Pitchfork

Like the Tenniscoats or Tujiko Noriko halfway across the world in Japan, Norway's Silje Nes makes fragile avant-pop on a miniature scale. As with a carefully constructed model railroad, this approach can bring out new details even though we're basically looking at the same old elements: acoustic guitar, drums, vocals, chiming percussion, some loops. In this performance of debut Ames Room's "Dizzy Street" live in studio for PRI's "Fair Game", Nes zooms in even further, laying out the components of the song's intricate yet naive folk one by one. Her wispy vocals, veiled by guitars and bass on the album version, come to the fore here, adding to the song's ability to conjure up tiny, imaginary worlds. "How can we leave our house at the end of the ocean?" she whispers, accompanied by a sighing male backing vocal. "We can't keep the mountains apart," she adds a moment later. So, make the mountains smaller-- every atom a universe. You can hear the full session over at Fair Game's site.

MP3:> Silje Nes:"Dizzy Street" (Live on Fair Game)
[from Ames Room; out now on FatCat]