Song reviews

Clearly in love the groovy past, Sam Evian nonetheless turns “Sleep Easy” into a song that people of taste might choose to remember when they are making up their party playlists for those long summer nights.

Maria Kelly has enough inherent quirkiness to make a song like “Black & Blue” interesting yet she can still sound like the kind of songstress that BBC Radio 6 might describe as the next big thing. Easy to like and pleasing to the ear – that’s what she is.

Full on seems the way that Chicago band Rakunk roll and their song “Trillionaire” holds a steady course towards the stadium with the band’s electro rock influences and Jonathan McIntire’s tireless voice providing the fuel that will get them there.

The rock machine rolls on and “Bad Man” is as good an example of what you get when you mix volume with a bad attitude as you are likely to find this week. I wouldn’t mess with these girls.

A robust example of retro power pop from a band that I had thought long gone, “But I’m Scared” isn’t likely to scare the charts into submission but those who remember the days when a song was more than a sequenced sample will no doubt find something to love here.

“Attack of the Glam Soul Cheerleaders” ticks all the boxes for a summer pop song with its sub three minutes duration, a singalong chorus and gleefully innocent feel. The production throws in anything and everything but who cares when Ette have a song that is actually likely to make you smile.

Synth pop will never die and the genre influences are prevalent in Grip Tight’s “Never Enough” with the robotic beat, analogue synth sounds and the posturing vocals easily evoking memories of the mascara days of the eighties.

Ashley Jana’s heart is clearly in the right place and her song “The Love of Our Lovers” isn’t short of emotion with her precise voice neatly complementing the sequenced laconicism of the backing track. Plastic is the new black (in the right hands).

With pleasingly stylish duelling male-female vocals and ironic lyrics to the fore, Alphabetic make the most of their song “French Boyfriend” while the neato guitar adds the spirit that soon intoxicates. Some might see this song as retro but what isn’t these days?

“Shipwreck” demonstrates that Tetish, from Tel-Aviv, have what it takes to make the perfect indie pop song. Edgy guitars keep the song afloat but it is the retro reverential voice of Etan Salomon that is the icing on the cake.

A Canadian band bathed in the best of guitar powered grunge influences, Cedar Spring Motel turn the volume up to eleven to guarantee that their song “Waiting (For The Rain)” gains the necessary momentum to blow your eardrums. Drink some beer and the experience is nothing less than invigorating.

A desirably quirky song from the frontman of Woodenbox, “Start When It’s Over” sways smartly between the avant-garde and the polyester hell of lounge music and, whilst superficially sugary, the song is so full of musical fibre that it is actually good for you. Trust me (and the trumpet) on that fact.