Razika / Program 91

Razika
Program 91
(Smalltown Supersound)
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Similarly to Those Dancing Days, Norway's Razika are a European teenage girl group with more optimism than a Golden Retriever that’s just had the word ‘WALKIES!’ shouted into its ear. Also similarly to These Dancing Days, they're totally brilliant: using the regular set up of bass, drums, guitars and all that polava, they somehow manage to create a snappy, breezy and lime-fresh sound. How did they do it? Why don’t millions of bands sound this magical? Damn these foreigners!

The highlight of the album is 'Vondt I Hjertet', which feels like the soundtrack to some black and white art movie about a belle on a bike in 1960s Paris. It's pop for sure, but while some pop can feel like an impression of happiness, this sounds like a very natural expression of it: a rare thing indeed, and if Serge Gainsbourg were still around he’d probably sell his testicles to do a duet with them.

Other highlights include 'Aldri' (which sounds like a lost acid folk gem from the ‘60s having been given an Andy Votel style makeover), 'Eg Vetsje' (which is a ska tune. Hooray for ska tunes!) and 'Walk In The Park', which shushes the album to a close on a romantic, Belle and Sebastian-ish farewell.

Razika make such carefree innocent pop music they’d make Bambi look like a calculating bimbo in comparison, but crucially they’ve also added a contemporary crunch to their echo of retro European pop, resulting in the most stylish music in town. Score!