Song reviews

At sub two minutes, “Be My Man” is brief and to the point yet, despite said brevity, this rough edged song from J.R. squeezes in enough vocal angst and full on lo-fi guitar riffs to make the song seem of deeper and darker purpose than you might expect.

“Broke” marks the welcome return of the long thought lost punk poet genre with Scott Lavene maxing out on a hypnotic blend of ironic observation, downbeat irony and laconic pacing. That might not sound appealing but it bloody well is.

With her customary theatrical flourish, Maya Lavelle makes the world seem like a stage and duly trips the light fantastic throughout “Dancing With A Bottle”. This is a quirky song with undeniable burlesque appeal and it will be essential ear candy for the trendy.

Driven by Americana tinged female vocals, I thought “The Day You Tried to Save Me” would turn out to be a modern country song but, instead, Glasgow’s Red Hearted Vibrations redirect the song, with the help of a muscular guitar solo, in the direction of a festival crowd pleasing singalong.

“Church” reeks of class with Aly & AJ adding their uptown style and harmonies to the electro pop beats thus giving the song both airplay and Mommy rocket appeal. Upmarket is where it should be at and this song is there already.

Ticking off all the indie rock (north of the border) style boxes are Glasgow’s Ohnova and their song “Banjo Mac” duly cranks up the guitars and eschews virtuosity in favour of visceral impact and humour. Sometimes sweaty is good though so play loud.

Endearing electropoppiness from Norway’s Amanda Tenfjord with “The Floor Is Lava” adding in enough indie pop cuteness and youthful lyricism to make her song seem both poetic and completely uncontrived. That’s sweet enough for me.

Closet Organ sound like a product of Glasgow’s guitar powered underground music scene with their song “Fat And Die” nearly overdosing on low number power chords, stylistic discord and downright quirky vocals. Add cheap lager to enjoy this at its best. I did.

Not much in the way of classical music passes my reviewing ears these days so “Modular Winter” by Justin Wright made for a welcome change. He is a man with a cello and a penchant for musical eloquence. Both serve him well here.

You can’t go wrong with a bit of the old blues rock and, duly, Spanish band Imperial Jade stay on the right track with their robust song “Sad For No Reason”. One to add to the soundtrack for your beer fuelled, blue collar Friday night. Works for me!

A mistress of mellow fruitfulness, Clare Sanabras takes the classy route to your ears with her song “Helium Horses” and will no doubt impress those of you with uptown sensibilities and mature taste in music. A grower, methinks.

Not being an Idlewild fan, I didn’t think that I would like their song “Same Things Twice” but they have taken a rather more robust and direct approach with this one even if the underlying riffs seem cheekily familiar. Nonetheless, festival goers will be very happy with this one.