The Brunettes - Paper Dolls (2009)

We are now reaching the end of New Zealand Music Month and I had run out of NZ music cds (excluding my husband's Chills cd, which we have temporarily misplaced the case for, and I still have a number of cassettes to fall back on, anyhow). That was, until I went shopping today. To a music store. Two music stores in fact: the first, Penny Lane, almost lured me into purchasing Pumpkinhead's "Sloth" and the Nixon's "Foma". Luckily I resisted the latter, because I had neglected to remember that whilst there was an NZ band called The Nixons, they had to change their name to Eye TV due to the American grunge band by the same name. And this cd was that of the US band, misfiled in the NZ section.

Anyway, I found my way into another music store (Marbecks) and lucked upon this album instead, for the kingly sum of $10. Now, you might have come to the theory that I am a bit of a metalhead - so the fact that I now own all of the Brunette's full-length albums may surprise you. They are not even close to metal - they are bouncy, poppy; sweet and innocent with a touch of bubblegum and cotton candy. They are rainbows and kite flying; rollerskates and icecream. They are diners and discos; paper dolls and hairagami. They are a duo from Auckland that sound like the belong not only in California, but in California some 50 or more years ago.

They are a charming, quirky, whimsical and playful delight. As is reflected in the album cover. This one is a paperfold out affair with some lovely pencil renderings of Jonathan and Heather, including your very own set of very small paperdolls - complete with clothes. But don't cut them out, because you'll ruin your album cover! It has a clean and polished look to it, rather more whimsical to the sophisticated but sterile whiteness of "Structure..."

As the follow-up to "Structure and Cosmetics", this album also displays a distinct evolution from the 60s bubblegum of their first two albums. It seems they have now attained the 80s.

Piano starts us "In Colours". Colourful, playful, with tinkly, boppy rhythms and percussive instruments. Somewhat more electronic feel than the earlier two albums, and the drum machine merely accentuates that. Heather's voice starts us off, clear and sparkling like a bell, before Jonathan joins her in a harmonising echo.

The drum machine dominates "Red Rollerskates", synth/keyboards soaring back and forth like something from the 80s meeting the 60s - electronica meets retro. Jonathan's voice is distorted, fuzzy at the edges, Heather's chorus pure and sweet - as her asthma problem is cured by the acquisition of a pair of red rollerskates so that:

"...I bought some rope and red rollerskates - now I pull her 'round behind me"

Their lyrics are as delightfully quirky as ever.

Electronica synth retro makes "The Crime Machine" sound almost like an old computer game, bringing us into the 80s. Singing about the 1920s. Echoey computer voices and those high bauble notes should make it feel very dated, but it's so polished and smooth it's just beautiful.

The synth, drum machines and bobbly music continues in "Bedroom Disco" with its powerful rhythms that almost drown out Heather's silver voice. The Macarena is mentioned.

Only the Brunettes could make chip tunes* sound eerie, as "Paper Dolls" has a hauntingly spectral edge to it, enhanced by the slow, high guitar tremelo and the occasional dip and dive of string instruments. It is an unusually eclectic combination of sounds. Heather's voice is its usual, innocent and fragile self; whilst Jonathan's more droll and serious strikes a strange harmony. The lyric sheet finishes about halfway through the song, with some odd stationery references in the latter part:

"... a post it note beside the phone. An HB pencil sharpened well..."

It's time to make a "Connection". Opening with more of the eerie and synthesized keyboards, then the boppy, poppy rhythms come in, Heather's voice all pure sweetness and innocence. Interestingly enough, the lyrics reflect a more modern era than the music does, and it appears that they both enjoy French films. The drum machine is back in, along with some very tinkly rhythms.

There's something very, very familiar about the opening melody to "It's Only Natural". It certainly has very bouncy rhythms. When I saw it on the tracklist I was kinda hoping it would be a cover of a NZ classic, but it's a song about hair colour, I believe. Very boppy and retro. Polka dots and high hair.

And the drum machine is back; bringing with it a somewhat dance vibe. "Magic (No Bunny)" is another playful duet; combining Heather's high and playful innocence with Jonathan's more sophisticated, droll humour.

