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.