The Brunettes @ Schubas (4/4/2006)

Hailing from the city of Auckland, New Zealand, the Brunettes have carved out a career spanning eight years. Listening to the Brunettes, one might hear a doo-wop band buried inside a melodic pop band buried inside a garage rock band; each layer is as interesting as the last.

Plus, a rock band that incorporates an ironing board with their stage setup has to know something about putting on a good show.

After an opening slot the previous night for up-and-comers Clap Your Hands Say Yeah at Metro, the Brunettes took an evening to headline a show at Schubas. The band’s return to Chicago held some sentimental value since it was in Chicago at the Elbo Room, almost a year to the day, that the band made their first stateside appearance.

A trumpet, saxophone, banjo, lap steel guitar, keyboards, xylophones, and noise shakers that produced duck quacking were just some of the instruments that cluttered an already small stage for the six-piece band. The band’s leaders, Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield, tiptoed their way through the stage, smiles on both faces eager to get the show underway. The crowd that was once standing in the middle of the room during the night’s two openers now huddled the stage.

The soft, innocent voice of Mansfield soon commanded the room the moment “Baby” started off the show; its ‘60s pop tones harkened back to early Beach Boys. From 2004’s Mars Loves Venus (Lil’ Chief Records), the lighthearted confessional “Loopy Loopy Love” scored with its catchy hooks and melodies.

Here was a band that was completely of a different musical era but had a strong enough sense of that music that they never came off as a novelty act. The Brunettes ran into the occasional bump in the road; technical issues with Bree’s guitar slowed the momentum of the show and it was clear that Mansfield was fighting a hoarse voice. These problems still weren’t enough to hold the band back. It was at these times when the garage band aspect of the Brunettes revealed itself.

Mansfield found her voice during a new song, a sweet tune bridging the Beach Boys and the Carpenters called "If I." It was during the menacing “Best Friend Envy” when the Brunettes really shined the brightest. Bree and Mansfield traded off haunting vocal parts that made the head spin and the body dance.

The songs played more as conversations with the crowd and less like stories; sometimes the dialog between Bree and Mansfield evoked the boy/girl melodrama the Brunettes are known for crafting.

In what had to have been the evening’s most amusing moment, the band showed off their theater skills by donning masks of two of America’s beloved flavors of the month: Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. The song, “Mary Kate & Ashley,” was as hilarious as it was slightly disturbing. You kind of stop listening to the lyrics when six people wearing either a Mary Kate or Ashley Olsen mask are dancing around playing instruments on stage. But to the crowd the joke was well received.

The Brunettes charmed and delighted the crowd with their energy and genuine excitement. Clever songs and intriguing sounds make the Brunettes more than just your average band. As waves of disappointment were voiced throughout the crowd over the band’s decision to not perform a second encore, Bree shrugged his shoulders and frowned as he waved goodbye from the stage. Albeit a small gesture, it summed up the type of evening people had with the Brunettes; they simply didn’t want it to end.

All Photos By: Chris Castaneda