The Tokey Tones

It felt like The Place To Be, a chilly Saturday night at the Odeon Lounge on Mt Eden Rd, where beards and beanies mingled with bFM listeners and those who had somehow heard about the seductive, string-splashed sounds of Auckland's Tokey Tones.

This was the launch of their Caterpillar and Butterfly, two simultaneously released albums in complementary, eye-engaging covers by Auckland artist Misery, and the buzz was big.

After the usual setting up - six people and their gear plus three string players in an area the size of a garden shed - the evening unfolded and the spirit of pop classicist Brian Wilson was in the air.

When the band later struck up the Shirelles' 60s classic Baby It's You, the elegance of Hal David and Burt Bacharach swept through. Later again the ambitious pop architecture of the young Martin Phillipps was conjured up in a cover of the Chills' Kaleidoscope World.

But these were mere reference points, and it was the fragile originals which captivated and silenced a crowd previously distracted by drinks and conversation. An often childlike delivery on songs of innocence and experience meant the usual expectations of "a gig" were inverted.

The understated albums will redefine pop music for many: Caterpillar opens with a pastoral folk feel which also suggests Hawaii before the breathy vocals of Scott Mannion and Li-Ming Hu enter, a string section picks up the ethereal mood, and later there is an even more persuasive suggestion of the Pacific in a gentle shimmer of slide guitar.

But if the title Caterpillar suggests something capable of transforming itself, then Butterfly reveals a more traditional pop element and songs which take quiet flight. There has been nothing quite so tasteful, fully realised or confident in Kiwi pop.

Later in the week Mannion is in a bar after work at university. Last year he worked the day job, did two university papers, and was felled by a bout of glandular fever for two months. He also engineered the Brunettes' Holding Hands Feeding Ducks album and runs Lil Chief Records which has released the Brunettes and Tokey Tones.

In the past month Mannion has overseen the TT album release, organised the ambitious gig - which also had an exhibition by Misery and was opened by the Gladeyes - and set up the website (lilchiefrecords.com) for his label. He should be an emotional wreck.

On launch night his eyes nervously flitted from player to player and to the sound desk. Here was the man in control, realising the music in his head.

Embarrassed by compliments about the albums and the gig, and cautious lest he be misinterpreted, Mannion is justifiably wary of being pigeon-holed. Sure, he's listened to Brian Wilson - has the box sets of Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations - and 60s music, but in a free-ranging chat says he's enjoying tropicalia sounds and Serge Gainsbourg, and of course is tuned in to heaps of present-day music. He feels slightly awkward doing covers of the Shirelles and Chills because he has so much respect for the originals.

He laughs about being drawn on what he likes: "Because you say, 'the Velvet Underground' and often people just say that because it's cool, or because you're supposed to say that ... You can hear influences on the albums, but it's a real mish-mash and I'd like to think it's coherent and works for itself."

Mannion has crammed a lot of listening - and some playing - into the past few years. For three years he was in Polaar, a group in which he wrote most of the songs but which began as a democracy. 'Then my taste started to deviate and I wanted to produce. But if I was doing that I wanted do stuff that was different. So I broke off with Li-Ming to form Plasticene, which was me mostly, but she was on the same wavelength and we had people help us to play live."

Polaar won a bNet award for best new act, they did some recordings (nothing Mannion was happy with) and Plasticene started while Polaar was still going. The name lives on as Plasticene Recording Projects, the banner under which the Brunettes and Tokey Tones fall.

Tokey Tones - the name is not a drug reference, Tokey was Hu's childhood toy of a stuffed dog and Mannion liked the sound of the name - is a concept more than a band and he'd been avoiding Tokey Tones playing live for as long as he could. "It's about me writing some songs and choosing who I think will contribute best to them, but at the end of the day I need a band to promote it."

And a string section. Mannion - who credits Hu, a cast member of Shortland Street, with contributions on about half the material - says he has had some musical training. "But I'm pretty anti-theory. I can read and write music to a point. I can sight read but I'm not quick. If I look at a score I can basically see what's going on. I wrote probably 80 to 90 per cent of the Tokey Tones albums, Li-Ming did half the string arrangements but she notated it all - she's better at that.

"I feel a bit funny when I say I'm a mu - NZ Herald

These simultaneously released two albums by the Tokey Tones - the Auckland duo of Scott Mannion and Li-Ming Hu and friends - deliver more askew art-pop whimsy than is safe to take all at once.

