Song reviews

Muscular enough to escape their influences, German band The Pighounds put enough guitar powered angst into their song “Worn Out” to make their post seventies rock sound seem more of today than yesterday.

There was a time when youth equated to joy but not today and Flower Face’s “April To Death” makes an effective case for yesterday being so much brighter than today. Throw in some anger and a chunk of synth bleakness and Flower Face shows that her true colour is dark grey.

Civilised to the point of being positively noble, Pharis & Jason Romero put on their rose-tinted glasses and activate their rather neat harmonies to sell the folk flavoured traditionalism of their song “Sweet Old Religion”. I’ll buy that.

Power pop in shades of urban, Said The Whale tick the iPhone integration boxes with their song “Congratulations” and thus guarantee their inclusion on in-car playlists throughout the land. The traffic lights of life will surely turn green to this one.

“Lonely” by Moviestar is an intelligent pop song with a downbeat vibe and that noughties sound as if The Hush Sound had abandoned the piano in favour of the kind of lyrical obliqueness that is notably less empty that it initially seems to be.

Holy Now have that unmistakeable indie pop vibe and their song “Pearl” ticks all the expected boxes with wistful vocals, jangled up guitars and enough lyrical depth to earn popularity in student unions throughout the land.

Odina has a little girl voice that seems at odds with the introspection that pervades the lyrics of her minimalist song “Nothing Makes Sense” and yet the result is rather more endearing than you might expect.

A rather downbeat example of the retro synth pop style, “Benny Is A Heartbreaker” nonetheless deserves to escape the shadows and bring Alex Highton some attention. His future is indeed sequenced to the grey beats of the past.

Distinctly old fashioned in feel, “Time Immemorial” by The 286 is also downbeat and slow to get moving but, once the band overwhelms those plaintive lead vocals, the song starts to gain a sense of purpose.

There was a time when I thought, like many, that the days of synth pop were gone forever yet, fortunately, 10 O’Clock Chemical demonstrate that there is still life in the old genre with their song “Babylon Is Fallen” also ticking the box marked drama.

The latté drinkers will surely take this song to their heart but the truth is that “Terribly True” is just too good for the coffee shop with Deanna Petcoff nudging herself instead into the rather more intellectual arena inhabited by connoisseurs of proper pop songs.

Rough and ready Riot Grrrl style aplenty from Brighton’s Arxx as their song “Tired of You” revs you up for the traffic lights grand prix and, thanks to an unexpected attack of tempo change at the three-quarter point, stays with you all the way to your destination