A special band doesn't belong to its members. It belongs to the listeners, the fans, the nutters who inhale the music and exhale the lyrics. Dear Reader is a special band.

Since getting together in 2006, they've won over media, industry bigwigs and, most importantly, the fans with rapturous live shows and a solid debut album called The Younger.

They met while Cheri MacNeil was studying languages and politics and Darryl Torr was working as a sound engineer and producer. Recognising her potential, Torr, smoothie that he is, convinced MacNeil to form a group and focus on music full-time. Christened Harris Tweed, their dulcet folk/pop stylings were soon wafting across the airwaves while they played big festivals like Oppikoppi and opened for international stars like Jose Gonzales. A trip to Austin's South By Southwest festival in 2007 opened their eyes to new ways of creating and performing music. In this dusty armpit of Texas, the pair discovered a new drive to make it as a world-class band.

Around this time, the name game blame started. MacNeil had found the name Harris Tweed in a children's encyclopedia and liked it immediately. While recording The Younger in 2006, Torr contacted the Scottish clothing company that shared the name and secured permission to use it. Alas and alack, two years later, Torr and Macneil received a lawyer's letter from the company demanding that they change their name.

"Unfortunately, the laptop that had the e-mail with their initial approval was stolen, so we had no proof," Torr says. "It's unfortunate because we could have established a mutually beneficial relationship. Still, I can understand their need to protect a brand that's been around for 100 years."

They take their new name from Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre. "I love the way it's written in the first person," MacNeil explains, "and every once in a while she addresses you with a 'dear reader'. I like that sense of connection between reader, writer and plot. That's what we're interested in when we're making music: connecting with the people who are listening, commiserating with one another. We were bummed at first about the name change but we're ok with it now. It's just business stuff. It won't affect the music we make and that's what we care most about. It's obviously not an ideal situation, but it did come at a weirdly appropriate time. We're releasing a new album with a new sound, so maybe it's the right time for a new identity."

Entitled Replace Why With Funny, the album really got rolling while MacNeil and Torr were touring Europe late in 2007, when some friends took them to see musical mad-scientists Menomena. "The place was packed with people singing along to the strangest music I had ever heard," MacNeil says. "After that I listened to their album every single day solidly for three months, so when we were looking for a producer I sent a myspace message to the Menomena guys, something along the lines of 'I think you guys are geniuses and I love your music and is there any way you'd consider coming out to South Africa to produce our new record?' and they replied! I was jumping around and screaming like a banshee!"

And so it happened that Menomena's Brent Knopf stepped off the plane in Johannesburg to produce their new album. Knopf immediately challenged MacNeil and Torr's usual recording methods.

"We only had two and a half weeks together, so we had to get things done quickly. Brent and I hit it off immediately, but he and Darryl hated each other," MacNeil laughs.

"We didn't hate each other," Torr disagrees. "We just had different methods and that caused friction. I was focussed on recording the parts as beautifully as possible while Brent was more concerned about capturing the rawness of the emotion. But I admit that he brought out the best in us and I'd love to work together again at some point."

Replace Why With Funny is a departure from the pretty, but rather unadventurous songs on The Younger. It's a heavenly rumpus of off-kilter rhythms, idiosyncratic arrangements and choral explosions. It's got a nutty, but sweet flavour, much like Dear Reader, themselves. The songs are filled with a tentative, bruised optimism and crystalline melancholy, proving both ethereal and accessible at the same time. MacNeil's voice is at its most beautiful, sounding more like exhalation than a conscious effort.

The glorious centerpiece The Same starts out as a plaintive lament on the difficulties of fitting in SA ("no, I don't listen to kwaito/ wasn't born in Soweto") before kicking into a rapturous choral cacophony. Live favourite Great White Bear's startling imagery is buoyed by a propulsive climax, as is the poignant What We Wanted. Elsewhere, the rollicking Dearheart delights with its jangly glam-stomp while The Way of the World sings about the universal struggle of making it through one of those days. The songs are steeped in high drama and panoramic sonic scope but hit the heart through brutally frank lyrics and MacNeil's disarming voice.

If everything goes according to plan, the world will soon be held captive by their charms. They've just signed with respected indie label City Slang who will be overseeing the European release of the album in February 2009. The label currently boasts the talents of Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Calexico, Nada Surf, Stars, Menomena and many more.

Knopf sent the album to the head of City Slang, Christof Ellinghaus, who fell in love with the new record and listened to it over and over. He flew to South Africa where he met with the band and they hit it off, deciding to work together. Ellighaus then sent the album to Charlie Myatt of 13 Artists who will serve as their booking agent in Europe and the UK.

"We've got an amazing team behind us," MacNeil says. "When we were over there in November, we were meeting all these people who work with bands we really admire and now they're all on our team and are excited about us. I have to pinch myself sometimes."

Dear Reader will be touring Europe all through February in support of their new release, and playing launch shows on home soil in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg in March. Dates to follow.