MARBECKS RARE: Yours, Mine and Ours

Yours, Mine, and Ours, the third album from Boston act the Pernice Brothers, is a sunny, breezy affair, with elegant melodies that are built for harmonies.

In opening track The Weakest Shade of Blue, vocalist Joe Pernice asks for a lover's hand in marriage over a jangly guitar that brims with anticipation. Even One Foot in the Grave, which hints at a car crash in the rain, is driven by an exhilarating '60s-influenced guitar line and pep-rally rhythm. For a bandleader who has a reputation on the indie scene as being as dour as Morrissey, the music of Yours, Mine, and Ours represents a surprisingly upbeat turn of events.

Indeed, when the Pernice Brothers opt to slow things down, as the group does on How to Live Alone, the orchestrated pop recalls Wilco's Summerteeth. From start to finish, Yours, Mine, and Ours glides along at a far more cheery pace than anything the Pernice Brothers have previously recorded.

Pernice, who made his name leading alt-country downers the Scud Mountain Boys, released Yours, Mine, and Ours on his own Ashmont Records, which he started with the help of some friends who had worked at Sub Pop, his former label. Yours, Mine, and Ours is Ashmont's second release from the Pernice Brothers.