Song reviews

Synth pop appears to be in thing these days and BLYOLK jumps right on the trendy bandwagon with “Dogspeed”. Fortunately, he knows it is all in the attitude and, with dramatic intent, he wrenches the song from the sequenced backing track.

“Tel Aviv” might well be a by the numbers indie pop song, but The Lighthouse add more than enough summery fizz to make their song one that might even make you smile even when it is raining outside.

Full of pulsating synthetic goodness, HEZEN rumbles your speakers with her song “Bring Your Alibi” but she so confidently handles tempo changes that you are never in any doubt that her soul is not that of the music machine.

“Red Dress” is another pleasingly commercial song from Maya Killtron and, with all the right nineties retro influences in there to compliment her rootsy and purposeful voice, the song is nothing less than a lesson in energy transfer.

I thought that “One” might just be another song from the pop music playbook of today yet there was more than that here with Natalie Lynn adding more than enough impetus to make it all seem both real and commercial at the same time.

You can’t fault a band for following the looped and sequenced path to stardom. It is true that Reptile Room follow the yellow brick with due diligence yet there remain enough poetry in the lyrics to make “Crown” appeal to both the art house crowd and the coffee shop kids.

You can’t go far wrong with a bit of electro pop in my less than humble opinion and Sacre hit the mark with their song “09:00PM The Coconut Bar”. Despite being self consciously stylish, the escapee from the sampled dance floor ticks all the trendy boxes whilst keeping your attention. Super cool!

I’m pretty sure that folk rock is the genre of choice for Porteau as Victoria Williams’s voice floats over their song “Penelope” in that quirky way that singers of mystical motivation did so successfully way back in the past. As it was then, this is sonically appealing.

“Underground Love” might well seem like an echo from the past but that doesn’t stop Australian band The Urban Sea from making their mixture of rock and soul enticing to the ears of today. It’s the kind of song that makes you want to hear more from them.

Thought this might have been a blast from the past but, no, it’s a new song. Indie popsters of old The Jasmine Minks have returned with “Step by Step” and, while the song is older, wiser and heavier, it still has enough jangle to the guitars to evoke sentimental thoughts of the band’s glory days.

Nineties retro guitar sounds hide behind the ever impassioned vocals of Havvk to thus make “If I Don’t Tell You” a musical missile targeted equally at old and new ears. To Havvk’s eternal credit, they always sound like a band with both intellect and a purpose.

Kakkmaddafakka have the mark of a band who have studied the ways of their genre well with “Runaway Girl” being spirited enough to please a festival audience yet still having enough weight to catch the attention of jaded indie rock addicts.