Song reviews

Retro is the future and, duly, Every Kid Knows head all the way back to a long forgotten, flower powered time when “Spinning Jenny” would have been a radio anthem. Times may have changed but a good song will always be a good song.

Whilst the dance floor roots of the song remain, the relaxed pacing allows “Blue Satin” to develop rather more atmospheric camouflage than such electronic creations usually do. ANNA VR clearly has more class and ambition than most of her contemporaries.

A nice slice from the indie rock cake, “Saturday Night” demonstrates that The Treble know what is expected of them and, with the addition of some crowd pleasing lyrics and a suitably big chorus, successfully set course for radio play.

I suppose that you could categorise “Lessons” by Sinead Harnett as almost old school in terms of the modern day urban genre, but she has a voice that is easily capable of adding what they used to call soul to the lyrics. She knows how to make it real.

The blues is always where it is at and ElectroBluesSociety have, once again, drafted in Boo Boo Davis to turn their respectful cover of “Smokestack Lightnin” into something organic and timeless. It is all done right and that’s a fact.

Suitably honest and direct, Hooby and the Yabbit tell it like it is with “Tea and Toast” resonating with the robustness that only beer, the blues and guitars can bring. Whilst not breaking new ground, it is nonetheless abundantly clear that this is a Saturday night soundtrack.

Some fuzzy guitars and a large helping of reverb can make all the difference to a song and that’s what Glasgow’s Life Model have used to make “Real Estate” echo around the room. This is the best use of two minutes and thirty two seconds that I have heard this year.

There isn’t really very much to “Broken” but, in her own wistful electro pop way, Solå soon nuzzles her way into your affections and duly justifies her place on your daily playlist. She kind of reminded me of Virna Lindt so I reckon she must be super cool too.

Norwegian indie rock seems to be rather more uplifting than the version that we get in this country with Kakkmaddafakka using their song “Naked Blue” to capture the spirit of warmer days and duly raise our spirits in these dull December days.

Somewhat overblown in his approach, Canada’s The Hope State aims for the big emotions with his song “Butterflies”. His motivations may not be particularly original, but I suppose his heart is in the right place.

It has been a retro week and Sweetwood follow the trend with their song “One Of These Days”. Strong vocals make the song and will motivate the connoisseur to dig out those old Billy Ocean albums for one last spin.

Whilst conventional in their approach, Shookrah successfully steal the vibe from nineties' British jazz funk and then rough it up a bit to suit the tastes of more modern days. Not one to nudge the charts perhaps but should find friends in the better bars and VIP rooms.