Song reviews

Just when you thought it was safe to go out in the sunshine again along comes Livingmore with a slice of saccharine power pop called “Cocoon” that could only have come from California. Throw in a lovely sandy beach guitar riff and I have all I need to get by. Apart from sunglasses, of course.

I might be doing Nightwave a disservice by calling her an escapee from the dancefloor - probably not though - yet there is something curiously hypnotic about the blitzkrieg of antique analogue drum machine sounds that powers “Bucky Bomb” all the way from the off licence to the subwoofer of the proverbial, and probably now mythical, Peugeot 205 GTi.

Bands haunted by the ghost of Americana are hardly in short supply but at least Twin Bandit - Hannah Walker and Jamie Elliott – have a certain, rather ethereal, charm going in their favour with “Everything Under The Sun” proving enchanting to the ear.

Even though his song “Vanilla Blue” takes a while to get going, it nonetheless remains a fact that Canadian musician Alex Bent has enough power in his voice to make you wonder what he could do with better material.

As always, I am a loss why the early days of synth pop would ever have become the source of inspiration to so many musicians across the world. In her favour, Wensday runs through her song “Fading” with conviction and charm even if the plastic backing track completely bypasses originality.

I am normally a sensitive person in touch with both his emotions and the irony that is filtered through life in the modern world yet Mono’s song “Break Me” still managed to sound more like the result of laptop powered sequencing and a visit to a thesaurus than a song.

Amy Steele has a nice voice and can clearly deliver a song with more than a bit of style but “Graces” is more an album filler than the song that might make a career. That said, I could see this song being used in an advert promoting the ownership joys associated with a Renault Twingo.

Funnily enough, I did not like this song at all the first time that I heard it. After some wasabi peas, I decided that I liked “Burning Out” a bit and even got to thinking that Emma Miller had a voice classier than a supper club in downtown Londonium. Then, after a satisfying bag of chilli peanuts, I remembered that Ms. Miller is actually from Elgin and that her wistful approach to a song was but a distillation of the beauty surrounding the town of her birth.

Providing evidence that she is something of a mistress of understatement, Marle Thomson’s “Home” effectively demonstrates that it is more important to exude class these days than actually attempt to push your song into people’s ears by any means necessary. Some might even class this song as too cool for school.

Downbeat – as is her style it would seem – Maria Kelly piles on the melancholy to fuel the fire underneath her song “Torn in Two”. Those in the mood for reflection rather than excitement may find comfort here.

Many smarter than average female musicians have trodden this musical path before but Marlene Enright, to her credit, pulls her song “Alchemy” neatly towards the nirvana of seventies class acts like Lyndsey De Paul and Carole King. Quirky but complex as all such songs should be.

Much as you would expect of a modern day musician outing his inner sensitivity, Tiny Eyes looks at the world through piano chords and downbeat lyrics with “Falling” being about as accurate description as you could get of my mood as I listened to this song.