The Brunettes - If You Were Alien

AUG 07 2007 · 12:00

The Brunettes - If You Were Alien (2007) Era: Mid-2000s New Zealand Indie Pop Ascendancy (2007) - Sub Pop-era chamber pop breakthrough coinciding with The Brunettes' first US label release and international touring peak High curatorial value as a rare official video artefact from The Brunettes' peak commercial period on Sub Pop, representing the international visibility moment of the New Zealand Lil' Chief Records scene. The slow, contemplative pacing (avg shot 10.58s), high saturation (138.65), and warm colour temperature (2.89) create a visually distinctive document of mid-2000s antipodean indie pop aesthetics. Valuable for archives focused on global indie pop diaspora, Sub Pop's mid-2000s roster expansion, and the intersection of chamber pop music and theatrical low-budget video production. Context: Released in 2007 as part of The Brunettes' Sub Pop debut Structure and Cosmetics, 'If You Were Alien' captures the Auckland indie pop band at their international commercial peak. Fronted by Jonathan Bree and Heather Mansfield, the duo formed in 1998 from Auckland's garage-infused indie scene, inspired by 1960s girl groups and 1970s punk. Their Sub Pop signing in 2006 marked their first US label release after years on their own Lil' Chief Records imprint. The video's sci-fi romance conceit mirrors the album's lyrical blend of cosmic whimsy and intimate emotional storytelling, sitting within a broader mid-2000s global twee and chamber pop revival that included acts like The Pipettes, Belle & Sebastian, and Architecture in Helsinki. The Brunettes' music has been described as 'Shangri-Las-reminiscent' by Sub Pop themselves, and the warm, saturated visual palette of this video reinforces that retro-pop lineage. Director notes: The official video was released in 2007 in conjunction with the album Structure and Cosmetics on Sub Pop Records (US) and Lil' Chief Records (NZ). The song was written and produced by Jonathan Bree. No production company, director, or crew credits have been surfaced by web search for this specific video.