Review: Mackintosh Braun – The Sound

With their 2005 debut ‘Last Exit’, Junior Boys paved the way for bands to make electronic music that could be both cool and romantic. It’s quite possible that Portland, Oregon duo Mackintosh Braun can count on the Canadian outfit for showing them the way, for their short album wastes little time in delivering ten subtly crafted emotional songs.

Key components of the Mackintosh Braun “sound” are breathy vocal harmonies, pretty guitar textures and a production which finds a middle ground between ambient and synth-pop. This can be a problem  on a few of the songs such as ‘On And On’, which borders on the superficial due to the over-reliance on those harmonies and carefully processed beats. However, when the results are as lovelorn and melodic as ‘My Time’  and ‘Here’, the effect is to strike a fine balance between polished pop and haunted beauty.

Thanks to their carefully calculated songwriting and arrangement process, Mackintosh Braun may lack a little of the heart and soul of Junior Boys but their music has a universal appeal, which should appeal to electronica afficionados as well as casual listeners. So if this causes the duo to make further albums as addictive as ‘The Sound’ then we certainly have no reason to complain.

Web Sites:
Mackintosh Braun Official Site
Mackintosh Braun MySpace

Further Listening:
Junior Boys, Renfro

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