Song reviews

You can’t go far wrong with an upbeat pop song. That’s my opinion and I’m sticking to it. No surprise, therefore, that “I Just Think You’re Cute” by Australian band Scarlet Drive is a song that makes my day. I feel the need to sing along and so will you.

Locked to the electropop beat with a determination that transcends the trend, “Like U” provides Sweden’s Hannah Smallbone with a suitable platform to highlight her sharp edged lyrics whilst ticking the style boxes necessary for airplay.

Style is something that comes easily to pretty Parisian electro popsters Niki Niki and, with musical minimalism and wistful female vocals added to the mix, “Pretty Sunny Funny Walk” quickly becomes the coolest song you’ve heard this week.

The Dollyrots might well be haunted by the ghosts of pop punk yet does that really matter when they give us a song so energetic and upbeat as “In Your Face”? Not really, for this is song that will make the sun shine. Trust me on that.

There is retro and then there is dancing retro and Zuffalo have diligently dug up the past and used what they found to turn their song “Loose Cannon” into the soundtrack to adventures on a beer soaked blue collar dancefloor on a Friday night. Good times!

Upbeat pop punk from a band too young to remember the heyday of pop punk, “Locked Door” sounds as catchy and energetic as a band of that past time might have sounded which, in these locked to the misery loop days, works much to the favour of After Elmer.

It had to happen sometime and, duly, Enbers deconstructs the expectations of the singer songwriter genre with a flourish probably borne of a Spanish field trip counterpointing his inbuilt ennui to thus turn “Black Mamba into something a bit different.

As is their style, You Will Flood The River keep it low key with their song “Amsterdam” being thoroughly infused with minor key melancholy. Literate lyrics keep the song on course however and the laidback lead vocals discreetly get the message across.

Sounding like grim reality seems to come easy for The Black Fever and, with a persistence that does them credit, they drag their four on the floor song “No Work” off in the direction of the fields of protest with their edgy guitars and world weary voice in tow.

Lighter than an angel delight, “Neon Demon” provides all the evidence that you need to prove that introspection is a quality that Swiss indie multi-instrumentalist Soften does not lack and his song duly drifts all the way into the distance.

Ginesse lacks neither style nor purpose and her song “The Inbetween” duly transcends its looped minimalism and processed plasticity to make an actual statement. Aspirations may never change but the heart of a woman will always need a voice.

We are doing well for literary references this week and KYOSI does her bit to make words mean more with her song “Boo Radley”. She is right on the money musically with her insistent electronica neatly counterpointing her words.