The Brunettes

Structure and Cosmetics

(Sub Pop)

Record Review by Amber Henson

The Brunettes, both in their music and their stage performances, can be said to be a rather energetic group. Their new album, however, is more subdued than what has come from them in the past. Structure and Cosmetics starts out with big, bombastic songs, but quickly mellows into tracks that seem to radiate sadness and contemplation. This isn’t to say that this album is not every good as the others, it’s just something of a change.

There are new things that are happening with this album. The first track, “B-A-B-Y,” is sung by choir. There are less duets on this album; Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield each get a few songs just to themselves. And some of the songs seem to be based on a minor scale, different from their usual upbeat songs, and contributing to the subdued sound.

But there are also many familiar things on this album. Bree and Masnfield talk back and forth to each other quite a bit, as is their ‘thing’. There are a lot of ‘oohhs’ and ‘aahhs’. There are tracks where they sound like their voices were recorded on my Casio keyboard, circa 1987. And there are songs that are so chock full of musical instruments I wouldn’t be able to name all of them and keep this review from being five hundred words long.

“Credit Card Mail Order” has the repeating line “Girl, you need love.” I’m not sure if I approve of this message, but it has some awesome clarinet solos, of which 99% of pop songs are sadly bereft, so I guess I’ll let it go. And other tracks confirm what I’d already suspected of this band: a healthy obsession with aliens.