A hauntingly melancholic piece, "If I..." has a romantic feel to the music, and also the lyrics - until you start studying them closer. The duo discuss their feelings on what should happen if one of them were to, well, die:

"If I should accidentally die and leave you much too soon - would you play and sing our songs the same, with somebody new?"

The reference to Jonathan as a "sweet romantic tool" is quite amusing.

Guitars and actual drums bring us into the closing track, as the duet say "Thank You". To all of the fans, the listeners, around the world. It's bubbly and bright and kind of reminds me of ABBA.

Overall, this is a fun and playful album. The mix is not as strong as the previous endeavours: the electronica chip tunes drowning out the vocals in some of the tracks. Overall it seems a little less experimental, despite the 80s vibe to the instrumentation (I think I prefer the percussion, thank you) and lacks some of the freshness of the earlier albums. Whilst still a pleasing aural experience, it does feel rather like they've found their niche and are now stuck in it.

It's also a very short album, clocking in at around 35 minutes.

Rating 7/10.

* My husband just told me the official name for them!

The Brunettes - Structure and Cosmetics (2007)

This is the third full length album by the Auckland twee-pop duo. Some of the playful innocence has been lost, and the cover is more mature, more sophisticated depicting Jonathan and Heather in a white tiled room, Heather is applying make-up while Jonathan gazes up at the camera. It is all very clean, polished and stylish (somewhat marred by the crack across my plastic box, grrr, I think it was there when I bought it). Inside the booklet is equally as clean and polished - black font on bright white, no capital letters in sight (or any punctuation except ' and " and ...). I believe the cd is designed to look like a compact. Very meta.

We open with the dreamy, almost trance-like "brunettes against bubblegum youth". It is heavier on the electronica-pop feel than previous instlaments. Plenty of hand clapping, vocals and the triumphant hum of their various interesting instruments (glockenspiel,  mellotron, rhodes, melodica... I don't even know what half of these are!). Lyrics are repetitive, the same verse repeated numerous times.

"My sugar, my honey, my b-a-b-y, baby..."

Soothing and pleasant listening, but not overly stimulating or exciting.

 It merges right into "stereo (mono mono)" which is a fun piece, in which the two vocalists have fun with the vocals switching between speakers. Heather's voice is sweet and gentle, innocent as a butterfly's flickering wings. Jonathan's voice is low and soothing. This is a quite amusing piece.

"her hairagami set" is a soft, soothing, electronically dominated number. It has a cruisy, dreamy feel to it, like softly lying on a feather bed and drifting off into the clouds. It seems to be a song about playing with your hair. The video is really good - watch it!

Another slow and cruisy number, "credit card mail order" is dominated by Jonathan's vocals, with a melancholic air.

Now it appears to be time for an "obligatory road song" which is also slow and has a somber air. The lyrics are somewhat amusing, however:

"stealing motel condiments on our leap in the dark"

 Heather's vocals take over the melancholy in "small town crew". Another slow and somewhat bittersweet number, with some brilliantly moody backing instruments. It sounds a little like a piano accordian, but it could be an organ, I suppose? The pace picks up a bit at the end, soars and then drops away.

Sweet and innocent vocals lead us into the more typical Brunette duet of "if you were an alien" with its playful guitar strumming and vocal interchanges. Lovely harmonies and references to pop culture. Love it:

"if you were alien I'd call you my martian man
bake banana cake as you drive us through the doom..."

Poppy and maudlin, "wall poster star" begins with Heather, but Jonathan joins in. This feels like a song about the loss of innocence, even though the lyrics are relating mainly to the taking down of wall posters and moving onto a more sophisticated way of living. Which somewhat describes this album. For some reason, I really like this line:

"...bouquets are overrated and diamonds cost too much..."

Even though we're already slow, we drop down further into the bittersweet "structure and cosmetics" with its classical instrumentations. Another beautiful duet, switching between the two with the slow and quirky instrumentations adding little flourishes. It has a dreamy, haunting feel to it. A lovely conclusion to the album.

