Like the candy in "Candy Girl" or the radioactive Fresca of "Atomic Soda," Babybird's Ugly Beautiful has an addictive quality that leaves my mouth so sticky, my lips so red. Packed with poppy little peanuts, Babybird really satisfies.

Inside the foil wrapper of this particular Everlasting Gobstopper you'll find bright-red sex candy, the licorice sweetness wafting into yer nostrils as you snarf it into yer piehole. Don't chew, suck. Oh, yes. Yes!

Uh, sorry. Where was I? Oh yeah, Ugly Beautiful's got 15 tracks of mellow off-kilter, big-sound pop that graciously elevates itself above the merely ordinary with nearly every track. From the distant almost-trip-hop sterility of "Atomic Soda" to the sex-laden "You're Gorgeous" ("You said my clothes were sexy/ You tore away my shirt/ You rubbed an ice cube on my chest/ Snapped me till it hurt"), the band's latest effort offers a sweetness just askew enough to maintain interest in, and occasionally inspire amusement. Even the surprising "You and Me," with its heavy R&B; beat loop somehow fits with the delicately wry "45 and Fat." Frontman Steve Jones' vocals are reminiscent of Bono circa The Joshua Tree, amped up with plenty of electronic cleanliness, hold the pretension.

Ugly Beautiful doesn't bore you with depression, fire you up with jams or baffle you with obscurity; it's the sort of easy treat that can be enjoyed without fear of cavities. Put it in your lunchbox, but you may have some only after you eat your vegetables.

-James P. Wisdom