Song reviews

I can – sort of – remember when pop songs had a purpose that went further than corporate sponsorship. Caswell, to her credit, makes her song “Surface” seem like the kind of stylistic statement that such songs used to be.

Pleasing summery and upbeat, Winona Forever take their song “Gazing” for a tempo shifting walk on the quirky side of the indie pop street and do so rather successfully. It’s not drama but it is entertainment and that works for me every time.

“Meat Week” made me go all sentimental about those glory days of pop punk as Broken Baby have gathered together all those power chords and angular attitudes from bygone times and made an angry song for today. Songs with purpose make my day.

A confident song much in the power ballad tradition, “In Motion” provides a perfect vehicle for the drama inherent in Sami Nathan’s voice. Is it the time for the return of singers who actually sing songs? I do hope so.

Possessed of a rambling atmospheric, “The Mirror” shows that Slye can do melancholy and downbeat drama at the same time and it is perhaps no surprise that this song grows on you if you give it the chance.

A troubadour with pronounced country influences, Whitebeard crosses the water for his song’s title and sentimental inspiration before name checking his way around the rest of the world. He handles it all like a seasoned pro and that works just fine for my ears.

Displaying a notable maturity, Izzie Walsh walks the dustbowls of Americana once more with “Sidelined”. This is a roots festival friendly song without a doubt, but she adds enough special sauce to her musical recipe to whet your ears for more.

Despite being a song that sounds like a folk song of today, “Shame” shows that Runah has a message for today to bring to our ears rather than simply being a teller of tales told too many times already. The future will be hers if your ears will only listen.

It’s doesn’t seem right to comment upon something as sequenced as “Fractions” – by Denmark’s dark electro purveyors Sparkling – as being perfectly poised yet the balance between bleak arthouse drama and robotic rumblings means the song is nothing less than that.

Robust and muscular in the best grindhouse rock tradition, Saint Sapphire kick out the week and bring in the weekend with their song “Rule The World Tonight”. It’s a song designed to be played loud and, given that it has all the right influences, it goes well with beer too.

A rambling storyteller in the best punk poet tradition, The New Consistent takes the soap opera that is reality and gives it a name. “Petrol Station Flowers” might seem to some the words of an underachiever but we need more wilderness voices like his.

“Gravity” is oddly appealing despite its minimalist conventionality and this electro pop song unsurprisingly strikes out in a time honoured dystopian direction. Candy Says are truly a band that appreciate the irony in giving the machine a voice.