This is a band from Norway and while you might assume bands from there would mimick the Swedish indie sound, they pretty much don’t. In fact, they tend to have a decidedly more English (as in UK) type sound. This band sort of walks a razor between both poles. It sounds more English in style, but it’s not lacking in melody like so much stuff from the UK these days. In that respect it is more Swedish as it’s very uptempo and light. The “babes” (a lousy name though) are led by a girl named Eivor Vindenes. (I thought (E)ivor was maculine in any nordic connotation? Well, maybe it’s a boy named sue thing) The opener here, The Odd Shopper reminds me of late 80’s Subway or Sarah label female led bands. Chirpy guitar, nice lines, insert catchy chorus etc… The next, Jennifer Reads sounds a little closer to Club 8 and has a very airy and flowing chorus and the song is pretty good at hooking you quickly. The sound here is pretty much guitar driven with occasional swirling organ, and I’d say the accent in her voice reminds me much more of an English one than a Nordic one. It’s not a comparison I want to make, but they do remind me of Heavenly in some respects, but with better melodies and more pleasing vocals, but the similarity is definetly there, especially on tracks like Tales You Told which sounds very English. Maybe that’s how Norwegians sound too, but in fairness the Brits did it first. I was quite taken by this thing at first, then had a short period of reservation as I didn’t think the last half was as good as the first, but I think that was difficulty assimilating the clash of styles. However, I’m REALLY starting to dig this thing a lot now and the only complaint I have is the last track. It’s good, sort of rough edge guitar driven and short at just under 2 minutes, but then there is 5 minutes of dead air. 5 minutes. For what? Well, 5 minutes later they sing a vocal reprise of the chorus from Jennifer Reads for a whole 25 seconds or so. Would have been cute after a 20 second break, but 5 minutes is an eternity of dead air. They lose a point for that, and one for the CD too. The artwork on the sleeve is nice, but the CD is ugly. It’s time I got nit-picky! Still, this thing is very “brill” and one of the better things done recently. Run, run, my children, and devour this quickly……

Rating: 9.8 out of 10