In the minute it'll take you to come to grips with MTTM's mysterious (and unexplained) name, try listening to our Real Audio clip. You're guaranteed to spend the rest of the day humming the chorus to "Out of Underground", one of a handful of standout cuts on this second album from the Portland-based band. Composed of husband-and-wife songwriting and guitar-playing team Aaron Santigian and Hilary Spray, bassist Loni Jo Lane and drummer Rick Barry, MTTM load their songs with sing-along melodies, humor, and a wistful air of nostalgia. Everyone in the band sings, in attractive if slightly off-kilter harmony.

"December 1983/Atari was brand new to me," Santigian sings at the start of "Atari", a seemingly autobiographical number filled with childhood memories. The lyric embodies one of the band's strengths, a voice which speaks directly to members of a certain demographic; anyone (well, okay, mostly anyone white and sub- or exurban) born in the early '70s will recognize a certain aesthetic at work here, in MTTM's words as well as their sound. The more pop-oriented side of Throwing Muses and early REM have influenced MTTM, but the band's jangle doesn't play as pastiche. A break from the bursting-guitar sound comes on the quiet, acoustic "Kill the Dream", which explores the plight of a band at the moment when they're either going to be on the way up or on the way out. "We got there in spite of ourselves," marvels Santigian, clearly surprised at the twisting path that his musical life has taken.

A couple of tracks on 1/3 Less Fun are throw-aways, bursts of melody that don't seem to have a song to hang themselves on. For the most part, though, MTTM appear to be a band with a bright future. Although recorded in a basement and an apartment and imbued with personal spirit, the album doesn't trade in lo-fi cliché. Fully formed and brightly recorded, the songs here move deliberately, slowing things down so that every note can be accounted for. The beautifully designed CD provides a clue to the band's attention to detail: the flower on the front loses more petals in each subsequent picture in the booklet, with only one remaining by the back of the case. Like that tenacious petal, MTTM's songs will remain in your head through the windiest of days.