Entre Ríos are yet more proof that the best laptop pop usually has to be imported to North American ears. The Buenos Aires-based trio's frosty sound finds its nearest rivals in the refined, whispery IDM-meets-4AD of Germany's Lali Puna and Iceland's Múm. Like those groups, Entre Ríos lay gorgeous female vocals over a stuttering wave of bright and glitchy percolations. In terms of the freshness of its electronics, Sal equals and occasionally bests its European counterparts, and should more than please everyone, except for listeners who have no time for electronica that doesn't feature Ben Gibbard crooning about JFK and freckle-alignment.

For its greater variety, Sal bests 2002's Idioma Suave (released simultaneously in the States on Darla). Song composer Sebastián Carreras and programmer Gabriel Lucena still spend several tracks proving their mastery of quiet moods and roomsound ambience, but you also get longer glimpses of their playful side. "Salven Las Sirenas" cavorts with silly synth horns and Gary Numan bleeps and blurts. The gaudy keyboards of "Séptimo Cielo" brashly quote Van Halen's "Jump", while its insouciant melody exudes apple-cheeked frivolity. The genuinely eerie "Sás" offers a juxtaposition of two types of (sampled) string styles; the stately, orchestral sounds are jammed up front, while screeching violins reminiscent of John Cale's work on "The Black Angel's Death Song" howl underneath.

Isol, the trio's vocalist, sounds as much at home singing swinging pop as she does complimenting the group's usual drifting glitchscapes. She might hail from the pixie school a la Kristin from Múm, but she has just as much presence and range as a Julee Cruise. If you'll allow me one more comparison, she sounds like a close cousin of Allysa Massais from the unsung and short-lived Darla band Mahogany (this is a very good thing). Unless you speak Spanish, lyrics are a non-issue, but then again, for Entre Ríos (and a million other bands) -- say it with me now -- the voice is just another instrument. "Un Poco De Sed", a bonus track, is Isol at her low-key, subtle best, but you can't deny her Go-Goisms on "Salven Las Sirenas", either.

Why import another dreamy laptop band onto already-cluttered store shelves? Because Entre Ríos do it better, raising the bar instead of barely brushing it.