Paper Dolls

It’s fitting that Paper Dolls is the first Brunettes album to be released worldwide on the group’s Lil’ Chief Records: Heather Mansfield and Jonathan Bree go in a more experimental, smaller-sounding, altogether more independent direction here than they did on the comparatively lavish Structure and Cosmetics. Bree introduces more drum machines and synths into the band’s sound than ever before, particularly on “Bedroom Disco,” a percussion workout that sparkles with steel drum-like keyboards, and “The Crime Machine,” which sets Mansfield’s wish to go back to the ‘20s to a new wave backdrop that sounds distinctly ‘80s. However, storytelling and romance are still at the heart of the Brunettes’ music on Paper Dolls. Bree and Mansfield sound like a couple so in love that they’d be infuriating if they weren’t so adorable, especially on “Red Rollerskates,” a strange and sweet tale of a boyfriend who solves the problem of his girlfriend’s asthma by rolling her around town on roller skates and a rope. “Magic (No Bunny)” is even quirkier and more confectionary, with a melody and “sha la la”s that nod to the Carpenters’ “Yesterday Once More” and exchanges like “I may have to stop and rest a while/Well, that’s OK, you can buy me a Coke.” Psych pop-tinged album opener “In Colours” and “It’s Only Natural” show that the Brunettes’ pop instincts are firing on all cylinders on most of Paper Dolls, but they hop from those songs to the album’s surreal, expansive title track in a way that feels more unfocused than eclectic. Even if Paper Dolls isn’t as ambitious or immediately satisfying as Structure and Cosmetics, it offers plenty of small pleasures for Brunettes fans, who still walk the line between cheery and melancholy in their own unique way. – Heather Phares