IN ANY LANGUAGE, BRAZILIAN GIRLS WILL MOVE YOU.

Byline: Fred Shuster Music Writer

Drawing from the world's many music styles, the dreamy dance-pop collective called Brazilian Girls creates a border-jumping sound that's won fans in foreign places. But if you Google the name, expect something a little closer to home.

Theirs is an intoxicating noise produced by a globe-trotting ensemble where no member is Brazilian, and just one is a girl. The band got its start two years ago at the center of a crowded New York club during packed Sunday-night jam sessions. Playing together weekly, the quartet began composing the material that would become its self-titled debut.

That disc, which has received widespread acclaim since its release last month and is currently rising on Billboard's Top Heatseekers chart for new acts, presents a dozen songs sung in five languages: German, French, Italian, Spanish and English. Provocative tracks such as ``Lazy Lover,'' ``Homme'' and ``Don't Stop'' bring together a seductive Euro-fusion of electronic, dub reggae, pop, punk and dance music, fronted by a strong visual - Italian-born songbird Sabina Sciubba.

Few in the audience have seen her face. On stage and in photos, Sciubba is partially obscured by hats, masks or her long dark bangs, creating an air of mystery reminiscent of Bjork, Grace Jones and Portishead's Beth Gibbons.

``It's like Spider-Man,'' Sciubba said the other day. ``You never really know what he looks like. Girl singers today are all about laying it out there and showing everything. I don't want to do that no matter how much everybody wants me to.''

Brazilian Girls (when you Google the name, musicians are the last thing that pops up) come to the Knitting Factory Hollywood on Sunday followed by a date Tuesday at Temple Bar in Santa Monica. Along with Sciubba, who was born in Rome and raised in Germany and France, the band includes keyboardist Didi Gutman from Buenos Aires, bassist Jesse Murphy from California and drummer Aaron Johnston from Kansas. All four now live in New York.

``We're a real band,'' Johnston said. ``Every member is essential, and we share everything equally.''

Along with good songs and sly, sardonic lyrics, the Brazilian Girls album is especially well-sequenced, unfolding like a vintage suspense movie. The music is punctuated by sound effects, lush synth sounds and even boisterous horns. Points of reference might take in Bebel Gilberto, Thievery Corporation, Massive Attack and Los Amigos Invisibles, to name a few. Simply put, if you like the Scissor Sisters, Brazilian Girls is the next step.

Entertainment Weekly called it a ``sensual swirl of dub, bossa nova grooves, booty-bumpin' house beats, down-and-dirty trip-hop, and even quaint Parisian cafe songs.''

Sciubba says the Girls' sound could only have come together in New York's multicultural melting pot.

``It's such an eclectic, exciting place, where you hear music and voices from all over the world each day,'' she mused. ``There's always something new going on. And there's a real overlap - blues players jamming with electronic people and Latin horn players.

``You can't function here unless you keep an open mind at all times.''

Fred Shuster, [phone]

fred.shuster(at)dailynews.com

BRAZILIAN GIRLS

When and where: 8 p.m. Sunday at the Knitting Factory Hollywood, 7021 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood; 11 p.m. Tuesday at Temple Bar, 1026 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica.

Tickets: $12, Knitting Factory, [phone], knittingfactory.com. $8, Temple Bar, [phone], templebarlive.com.

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Photo:

Aaron Johnston, left, Didi Gutman, Sabina Sciubba and Jesse Murphy travel freely through a landscape of several musical styles as the dance-pop hit makers Brazilian Girls.