This album shows an increased complexity and more modern sound than their previous instalments, losing some of the childhood innocence and moving into a more mature, somber affair. The additional instruments - like the clarinet, the glockenspiel, organ, harmonica etc all add an extra element of dreaminess and bring it to life, but overall it lacks somewhat in the playful spirit, having a more sophisticated polish. Perhaps, like all of us, the Brunettes are growing up - albeit that they are doing it with tongue-in-cheek, ironic twists and little quirks!

Rating = 8/10.

Brunettes - Mars Loves Venus (2004)

Time for something a bit mellower, melodic and sweetly romantic, I think. Time for some more from that kiwi duo*, the Brunettes.

This is their second album, and it was released in 2004. It is fairly plain in the packaging department - the white cover features Jonathan and Heather, one at each side and a love heart and arrow in the center. Inside are the lyrics and a notice informing us that copying this disc is illegal. There is also Copy Control Technology on this disc, and when I put it in my drive it informs me there is an .exe program too. Now, my feelings on pirating music are mixed. I don't believe it's fair to the artists to have their songs stolen and distributed willy-nilly, but as a girl growing up in a small town in a small country in the days before the internet, a large proportion of my music was discovered through cassette mix tapes sent to me by my friends overseas. Since then, I have gone on to buy 100s of cds quite a few of which are from bands I would never have known about if I had not had these mix tapes. Also, the CCT means that if you own the cd but wish to add it to your computer (smartphone, ipod, ipad whatever) playlist then you can't. Except that I'm fairly certain with this one I just ripped it to my hard drive like I have (almost) every other CD I own. One of my other CDs pretended I had ripped it, then insisted I reinsert the disc into my computer if I wish to listen to it (one of my Epica ones, IIRC). For a band like the Brunettes that are not particularly well known, they are limiting themselves from being shared and heard.

Anyhow, semi-rant over. Let's get the Twee Pop a-spinning!

Album opens with "Mars Loves Venus" a redone version of one of their very first tracks. It's poppy and playful - with tambourines. To sweet and innocent, like cotton candy.

"Walk? We should run! Such is life under this burning sun..."

 Twangy guitars give us "Loopy Loopy Love". Another playful and delightful piece, with a slightly bitter edge to it:

"Gonna kill me a cupid cos a cupid causes love...."

 "Polyester Meets Acetate" is slower and kinda cruisey, with  Jonathan doing most of the singing.

Stirring organ leads us into "Too Big for Gidget", a duet in which both partners ponder falling in love with someone that they don't match up to. Height wise. Short and sweet.

"Whale in the Sand" starts with singing (squawking?) gulls/monkeys. Good rhythms. Repetitive lyrics. Kinda makes me feel summery and sunny, even if they're singing about a big dead whale (or maybe the elephant in the room is a similar concept).

Beautiful, gentle musically, "You Beautiful Militant" has rather harsher lyrics. Good beats, with a slightly discordant keyboard (or some sort of keyed instrument) edge to them.

"You pick up your gun and shoot everyone. You know what to do, to someone who don't like you."

 Jonathan takes charge of the vocals in "The Record Store". Lots of La-la-la-ing.

"These Things Take Time", like learning the clarinet. Which is how the song begins - clarinet, piano. Some nice do-doodo-dah piano playing. Maracas. Hand claps. All very school group 70s stuff. Possibly reminscent of Abba. Loads of percussion, including those little circles that clacker together. Castanets?

Bit more of an epic start to "Bestfriend Envy". Some melancholic guitar. Bouncy, but whiny lyrics - ah, jealousy raises its ugly head.

More melancholy, but "No Regrets". Beautiful, bittersweet; delicate piano accompaniment.

"Leonard Says" starts with Heather's tender, hurt vocals; then Jonathan interjects with the next line. You can actually hear Heather's kiwi accent in one of her lines. This is a conversation to musical accompaniment.

We end with the gloriously bittersweet "Your Heart Dies" in which Jonathan and Heather sing mournfully but tenderly to one another, switching out line-for-a-line. Contains what might be possibly one of the finest lines in a song:

"I could be as faithful as a seahorse and if you were a marine biologist you'd know how tender that line was."

