Tuna Helpers

Two sisters and one "long lost" one serve up something neat right here. Two things that are hard to pull off are drama and the combination of a tonne of instruments (guitars, harpsichords, clavinets, choirs and plus) in a not-overdone way, but the Tuna Helpers have got it pretty well down. These songs maintain the often obnoxious (but not this time) virtue of serious decadence while managing a fresh idea that's clearly right because it's just what they want to do. It's as histrionic and theatric as high school romance, and as tragic too, but that's easy to forget because the emotion and the sounds are tempered and well complemented. I'll Have What She's Having mixes simple pop romps like "Blueberry Head" with extravagant melodrama like the wrongly named "Circus Song." Big builds and swirling gothic instrumentals sweep up and down quickly, but it's still really not too much. Fittingly, the trio incorporate sign language and puppets into their shows. This record doesn't tone the Kate Bush thing down; it just tones it differently. That's nice.