The Brunettes, Structure and Cosmetics

There are enough claps and chorus singers on “Brunettes Against Bubblegum Youth,” the first track of The Brunettes’ Structure and Cosmetics to make up for any failings on the rest of the album. That leads right into “Stereo (Mono Mono),” however, and the album’s true colors start to show. It’s innovating and catchy enough to reel in the casual indie-rocker, but there’s not a lot beyond that.

Female vocals carry the album, and the male half bogs it down with a kind of maudlin charm best reserved for the modern sissified musical. The comparisons the band draws from The Shangri-las are the best part of the album — I can’t claim to have ever heard the Shangri-las, but I can imagine from their name that they like haunting melodies, lots of background vocals that sound like they’re not supposed to be in the background, and the occasional mandolin. Think of being in a dreamlike, drug-induced apathy, and that’s the band.

The Brunettes really have the potential, though, if every song didn’t sound the same. The notable exception is “Obligatory Road Song,” which starts off cheesy enough, then turns into a well-placed radio-friendly, almost beautiful track. Heather Mansfield’s vocals shine the most on said track.

Don’t compare them to fellow kiwi-huggers and label-mates Flight of the Conchords, mind you; there’s no humor on Structure and Cosmetics. There are lots of “la la la”s on the album, so maybe you could compare them to the Conchords for that, but not the rest.

Maybe Heather should ditch bandmate Johnathan Bree and the whole boy/girl indie group thing before it gets too played out. Then Structure and Cosmetics would be brilliant. She’s the primary vocalist on “Small Town Crew,” the best song on the album for obvious reasons. Bree did write the bulk of the album’s songs, however, and the lyrics are generally pretty great, so maybe I should cut him some slack.