Listening In: Sissy Wish

This is just the thing to get me off my Phoenix kick.

The girl behind the stage name, Siri Wålberg, and a couple of bandmates make up the nut and bolts of Norway's Sissy Wish. A cash flow problem made pairing down the band a necessity when Sissy Wish wanted to tour in America with their acoustic pop music in tow a few years ago. Not surprisingly, using lots of electronics to make up for the lack of beating hearts on stage changed everything and her modern sound was born. Bye-bye banjos and hello synthesizer.

Full of toy pianos and woolly guitar, Sissy Wish's style is kinda like that other Scandinavian ingenue Lykke Li---but Sissy is so much more accessible. For me, Lykke Li's small catalog is hit-or-miss and 2008's "Youth Novels," didn't sound like a fully actualized album. It's catchy and New Wave-y one minute (think "I'm Good, I'm Gone" and "Little Bit") and the next thing you know you are wading through an all-too-experimental mess. I genuinely like her but I think she needs a "You are no Björk, my dear" reality check.

Sissy Wish, however, is everything I wanted Lykke Li to be and more. She delivers that similarly airy soprano that borders on transparent but without the obvious gimmicks. Sissy's pop is made of sugar rather than saccharine. She's not trying to be cute or offbeat---she just is.

Her album, "Beauties Never Die" was released in Europe already but doesn't come out in the U.S. until September 22, 2009---we can all listen online though. The whole thing is a testament to the art of digitally driven music. I love "DWTS" for its robotic dance percussion and contagious chorus. It looks to be the first single and the title stands for "Do What They Say," no matter how much I wish it stood for "Dancing With The Stars." The title track, "Beauties Never Die" reminds me a little of the jangly '60s pop of Dusty Springfield, for which I can never deny my love. Other standouts are "Elqat," "Yayaya" and the soft and sweet "Milk." It is hard for me to pick a favorite but as of the present moment I am partial to "Table 44," which uses perfectly engineered bridges that betray the previous incarnation's folk ties even over all the electronic toys.

Through the whole album, Sissy Wish effortlessly exudes cool-kid vibes with eccentric lyrics and inventive melodies that reflect exactly what electronic pop in the aughts (i.e. the '00s) should be. Plus, she's got ties here in Minneapolis as she is represented in the U.S. by the Twin Cities label Afternoon Records.

Afternoon Records recently invited everyone to listen to Sissy Wish's entire album from their website for free. Take heed and stream away.