Personnel: Joel Gibb (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, electric 12-string guitar, nylon-string guitar, wah-wah guitar, kazoo, piano, organ, synthesizer, keyboard bass, vibraphone, marimba, glockenspiel, drums, drum machine, cymbals, steel drum, tambourine); Kristen Moss (harp); Owen Pallett (violin, piano, celesta); Nana Jokura (violin); Luief Mosbaugh (viola); Amy Laing, Don Kerr, Mike Olsen (cello); Ohad Benchetrit (flute); Phil Seguin (trumpet); Jennifer Scolfield (French horn); Scott Good (trombone); Matias Rozenberg (keyboard bass, drums, spoons, percussion); Maggie MacDonald (vibraphone, glockenspiel); Michael Gambacurta (marimba); Paul Mathew (double bass); Lex Vaughn (drums, maracas, timpani).

Recording information: Rogue Studio, Toronto, Canada (12/09/2003); Trinity St. Paul's Church, Toronto, Canada (12/09/2003).

Photographers: Joel Gibb; Guntar Kravis.

For an album so wrought with homoerotic themes and graphic sexuality, Joel Gibb sings it surprisingly straight. Meaning, it's rather easy to get lost in the classic timbre and inflection of his voice, before realizing the lyrics are rather blue. (Listen to "That's When the Ceremony Starts" for irreverent lines that stand out like a hooker in church.)

As primary songwriter/musician/producer, Gibb takes the quirky subtlety of the Hidden Cameras' 2003 debut, THE SMELL OF OUR OWN, and turns it up a few dozen notches with more grandiose pop orchestration and further tales of sexual struggle and triumph. Rather brilliant arrangements sprawl out over the course of the album, as if Belle & Sebastian honed their melodic skills even further. The Hidden Cameras' AM-radio pop is thoroughly hooky, though it's the massive strings and melodies in songs like "Fear Is On," that elevate the band to its reputation as a "gay folk choir." Whatever the case, chances are music this randy is unlike anything in the church organist's repertoire.