Cowering from the Limelight: Silje Nes, Opticks.

Not all that much has lapped up on British shores bearing the stamp of Norway, and such cultural inflection is reflected in the music that gushes from pubs, clubs and boomboxes the length of Old Blighty. Bergen has even less relative impact on our oft dreary, always drizzly existences, although theoretically, that teeny tiny tendency may be about to be altered radically, beyond all cohesion and comprehension. For Silje Nes, a quirky, kooky songstress in the vague cold-blooded vein of Björk and the quite majestic Ólöf Arnalds is about to release a charmingly subversive record, a record by the name of Opticks.

Bristling with an awkward intimidation, Silver>Blue is off-kilter, almost off-tune as trembling breaths waft above twinkling xylophones, it's Esben & The Witch tinkering away in the Early Learning Centre, hearts brimming with natural ecstasy at the sight of a collapsing lung, and it's truly invigorating. Currently inhabiting the gurning, forever-burning disco inferno that is Berlin, Nes is about as far removed from the braincell-ravaging house the German capital has garnered quite the (club) rep for, as opener The Glass Harp seeps a compelling lucidity, an intricate simplicity as beautiful as a rekindled adoration for sunrise. From its gloomy introductory cacophony to its consequential woodland tremors and vacant lyricism, Rewind is bereft of a dreaded realism, as it melts inhibitions over three sumptuous minutes, The Shades recalls the Popguns, were they plonked in the neighbouring rehearsal room to The Jesus & Mary Chain and left to converse merely through the medium of vibration, and Branches conjures the isolation of staring blankly from murky windows over an expansive nothingness. But it's recent single Crystals, blinking and flickering in triumphant modesty, a little like a lighthouse that lulls wondrously before snatching itself away, leaving your heart to shatter softly, before stumbling down the shore to help pick up the pieces amidst the clattering tide.