Something unexpected is heard at the beginning of the first full-length effort from locals My Dad vs. Yours: A voice. Specifically, a child's voice enquiring as to whether we're listening.

We are. And the band's devoted fans need not worry: The remainder of the CD's eight tracks are unsoiled by vocals -- well, at least until our young hostess returns with some friends to take us back to the playground for After Winter Must Come Spring's final track.

In between those recesses the accomplished quintet -- Arturo Brisindi, Jose Palacios, Ben Stanford, Kelsey McNulty and Tom Herbert -- host a playtime of their own, leading us through a set of instrumental numbers that embody the refreshing essence of the album's title.

"It's really more 'How I spent my summer vacation,' " Brisindi jokes. The album was for the most part recorded last August in Montreal, while the band was holed up in an under-construction bed and breakfast. Further work was done locally at The Gallery and at Bova Studios.

And, Palacios says with pride, it was all done using analogue equipment.

"I've always been on the fence over the whole analogue-vs.-digital thing," he adds, "but this settled it for me."

Further to that revelation is the hope that After Winter will soon be available on vinyl. For now, though, we'll have an opportunity to snap up one of 1,000 copies of the CD that is already generating interest in such exotic places as Japan.

Saturday, My Dad vs. Yours, a band of few words, will let its beautiful music do the talking at Babylon.

It's one more sign that spring has indeed come.