Song reviews

This might well be retro rock but it is undeniable that The Lu Silver String Band exude the decadent vibe that the best bands of the seventies tour bus era had and, with quality musicianship filling their tank with gasoline, “Miss Sugar” should take them down Sunset Boulevard.

Coolly confident pretty much describes the Becky and The Keys musical ethos with their song “Coldwater Creek” taking the retro track back to the days when the truth and chords could co-exist. Becky, herself, has a voice to make you want to follow her down to the river.

I suspect that Virgin Miri is a fan of irony as her song “Favorite Flavor” seem far more vicious in both lyrics and attitude than you would normally expect from an electropop princess of our plastic times. Duly, she makes herself more interesting than most.

Meandering through the world of lo-fi and low key indie pop comes easily to Meija with his song “Buttons” being an appealing reminder that minor key melancholy can be a satisfying way to pass three minutes or so of your life.

Modern day pop music is, almost by definition, a synthetic thing and, duly, NOA ticks all the looped to the machine style boxes with “Hypocritical” but she still takes the time to add emotional depth to the lyrics and thus enhances the song’s memorability.

Sounding like a throwback to the better times at the end of the urban funk era does Rhymes no harm at all and, with the polished sensuality of Summer Dennis stealing hearts out front, their song “Storm” makes for a tasty musical snack.

“Take My Soul” is the kind of song that seems possessed by a moody mysticism with the understated approach taken by Pinero|Serene exerting a greater control of your attention than you might otherwise have expected.

Locking it to the loop again are Thandii but the wistful femininity of the vocals neatly counterpoints the sterility of the rhythm track and duly turns their song “Tides” into something deeper, darker yet still coffee shop friendly.

There is always room in my playlist for more Nordic electropop and Fushia justify their place by squeezing in enough ironic reflections from modern music to make “Gold” wryly amusing in an anti-fashion statement kind of way.

Looping the retro vibe in with copious amounts of modern technology works out pretty well for Pink Roses and their song “Westside” manages to hold their low key mood in gear all the way until the sand fades into the sunset.

Old school in a good way, Plants show himself to be more than capable of infusing his song “Fervent Devise” with such good old fashioned attributes like hook and melody. Throw in a guitar solo – as he does – and it’s FM radio all the way.

Taking their song “Wrong Hands” for a walk on the wistful side of the street are Norwegian band Secret Treehouse yet there is more to this song than indie pop pretensions as the insistent beat easily takes the pretty female vocals all the way to the bridge.