Pleasingly melodic, Some Sprouts play all their indie pop cards to win with “Guetta”. There is a notable amount of processing going on with the music but the band’s fan boy level of enthusiasm for the genre makes it work.
No one would accuse Mandrake Handshake of racing to the finish line as their song “En Vol” instead takes the measured and mellow path with their floating musical influences being always clearly worn on their collective sleeve.
It must be a fashion thing with the dancefloor once again providing the musical inspiration for a song. “Big Brat Trip” goes all trip hop with the added female vocals making it all seem like the soundtrack to the kind of dream we all had back then.
Overtracked uses the robotic beat of the dancefloor to drive “ Sundown” along the road to its midnight rendezvous but all is forgiven when the combination of retro keyboards and feline female vocals hits your ears.
I would suppose that “Ja” by Florian and The Better Hand would best be classed as “laptop pop” but the song – it is sung in German, by the way - has enough in the way of melody and hooks to make it memorable nonetheless.
Although swathed in reverb as is always the way of dream pop, “Cavalier Seul” nonetheless drifts successfully into your attention span with Bleu Reine adding the blurred vocals that carry the song off into the fog.
Wild Oceans spring no surprises upon us with “I Don’t Need You” yet it has to be said that they do a confident line in ear friendly and guitar heavy songs in the melodic rock style. It’s also no surprise that people like this kind of relatable song.
Given that it is summer, “Do You Feel the Same Way” seems appropriately lightweight and friendly to even mainstream ears and Baileigh Jane throw enough sincerity into their words to make the song last longer than today.
There must be every musical influence from the nineties in “Raid” but, fear not, Sex Mask have all the bad attitude that is needed to make their song work in both the daytime and the dark. As such songs go, this one is very nearly angry.
After an oddly tribal start, Queen of Uncool hit the rock road with guitar riffs and impassioned vocals powering their steroid fuelled song train. “Pay For This” is not quite angry but it’s not quite a comfortable listen either.
It’s nice to hear a properly arranged song and “Two Faced” duly gets from start to finish with conviction and Sanaë has enough poise in her vocal presentation to make her song into something of a radio friendly big ballad.
The ghost of the dancefloor haunts “Side by Side” even if the BPM has been retarded to something more appropriate to reflective rather than terpsichorean pursuits and It isn’t hard to work out that Gheist wear sunglasses even in the rain.