Song reviews

You can’t go far wrong with the tasteful use of retro influences and, with enough melody, to get “Need 2 Please U” from verse to chorus, KRAYNE make it all seem like a very good idea indeed. A band worth watching out for.

I don’t often get to call a song relentlessly upbeat these days yet that is the only correct description for “Sensei Tree” by Edinburgh’s IDKID with their obvious enthusiasm shining through its sub three minute duration. It’s a pop punk power up!

Immersed in introspective sentimentality, Sofia Talvik walks a lonely road with her song “Take Me Home”. It’s not the first time she has taken this musical path but the folk and country accents give the song added emotional resonance.

“Fire” won’t scare your maiden aunt yet it is that very mainstream musical appeal that gives “Fire” by Hannah Rosa a direction and that direction will likely get her exposure wherever a soundtrack to the day is needed.

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.