 Mostly a vocal piece, the gentle, accompaniment of a banjo and light drums help create the maudlin mood. There's a little pause in the center, a couple of heart rending spoken lines and then more exquisitely moody instrumentation.

Another beautifully sweet, sensitive and somewhat sorrow-filled album. I love the playful innocence to the music, and the slightly darker side to some of the lyrics.

Let's go for an 8/10.

* and friends

The Brunettes - Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks (2002)

The first time I heard The Brunettes was in Takaka, where my now-husband (then boyfriend) and I were staying at a local inn-come-pub. The first night we were treated to the retro-vibes of this vocal duo and their backing band, as it came up through the floorboards and soaked through the walls. The next evening we had to endure the rather less charming sounds of Salmonella Dub, as their bass pounded through the floorboards, but from that moment on, I was intrigued by this Indie-pop band that sounded as though they had stepped from a time machine.

If you have read my earlier two entries in this journal, the inclusion of this rather sweet-sounding, bubblegum blowing band may surprise you. I do have a few more... eclectic tastes. And I do so hope there shall be some other unexpected surprises in store for you.

As you may also have guessed, to choose the CDs to listen to, I am working through the alphabet. For each letter, I shall play one CD until I reach the end of the alphabet, then I shall begin again. I do not have multiple CDs for every letter - I may not even have one for each letter, but we shall see - and it will save you from having the entire backlist of Helloween thrust upon you in one swell foop.

If you wish to hear the Brunettes for yourself, hop along to their MySpace page.

The CD packaging is designed to look rather retro - the two vocalists are pictured on the front, looking very clean and like they've stepped from the 70s (and yes, they are both brunettes), complete with circles (which make it look a little like a record) and a san serif font, the whole image is of clean and wholesome-ness. Almost an innocent vibe.

The interior contains a rather whimsical story about how the band formed -

"It all began on 90 mile beach where the two first crossed paths. Jonathan, a frisbee hurlin' widewalk surfin' highschool dropout and Heather, an innocent girl desperately running from her small-town ghosts...."

The songs are similar in tone, polished and sweet. We begin with "The Moon in June" - a quirky little short piece that merges into the longer duet of "Cupid".

"Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks" begins with ducks quacking. I love the playful-ness of this song, and Heather's voice is pure sweetness. It makes me think of summer days and long afternoons chillaxing in the park.

"Talk to Jesus" is a more mellow tune, and followed up by the boucier "Dancefloor" - a song which kind of wants to make you take to the dancefloor.

"Summer Love" is charming, especially since Heather is the one singing "... I could do with summer love with a girl named Sandy, I'm sure it's good..." It sounds like an innocent love song, but you cannot help but feel that there is a tongue-in-cheek cheekiness.

Take, for example, the lyrics to "Super Eight":

I don't like the hours
And the big blinding lights
I don't like the make-up
I just want the money"

This is followed up by the rather bouncier "Jukebox" in which Jonathan gets more vocal time. Once again, the lyrics are innocent and sweet.

"Mafioso" is fun - mostly mellow with a few uptempo moments as the two vocalists plan a afternon - a date, together that involves sarsapiralla and ice cream. Oddly enough, I cannot find the lyrics to this song online, getting something from some rap artist.

"End of the Runway" is very cruisy, complete with "sha-la-la-las".

We pick up the pace on "Cotton Candy", which comes across as a bit flirty and cheeky - "... at the rollercoaster I had tucked in my teddy... he told me I was just like Cotton Candy." Just brings mental images of a young lady, blowing bubblegum and holding an enormous teddy bear (such as one would win as a carnival price).

"Tell Her" is a rather melancholic break-up song, still in the sweet, innocent manner of the earlier pieces. A ratherlovely conclusion to the album.

All up, this is a fun album, with a playful innocence that is rarely seen nowadays. Very clean, very sweet, very much what I would refer to as "bubblegum pop" but yet there is a slightly cynical edge, where you get the feeling that the vocalists are teasing you - and having a damned fine time of it all.

Overall score = 7/10.