Tuesday, January 23, 2007

I saw you covered in sunbeams

I'm going to detour away from the all girls/no guitars/all Denmark special, though I'm sure I'll get to the two remaining artists soon. Today's group comes from Norway and, though it turns out they've been written about elsewhere, they are new to me. Briskeby is made up of four people, including lead singer Lise Karlsnes, and they've had a lot of commerical success and even gotten to open for a-ha. They're on their third album, which is the only album of theirs I've heard, though apparently their debut is absolutely amazing, so I think I may have to get it (and I'll report back on it, of course). Lise is known for being super-stylish, and that completely fits with the impression of her I get from her from the music--she sounds incredibly cool, but she's surrounded by loads of pop hooks. You might be able to argue that their music isn't incredibly original, but they do what they're doing incredibly well. Their website no longer exists, though, which worries me...

Miss You Like Crazy--the album's lead single, and I absolutely, completely adore it. Thematically, file it away with songs like Patrick Nuo's "Five Days" and Wave's "California" as an end of summer song, but musically, it's nothing like them. It's a bit electro, a bit rock, and definitely pop, with Lise sounding both sweet and cool, her voice perfectly evoking the feeling of a fleeting fun-filled summer. This would be a great song no matter who was singing it, but Lise's attitude and delivery manages to elevate it to another level. Beautiful and fun and sad all at the same time.

Shaking Like A Tambourine--lyrically, that title-inspiring line seems sort of awkward to me, but the band manages to make it work--I'm so caught up that I don't really question the sort of absurd metaphor. It starts off with this sort of dream-like synthline before the music gets a little harsher and sharper, and the verses continue in that vein. The chorus gets sweeter and softer, but the song never quite loses its edge.

To buy Briskeby's third album, Jumping On Cars, go here (digital); you can get their first two albums from Amazon.co.uk. Not all the songs are this "soft" or "sweet"--some of the others have a lot more attitude--in case you're worried about getting bored.

Don't Stop The Pop has the final part of their girl bands special up, and it's an incredibly long but really interesting group.

Next up: one of the Danish women I was supposed to write about today, probably.

8 comments:

kevin (ru) said...

Kudos to PosterGirl! :)
That's how the (female) pop-rock should sound.
I have all three Briskeby albums, and the latest one was surprisingly good. And it has a concept inside, with the outro theme taken from the intro. I love conceptual albums!

kevin (ru) said...

Forgot to mention: Miss You Like Crazy video is also A MUST SEE! With all that incredible camera shaking...
It's waiting for you on YouTube.

Maybe I should also suggest Sondre Lerche:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyeHDa0d84g

Robpop said...

Thanks for the mention PPG! The latest post still has to be finished as its not quite done yet.

What do you think of this?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=r-raATCfq3s

Is it the most poptastic pop idol video ever?

Poster Girl said...

Two brilliant videos at once--wow! :)

Kevin, I completely agree (and thanks!)--they are an excellent example of how to do pop-rock; I'm actually surprised they're not more famous than they are outside of Norway, or that they've never made any attempt to break into some of the larger markets (although perhaps they have and I've just missed it). I really like Jumping On Cars at the moment, and I can't wait to hear what the first two albums sound like! For some reason, YouTube won't play the "Miss You Like Crazy" video for me, but I did watch the Sondre Lerche one and wow--I'd never heard of him, but brilliant video and song all together! I love when artists have the full package like that. Thanks for the recommendation! (Plus, US iTunes has his music, which is always a nice bonus :) )

Robpop, I love that! Though I've heard some of Jon's songs, I'd never seen any videos by him before. And by the way, I saw your comment over at the Zapping--if Gareth went electrodisco, I might just pass out from excitement.

kevin (ru) said...

Actually, Briskeby are quite known outside Norway -- thanks to their good album history proved that Lise and guys are not just one-hit wonders. I read some quotes like they were always the second to mention when it comes to Norway and rock/pop. After A-Ha, of course.
Maybe that's what I've read on the official sites of Norway representing the country's cultural profile.
And what I like especially - it's obviously the music made by mature people. It doesn't smell like a teen spirit. The mature half of me appreciates it a lot :)
The other one prefer Idol-wannabes.

Poster Girl said...

Are they really? Shows how oblivious I am ;) That's great to hear, though, and I should've guessed, given that Amazon UK, US, France, and Germany all carry some of their albums. I finally was able to watch the video, too, and they're so...classy (but still fun)! I love that, and you phrased it really well--mature. And I can totally relate to needing a little bit of both sides of the music spectrum.

Anonymous said...

I heart Brisbeky! Had some hard time finding most of their albums, but it was worth the time! :D Nice review!

Poster Girl said...

Thanks! I haven't found a place to buy an actual copy of the third album yet, but I'm definitely buying the first two--they seem completely worth it.