Song reviews

You can feel the emotional weight in “These Hours” and Carla Aakre has duly found the poetry that is hidden in the shadows of her heart and set it to music. It’s a sensitive singer songwriter thing to do and she does it rather well.

In their endearingly offbeat way, Lora and The Stalkers go deeper than most with the lyrics to their song “Social Anxiety” but it is the combination of half spoken half sung vocals and dancing guitars that make this song candy for the ears.

Retro retro retro is the way to go for Stacey Jackson with “Both Ways” looping the synths around a singalong hook in a manner that makes you wish that the glory days of FM radio and daytime soaps were back again. Play and repeat.

There is drama aplenty in Marie Minet’s performance and “Hanoi” duly sounds like the kind of song that would be heard in the presence of cigars and champagne. With little more than a guitar as accompaniment, she sounds gloriously…French.

More an artistic statement than a venture into ear candy territory, Vanarin whisk heavily processed vocals into a mix that sounds almost like a reinvention of the eighties urban sound. “What We Said” certainly isn’t an ordinary song.

It’s not often that words like education and healthcare make into the lyrics of a song these days yet they feature in “No Music No Hope” by Cozmicsoulfire. Although the production is untidy, an earnest protest song is always welcome here.

As elegant and civilised as we have come to expect of Vilnes, “Far Up North” has plenty of the stylistic touches that make up a folk song of today. Add in intelligent lyrics that have a dash of poetry about them and the end result is classy.

You can feel the art in this one. French band Mue deploy their best, intellectually enhanced, post rock moves to make this instrumental more than the sum of its many chords. If you value musicianship then this one is for you.

Quality indie grooves with retro seasoning from Finnish band Pink Chameleons and “Sunshine Honey” duly sounds likes the kind of song that would make it on to a soundtrack for better times with free smiles guaranteed with every play.

Providing us with something akin to an antidote to the usual avalanche of Christmas sentimentality, Sofia Talvik applies her poetic abilities to tell a parallel story of survival that puts the festive season into its proper perspective.

It’s getting to be a lot like Christmas, as they say, and “Immanuel” is indeed a Christmas song in the best Christian tradition and Ruth Campbell’s gloriously pure voice makes all that spiritually sweetened sentimentality perfectly palatable.

With piano to the fore and introspection inspiring his lyrics, Vara takes his song “My Lighter Weight” for a casually paced stroll down downbeat street with melancholy in pursuit. Bleak, sparse and rather effective.