If you read any press about Montreal electro-pop duo Hexes & Ohs, you'll quickly notice two things.

One, much is made out of the fact that Edmund Lam (guitar, electronics, vocals) and Heidi Donnelly (bass, electronics, vocals) happen to be a long-time couple; and two, people really like to talk about how cute they are.

While both those things are undeniably true of the band, Lam says it's frustrating when the band's couple factor overshadows the music it makes.

"I think (being a couple) kind of becomes a focus when people talk to us," Lam says from the pair's home in Montreal. "We worry people typecast us as this cutesy couple band, but we're not like that. It just makes sense for us to play together."

Lam, 29, and Donnelly, 26, have been in various music projects together for nearly a decade - and Hexes & Ohs has easily been the most fruitful of their collaborations. The band just released its sophomore album, Bedroom Madness, earlier this week, and is about to embark on a cross-country tour (its first) in support of it.

"We're definitely excited about the record. It took us three years to finish this one," Lam says. "We played a lot of shows between the last album and this one."

Hexes & Ohs can thank their 2005 debut, Goodbye Friend, Welcome Lover, for keeping them busy. The album - a DIY effort that was created in the couple's apartment - went on to snag the duo industry showcases at Canadian Music Week, North By Northeast, Pop Montreal and CMJ as well as opening spots for Mates of State, Sloan, Tokyo Police Club and We Are Wolves. Goodbye Friend... also reached No. 2 on the Canadian campus radio charts in 2005, and remained in the Top 10 for several months.

That hyper-exposure translated into gigs in Montreal and Southern Ontario - and lots of them. Though the band's show schedule meant that a sophomore record was often put on the back burner, it also allowed the duo to find its sound.

"We've learned a lot and I think we've developed more of a live approach," Lam says. "Before, we wrote a lot more in the studio, and we'd add a lot of layers and things. Now I think it's more natural and organic sounding."

The resulting Bedroom Madness is an impossibly hooky, dance-floor ready romp full of squiggly synths, propulsive bass and perfect boy/girl vocals that could charm the Chucks off any discerning hipster.

Lam says Hexes and Ohs' new live-band approach to electronica - not unlike that of fellow Canuck electrorock luminaries Holy Fuck and Shout Out Out Out Out - has made its music more fun for both fan and band.

"I think there's a lot more energy and it's more about feeling," Lam says. "It's more about how we feel when we play as opposed to songs we like on paper.

"It takes itself less seriously," he adds. "It sounds like we're more comfortable. We've become better songwriters and better performers. Everything feels more natural."

HEXES AND OHS
Sept. 9, Lo Pub w/ Chords of Canada
Sept. 18, Lo Pub w/ The Golden Dogs