Song reviews

With definite appeal for the occupiers of upmarket coffee and cake shops, Annie Goodchild ticks all the trendy boxes with consummate ease whilst leading us on to a promised land far, far away. Classy, without a doubt.

I tend to like songs that sound like other songs and “More Than Friends” by ASHS indeed sounds like a hybrid of urban and bedsit electric sounds yet she has a clear and present appreciation of the art of writing songs for our duplicitous times. Forgiven duly she is.

You don’t doubt the intensity that powers “Tried” by Skogebrandt, yet he follows a path that many have walked before so, despite the obvious integrity, he sounds too much like those who have done the same thing before.

What would a protest song sound like in the user centric world we live in today? Crank up “Berkeley’s On Fire” by SWMRS and you will find the answer. A band with an edge is what we all need. SWMRS do not disappoint.

A bad with much more brains than the indie rock average, Penny Mob turn their song “21st Century Kids” into, if not quite an anthem, a muscular homage to all that Brit Pop meant back in the days. Well worth turning that volume all the way up to 11.

Call it lumpy minimalism if you like but there is something downright appealing about Karmic’s post midnight breakdown “Wisdom Pie”. Those neato girlie vocals cleverly run at right angles to the dancefloor sequencing and make it all worthwhile.

Under the table punk pop revivalists Bugeye strike out at the club audience with their song “Is This Love?” whilst adding as much irony as their four-square influences allow them to. It’s trendy but not too trendy if you follow my meaning.

A rough and ready reinvention of rock’s history, “New Connection” demonstrates that Julez has studied the lessons of the past well and learned the art of making a song sufficiently robust to withstand even a Friday night.

Describing a song like “Seventeen” as rather likeable might seem like faint praise yet it is something of a rarity in these plastic days. My compliments therefore to Haley Blais for making music made for the soul rather than made for a marketing campaign.

Digging up the past in the best Americana tradition, Lightnin’ Luke sounds like he has just jumped off the shellac singing his song “Poison Angel Girl”. Authenticity is the message here, but his playful approach might well get attention from roots festival bookers too.

ST.MARTiiNS tick all the trendy indie tick boxes with their song “ur so pretty” but they still manage to mix in enough low key charm to complement those eighties style beats currently beloved of the cognoscenti. Success? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

Very much in the seventies rock style, Mike Bern throws in deeper meaning and the prerequisite guitar solo into his languorous song “First Mother”. Whilst this isn’t an approach that many take these days, the end result should please fans of such things.