Record Review: Razika

by | Aug 18, 2011 | Indie Rock, Reviews

Razika
Program 91
Bergen, Norway

“Beach-pop for the broken hearted”

Norway’s latest export, Razika’s debut record is a bilingual parade of joyous three-minute pop songs decorated with dulcetly delivered tales of heart break and tender-age adventures, creating a brood that is one part Astrud Gilberto, one part The Strokes.

Vondt I Hjertet by Razika

From the playful opening chords of the darling dance number, “Youth,” with its summertime timbre and adorably clumsy accented lyrics to the album’s closing chorus of amicable “ba, da, da, ba, ba’s,” Program 91 is nothing that you expect, but everything that you love.

The wildly infectious “Taste My Dream” kicks down the door on catchy melodies. The track’s upbeat air displays vocalist Marie Amdam, twisting her brash diction into beauty atop clean, beachy guitars that spawns a sound that is less like Bergen break-up music and more like a South Florida flotilla. Vocally and musically, it taps into relatable themes, such as adolescent afflictions with lines like “You say you wanna stay inside of me. Well, I won’t tell my friends or my mother,” not to mention the song’s opening vocal melody, which strongly resembles the horns in the middle section of The Beatles’ “Lady Madonna.”

Program 91 is every cool girl you wish you had dated in high school. (Smalltown Supersound)

Recorded, Mixed and Produced by Matias Tellez at Pelikan Studios in Bergen, Norway

myspace.com/razika