Serena Maneesh

Luckily for Oslo, Norway's Serena Maneesh, winter is coming. Like any good set of shoegazers prepared for an ice storm, the band wraps itself in dense layers, going for warmth rather than simplicity. The influences are immediately apparent — My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth and the Velvet Underground — but the band achieves its accessibility by meandering between easy pop and mind-bending noise. As on the best cuts on Valentine's Loveless, the voices (here, Emil Nikolaisen and Lina Holmstrøm) are airy and dissonant, never rising far above the band's looping strings or hazy guitars. It may be more work to listen to than your typical breezy summer band, but it's also far more rewarding.