorned with banjo, keyboards and flutes but are acoustic strummers with rich, singalong melodies at their heart. It’s all terribly pretty and maybe a little maddening – like being trapped in sun-dappled meadow with the biggest damn teddy bear’s picnic ever. They may be The Boy Least Likely To, but they’re the band most likely to spontaneously turn into stuffed animals.

Their first headlining North American tour brings them to Toronto on June 10 for a show at Revival with The Bicycles, who may well have finally found a band that makes them look badass by comparison. They were in town back in March opening for James Blunt at Massey Hall, but I don’t expect much of their fanbase could justify the cost or the Blunt. The Straight talks to the band about their concious choice to not rock.

They might happily invite you to their best (tea) party ever, but don’t expect too much sharing of the goodies – the only downloadable I’ve been able to find is via the SxSW website. Even the video for the same song is streaming only. There’s much streaming action on their MySpace page and So Much Silence has a recent session for KCRW MP3-ed and ready to go with an extended discussion about the band’s dangling preposition for good measure.

MP3: The Boy Least Likely To – “Please Be Gentle With Me”
Video: The Boy Least Likely To – “Please Be Gentle With Me” (MOV)

And the whole of Camera Obscura’s North American tour has been announced and Tripwire has them. The July 4 show at the Horseshoe in Toronto is the first of the tour – if you’re gonna go, I recommend getting tickets sooner rather than later. The ‘Shoe ain’t that big. Let’s Get Out Of This Country comes out June 6.

This week on UK frontmen gone solo: Roddy Woomble of Idlewild will put out My Secret Is My Silence on July 24 in the UK – Filter has some deets. Brett Anderson of Suede and The Tears has completed his solo record and will release it early next year and Pitchfork has a preview of Radiohead’s Thom Yorke’s solo record The Eraser which is out July 11.

Faceculture has a slew of video interview clips with Grandaddy’s Jason Lytle and one video clip of Lytle performing “Underneath The Weeping Willow”.

The Toronto Star reports that birthday boy Bob Dylan will be played in an upcoming biopic by… Cate Blanchett. And Heath Ledger. And Richard Gere. And Christian Bale. I’m Not Here is being directed by Todd Haynes of Velvet Goldmine fame and should be, at the very least, interesting.

np – Serena-Maneesh / Serena-Maneesh