Song reviews

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.

Symphonic metal has always been a source of great amusement to me and this melodramatic and thoroughly stylised song by Belarus band Kliodna does not disappoint with the splendidly theatrical female vocals and cascading guitars allowing "Inside Out" to tick all the right genre boxes.

A band that has been around for as long as Fujiya & Miyagi have will have learned a thing or two about keeping a song on track and it is no surprise that the sequenced electro beats and ironic vocal stylings that decorate “Flashback” do just that. To the toy box!

Striking a balance between the past and the present is no easy musical task so credit is due to folk band Velvet & Stone for neatly balancing the fiddles and feelings of the past with the solid rhythms that the festival audience of today demand. “Oh Boy” enchants!