Making label-mates the Brunettes (some of whom guest) sound like the Datsuns by comparison, TTT's approach is almost drummer-free throughout. But it's big on quietly twangin' and gently strummed guitars, xylophones, kid-friendly percussion and the pair's sweet-nothing vocals which, on the likes of Caterpillar track Love Done Me No Goodn,f can come on like the Carpenters being covered by Sparklehorse.

As the name suggests, Butterfly has more lift over the relatively weightless Caterpillar The former's Moon and So On, Yoghurt and Vinegar, Juxtapose and The Observatory suggest there's ambitions towards wriggly Flaming Lips-like psychedelia which offset the occasional twee patches and song-sketchiness. A doubly cute debut.

By RUSSELL BAILLIE - NZ Herald

From the whimsical characters frolicking on the cover on down, New Zealand's Lil Chief Records are just about the cutest indie pop label on the planet and Now We Are Three!!! is a collection that celebrates their third year on the planet, with one song from each record they released between 2002 and 2005. The label's stars are the wonderful Brunettes; they are goofy, charming, and painfully romantic and create magically tiny symphonies that sound like they were recorded in a closet of the Brill Building. Their three tracks here show the bouncy side of the band ("Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks"), the sad and romantic side ("Your Heart Dies"), and the uncharacteristically snide and dark side of the band too ("Maybe White Palisades"). Getting two songs apiece are the Tokey Tones and the Nudie Suits, the former being a sticky-sweet indie-with-electronics group with very strong melodies and melt-in-your-ear vocals, the latter a country-influenced group with slightly askew lead vocals, candy-coated harmonies, and jaunty tunes. The Tokey Tones' "Glitter and Paste" and the Nudie Suits' "Hasten Down to Music City" are both cool enough songs to get you motivated to seek out the full albums. The rest of the groups are plenty good too: Shaft's "Just Because" is a lovely melancholy ballad, Edmund Cake's "Beautiful Sleep" is achingly pretty chamber pop, Ryan McPhun and the Ruby Suns' "Birthday on Mars" starts out as such also but about halfway through breaks into a country-rocker that would have been the best thing on Grandaddy's last record. Best of all may be former Tall Dwarf Alec Bathgate's track; it is the least cute song on the record but is compelling and quite melodic. Count on Lil Chief for the highest quality of indie pop. Now We Are Three!!! is all the proof you need. - allmusic.com review

Caterpillar 4/5
Butterfly 5/5

We're not worthy. No really, we're not. Before we've even got over swooning like first-time lovers to the folk-rockin' snooze-pop of Phoenix Foundation's Horse Power LP, another boundlessly beguiling pop album emerges from a local studio and insinuates itself into our consciousness.

Or rather, two LPs. Caterpillar, according to its makers The Tokey Tones (Scott Mannion and Li-Ming Hu, she of Shortland Street fame), is "more laid-back/organic" while sister album Butterfly - released simultaneously - is "more upbeat/poppy".

Good thing they told me. I listened to Butterfly first and a more laid-back album I have seldom heard. The rich upholstery of the harmonies rose up to embrace me like a favourite armchair. The background instrumentals flickered and shone and danced about like a wood fire in the grate.

I fell in love, utterly and immediately, with the fuzzy, friendly, slightly out-of-focus sound of this record. I found myself diving daily into the album's deep pool of Hawaiian guitars, tinkering xylophones and music boxes, burbling synths, strings, piano, brass, warm syrupy electric guitars and free-floating harmonies.

While the songs on Butterfly sound more developed, emerging fully formed and ready to fly, many of those on Caterpillar sound as though they're still in their larval stage: softer, more tentative, not quite finished, though this makes them no less captivating. Both discs combine the melodic confidence of classic '60s pop and the breeziness of tropicalia. Result? A selection of small, snug, irony-free songs that somehow conspire to make you feel safe and loved, the effect further amplified by Mannion's bashful, breathy voice and Hu's delicate harmonies.

Mannion's arrangements are also impressive. Individually simplistic instrumental parts are dove-tailed to build something intricate and richly textured, then washed with subtle studio effects, draped with pearly strings and sweetened with perfectly judged background harmonies.

Not yet convinced? Then get thee to a record store and apply your ears to "Glitter and Paste", the headspinningly gorgeous opening track on Butterfly. You'll be reaching into your pocket for cash so fast you'll look like a gunfighter from an old western. Both albums are short (30 minutes) and cheap ($20) and feature beautiful conceptually linked covers by Auckland artist Misery, so the only sane option is to buy the pair.

by GRANT SMITHIES - Sunday Star Times