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The Brunettes:
Mars Loves Venus
Maybe Bill Drummond of the KLF was right when he imagined the pagan forces of the rabbit spirit Echo running through interstitial ley lines careering in from outer space to bounce off Iceland on a course towards Mathew St. in Liverpool until they twist and wriggle over the face of the earth into the uncharted mountains of New Guinea, where they once again shoot back into space. This would help explain why a Scandinavian band like The Raveonettes and a band from New Zealand like The Brunettes on the other side of the world would independently try to resurrect similar sounds of early American 60s girl pop that presently seem lost in the dank cultural bogs of the US, where the styles actually originated. Whether America is still getting it on with Echo or not remains unclear, but there is no question that The Raveonettes have conjured up the spirit of Ronnie Spector just as The Brunettes seem complacent to be flirting around with the sassy ladies of the Shang-Ri-Las. The Brunettes have been around since 1998, and they started out as a boy and girl couple that has grown into a ten-piece studio bubblegum machine. Unlike the Raveonettes, The Brunettes steer well clear of heavy guitars, preferring instead to jangle their guitars, squeak and tweak their keyboards, thwack on their glockenspiels and offer up an occasional round of the ancient art of the hand clap. This usually evokes a mood more reminiscent of The Shins. Well that makes sense, because The Brunettes just finished touring with such light-weight troopers as The Shins and Rilo Kiley. The keyboards are occasionally a bit more playful though, and Mars Loves Venus shares a bit of the inspiration used on this years Stars LP, Set Yourself on Fire. There is a bit more garage style in the tracks of Mars Loves Venus, and this contrasts a bit with the grandiose productions of say, Shadow Morton. Still, the lo-fi edge doesnt make the songs any less pretty. It might take two or three listens to warm up to these tracks, but youll soon be glad that you put in the time. The lyrics actually are pretty great in parts, and they end up wedding a bit of retro innocence with some modern cynical silliness. Polyester Meets Acetate is a good example as Jonathan Bree sings Shes a conquest in heels, so in touch with style and grace, when all the fools in school go OoooWooo, I wish they would all go huff paint. Perhaps this song comes from the same interstitial ley line that zapped Joey Ramone one day as it coursed through the filthy streets of Queens New York. Maybe if I wasnt so hung over in Physics class six years ago, I might have a better idea of how these things work. Regardless of such quantum mechanics, the tough 50s street chic of co-vocalist Heather Mansfield still sounds fabulous in tracks such as These Things Take Time, and in the end, thats more than enough to keep me happy.
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