Odd Couple Of Peculiar Pop

They’ve shared stages, studios and spas but why aren’t these ex-Brunettes world famous in NZ?

- James Belfield

Jonathan Bree and Chelsea Nikkel ought to be Kiwi pop royalty. When they shared a hot tub for The Cigarette Duet, 42 million YouTubers tuned in. They’ve shared recording rooms in West Auckland and created two of the most acclaimed local pop albums of the year. They’ve donned masks and toured the world – and now New Zealand – winning headlines for their kooky brilliance. So, why aren’t we making more of a fuss of them?

After first hooking up in The Brunettes, during the Auckland band’s forays to the US and UK in the late 2000s, Nikkel, whose musical moniker is Princess Chelsea, and Bree, who has perfected his own idiosyncratic stage image behind a spandex mask, have been instrumental in each other’s music.

Both have moved away from the twee ear candy that was The Cigarette Duet to pursue more complex sounds on their respective albums – Bree’s Sleepwalking and Nikkel’s The Loneliest Girl.

Nikkel is still a part of Bree’s live act and he has co-produced three of her solo outings. So, is there any way in which the albums are companion pieces?

Bree’s not so sure. “They were created in adjacent rooms at the same time [and] we both experienced the same things over that time period. They are very different in my mind musically, though.”

Nikkel, however, reckons that having “been through the same stresses and struggles” and performing in each other’s bands must have led to some kind of osmosis.

Dig a little deeper and the pair’s common factor may not be musical at all – it’s more to do with work ethic. Bree’s bold arrangements (reviews consistently namecheck Brian Wilson, George Martin, Lee Hazlewood and Serge Gainsbourg) come from hours of studio tinkering.