Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Sissy Wish

I first saw Bergen, Norway native Siri Wålberg (a.k.a. Sissy Wish) perform at SXSW in 2007. I was immediately taken with her sound. Quirky, electro-drenched, ridiculously catchy songs. Her third CD was released in Norway back in 2007. It's finally seeing a stateside release on Minneapolis-based Afternoon Records.

The album got a stellar 8.0 Pitchfork review and for good reason: every song on the CD is good. Here's a snippet of the review that I think describes the album quite well: Beauties Never Die balances maturity and wonder as it takes a hard left turn away from the guitar-driven rock of the first two Sissy Wish albums. Instead, Ålberg and producer Jørgen Træn toy with computers, synths, and a few live instruments to animate these 10 inventive, diverse tracks...Bolstering her charming eccentricities is an eclecticism that makes Beauties wide-ranging yet surprisingly cohesive, as if its emphasis on electronics has allowed her simultaneously to indulge and to give shape to her every whim." Woot. Here's track 2: "Dwts."