The years 2008-2011 have appeared as 1986-1989 to a certain type of band: if you play indie with some harmony and melody, with more than a little distortion or muddy production, then you’re probably on the roster of Slumberland Records. Making their name with Velocity Girl and Black Tambourine, recent years have seen them return to form with the likes of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, Crystal Stilts and Frankie Rose. Also on the current roster are San Francisco’s Brilliant Colors. Their second album, Again and Again, sees the female three-piece take a less energetic approach than found on debut Introducing, but it’s a welcomingly familiar sound all the same.

A friend of mine was once told by his wife that he listened to too much music that “jangled”, and that it all pretty much sounded the same to her – in the world of brief, lo-fi pop tunes, there’s a danger that bands such as Brilliant Colors, Vivian Girls, Best Coast et al could become similarly interchangeable. It is perhaps such worries that have led to the band reducing the edginess on Again and Again,with the melodies softer and more classically poppy, the songs more nebulous and the vocals barely there most of the time. If this all sounds like I’m setting up Brilliant Colors for a bit of a dressing-down, it’s really not the case; while it lacks the energy of Introducing, there’s a remaining charm that makes Again and Again well worth listening to.

The one major error the band have made, though, is having the best song on the record, ‘Hey Dan’, as the opening track. It’s a wondrous song that revels in a sun-dappled chorus with a melody to die for. Frontwoman Jess Scott – owner of the most alluringly flat vocals I’ve heard in a long time – sings of hills and sunshine, but everything else is buried down in the mix, too difficult to decipher. No matter, it’s a killer tune so she could be singing about the manufacturing of plastic and it wouldn’t matter. ‘How Much Younger’ follows, with a tale of- I think – an ex boyfriend, who is now with a younger woman, and sounds like Katrina-led Pastels. It also features a bridge with Scott singing “oh ah ah oh ah oh aaah”, like she’s on the verge of vomiting, but incredibly – and hilariously - it actually works.

Another standout is ‘Back to the Tricks’, which returns to the thrust of the debut record. It kicks out on driving riffs and has a intense chorus which stands out against the dreaminess of the rest of the record – it’s almost classic rock in its execution. ’Cult Face’ is similarly forceful, telling of a hipster that Scott can’t help falling for: “Cult face, no-one takes my time like you” and thrills with its dynamism.

It’s not all good news though, with ‘Hittin’ Traffic’ and ‘Value Lines’ being unmemorable, and ‘Round Your Way’ drifting for 4 minutes, which is nearly unforgivable on an album that only lasts 28 minutes. Things are saved with the bouncing bass of ‘Telephone Stories’ and the fade-up haziness of ‘L.A.’s’,which closes the album out on a gentle note.

Scott and co aren’t the finest band on Slumberland, and I’d be tempted to point you in the direction of Introducing ahead of Again and Again, but there’s some fine pop tunes to be found here, and if the C86, Flying Nun and early Creation sound is your kind of thing, then I’d suggest you pay a visit to the world of Brilliant Colors.