New music from Norway

Annie. It's not a name that inspires thoughts of glamour and audacious flamboyance, is it?

No, it's all curly ginger hair and plucky orphans in rags, or rake-thin walking neuroses in angsty Woody Allen films*.

Which means Norway's premiere pop export has her work cut out for her as she launches her second album in a bid for global fame.

She made small waves with her previous effort, Anniemal, in 2005. It's perky, dancey hooks were the stuff of Rachel Steven's dreams. All shimmering synths and club-heavy kick drums, it attracted all the right music bloggers and set tongues wagging in a variety of professional publications, too.

Stylus magazine, in a ten-out-of-ten review, called it "a warm album, a comforting album, a lovable album, an adorable album, a living, breathing, human album". It is also quite a good album for dancing.

The title for her forthcoming LP hasn't been revealed yet, but we do know it features collaborations with Richard X (Sugababes, Pet Shop Boys) and Xenomania (Girls Aloud).

The first preview of the new material comes at a gig in London's Circus club tomorrow night... And Annie recently started streaming a clip of first single I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me on her Myspace page.

To save you getting RSI in your mouse-clicking finger, here is that clip in it's entirety. You can thank me later.


Annie - I Know Your Girlfriend Hates Me

UPDATE: This isn't out 'til 9th June. 9th June!!!!!111 Talk about a slow-build promotional campaign. I wonder if someone at Universal has been studying how Robyn did so well last year???

* There is also Annie Lennox

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