THE TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2010 #17 - The Brunettes: Paper Dolls

 

THE TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2010
#17 - The Brunettes: Paper Dolls

Words by Dirk Calloway

Preface: You're reading part 4 of a daily series I'm doing, which lists my Top 20 Albums of 2010. I listened to 81 albums last year, so feel like I'm entitled to act like I know what I'm doing. If you disagree, feel free to let me know in the comments below. Come back tomorrow for more! Previous entries were New Young Pony Club's 'The Optimist'; Spoon's 'Transference' and Eminem's 'Recovery'.

Many New Zealanders' first memories of The Brunettes stem from the lightning-in-a-bottle classic Boyracer. Using a faux-Spanish vibe mixed with their standard bubble-gum pop twee, the group lampooned the "cars screeching... gears grinding... gravel and glass..." and in the process mocked Fast and Furious culture perfectly. But that was 2003 and now it's 2011, so have they moved on sonically? Are they still the group that sung titles like Cotton Candy and Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks?

Safe to say that The Brunettes have matured a whole lot in recent times. They signed with Sub Pop (indie rock record label who previously signed groups like Nirvana, Fleet Foxes, Soundgarden, etc) and this album's been released by choice-as Lil' Chief Records, while they've proceeded to tour or open for world-class groups like Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and Beirut. They've seen the world in the last decade and it must've smelled like stale beer a lot of the time. Indeed, the group seems to consciously recognise this with their first music video of the record, what with Jonathan Bree walking across the globe for most of it:

If you watch the above video, you'll realise that it's laden with a looping 808-sounding drum beat. It's nothing fancy, but it keeps the song popping along nicely. The album is filled with programmed rhythms and it's all the better for it. Each new beat makes sure you think the album sounds merely 'nostalgic' instead of '50s twee'. As an added bonus too, the driving snares also dial down the intensity from the band. I don't know about you, but when I play a pop record in the presence of others, I want to make sure it's always pushing forward to the next beat. Previous records of The Brunettes have consciously played with the dynamic shift between 'clap clap' and 'earnest singing,' which can make for a disjointed listen when you've put on at a dinner party! Sonically, Paper Dolls is more like The Ting Ting's We Started Nothing than a faux-Doris Day record, and thus The Brunettes earned back my attention.

The reason they're in The Top 20 though is the beautiful song called If I. Each time I hear it, I'm floored by its arrangement. The song is based around the standard "call and response" technique the two singers have based their career on, but they're asking each other some hard-hitting questions like, "If I should accidentally die - leaving much too soon - would you play and sing our songs the same, with somebody new?" The orchestration perfectly compliments the over-earnest delivery of the lyrics, building up to a trumpet-laden climax with real drums and a bunch of well chosen organ sounds. In its darkness, its the nearest The Brunettes have ever gotten to (another New Zealand favourite) Goldenhorse. In 2010, a year of cold financial chills, they've delivered a song with the warmth of Radiohead's No Surprises. You can check out a - surely unsanctioned, but usefully available... - 'video' of it here on the Youtubes:

Well, that's the highlight of the album. What's the 'lowlight'? That would be the opening track, In Colours. Its hook is too damn catchy, which is precisely why I won't find a version of it to link to. If I do, it'll be in your head for days on end. The song itself has this 'break down' section that sounds like The Brunettes' version of a Kiss-styled foot stomping bridge. It's got a guitar part that reminds me of U2, which is not a good way to endear me to an album from the get go either. Until I wrote this blog I had completely forgotten about this song, because I'd banished it from my iPhone many moons ago. I listened to the complete CD from end-to-end though and instantly cringed when I heard In Colours again. It called into question my judgement for including the album at all. But, I assured myself, that at least it's the first song. If you've got it on CD, you just start from Track 2, and if you're of the Apple products (TM) generation you can just delete it from whatever MP3 player you use. It's the one blemish of an otherwise perfect record.

That wraps up today's post folks, make sure you read on for tomorrow's addition to the list. #16's by someone who's now dead! Not often that happens on a Best Of The Year list!