Song reviews

A predictable exercise in hard rock turning into metal, Global Warning aren’t looking to push the boundaries of the genre with “Broken Dreams” but their honesty and sheer motive power shines through and will give the song a life on the streets.

Glasgow retro thieves Free Love snatch every handbag on the dancefloor with their song “Free Love” and, perhaps as a sign of the times, they carry it off like it all happened yesterday. This could just have been a song for after midnight but it survives well into the dawn. Bless them with your money!

"Hook Line + Sinker" shows that the mainstream pop song is here to stay and this synthetic concoction from Canada’s Michaela May is as good an example of the genre as you are likely to find. This song will no doubt be found on iPhone playlists throughout the land.

Kalyna Rakel mixes enough quirkiness and bad girl attitude into her song “Who Knew” to make it all but irresistible to the coffee shop crowd and uptown SUV owners yet I suspect there is more to her than the audience for this song might suspect.

Deep, dark and moody is definitely the vibe for Gareth Dunlop’s song “Can’t Stand Myself” nonetheless the song reeks not of singer songwriter self-pity but of heartfelt emotion. Not a song to make you smile therefore but perhaps one to make you think.

Indie rock is a genre that has fallen out of fashion yet Habberdash are nothing less than another indie rock band. “Like A Lover” may not therefore give anyone a surprise but at least the band has a certain volume dependent honesty in their favour.

As if casually drifting in and out of a reality haze, Koyo pepper “Jettisoned” with familiar analogue synth sounds and post-midnight post Madchester psychedelic experiences. In a kebab shop in a galaxy far far way, this is playing right now.

“Take Me to the Disco” may well be bedsit electronica but Meg Myers has successfully infused her song with enough alienation angst and urban melancholia to make you want to call her on the phone right here right now.

“West Coast” seems more thoughtful reflection than a mere pop song with an appealing sense of scale lifting the song confidently towards anthem status. Add in some Britpop style literate lyrics and Ennor will convince you

Old school musicality distinguishes “Firefly” by The Jim Reynolds Band with enough laidback melody evident to attract the ears of those for whom seventies adult oriented rock has never, or will ever, die. The song is a soundtrack to a summer breeze.

Sweet sentimentality mixes with melancholy as Sophie Colette shows us just what is in her song writing heart and there is just enough wistfulness in her voice to gain escape velocity from the orbit of planet coffee shop.

I was about to class “Dreamers of the Night” by Brighton band Levity as upbeat indie rock but the song is too good for that justly maligned genre. The song isn’t different enough to scare you but a lot of work and imagination has clearly gone into making it different from the crowd.