Song reviews

Perhaps rather dated in their approach given the state of the music business today, Slow Buildings still have enough acid in their veins to add a bit of burning social commentary to their big city indie pop song “Me Me Me”.

A rather effective mix of urban style and jazz funk groove provides more than enough musical contrast to make “It’s been a While” by Normanton Street into the kind of song that cries out crossover and consequent success.

Ploughing the fertile fields of rock history once more are Maine band Five of the Eyes but, fortunately, they have learned that it is all in the drama with “Wasteland” ticking all the riffing guitars, pounding drums and intense vocal boxes that the fans of the genre demand.

Upbeat synthpop from Florida’s Priest with a rock solid sequenced beat making your feet pay attention as she plunders the pop thesaurus for lyrical motivation. A pleasingly commercial song, in other words.

It’s calm before the storm time as the drifting vocals of Karolina Komstedt cast a spell over the post-midnight crowd with the melancholy Sakamoto style electronic ambience providing them with another, near hypnotic, reason to pay attention.

A nicely polished midrange and mid-tempo modern day country song, “Blackberry Whiskey” provides The Darlins with the perfect opportunity to highlight their vocal harmonies and thus lift the song towards radio airplay.

Maybe it is a sign of the times but Seasonal Beast’s song “I Can Make You Disappear” seems deliberately disconnected with Yuli Beeri’s voice meandering through an electronic soundscape as if in search of something never to be found.

It’s been a week of offbeat indie pop with The White Russian throwing their hat into the ring with “B-Child” and making their mark by making far more effort than most do. One for the beard scratchers who favour a deeper lyric to savour.

I’m not sure if there is should be something robust about indie pop yet “My Body” by Saunas – from Nashville surprisingly – is just that with everything you might want in such a song hiding in there somewhere.

Sonorous as if dreaming of better times, “LTF” effectively demonstrates that not everything Nordic is super cool electro pop with Frøkedal’s wanton intent weaving neatly amongst all sorts of ear pleasing folk rock influences. This is bigger than a song of these times should be.

Distinctly earnest, which is itself unusual in these times of corporate conformity, Dog in the Snow snarls like a Mother Earther protecting her brood as she flies the flag of hope throughout her song “Child”. The song is more purpose than melody but the message is nonetheless commendable.

I’m quite sure that, being a supra-urban style setter, I shouldn’t like “Anywhere But Here” yet the concentrated electro angst that Tristn used to season the song proved surprisingly addictive. Time to stroke the beard again methinks.