This Norwegian duo has just released a beguiling collection of sexy and mysterious club music entitled Real Life Is No Cool.

Producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm has already established a sonic identity with his earlier work with Prins Thomas and his solo album, 2008's Where You Go I Go Too. That album was justly lauded for the astral grandeur of its epic fantastic synth voyages and solid beat construction.

The stuff with Christabelle aka Solale (which goes back as far as 2003) stems from that galaxy, but throws a sultry voiced female alien into the mix. OK, it's an old movie, but they pull it off with a sort of cosmic nonchalance that is as mesmerizing as it is unresolved. Her voice moves in and out of the synths with open-ended questions - "What should we do?" - and dancefloor diva instructions - "Keep it up! Keep it up! - that sometimes echo old school club divas improvising over garage tracks, sometimes resemble new school Pro-tools cut & paste. But she never really blows like the Weather Girls; she's as chill as a Norwegian sunset, tapping into an almost Damo Suzuki vibe. So seductive.

~ E. Blake Davis