Song reviews

The Division Men turn up the acoustic atmosphere and inject “Marionette” with just enough of the shadows necessary to put Caroline Rippy Portillo’s voice into the spotlight. Indeed they ramble but it is a good thing that they do.

Adrift in the currents of her own personal sea of melancholy, MaryLeigh Roohan once again makes the confessional melodic and, whilst perhaps not a song with immediate appeal, “My Friends” nonetheless provides all the proof you need that she is a performer possessed of both insight and intelligence.

Kind of old fashioned yet still convincing, Sunshine and The Blue Moon roll with the flow all the way through their song “Lucy”. They’re not quite lava lamp but the good time rock vibe of the past is present and correct for all to hear.

I often worry that I might miss a true parody but, despite the sarcastic application of the musical limitations inherent to bedsit electronica, Sb shows that, with his song “Woman”, he is right up there with the best of them.

Despite claiming to be British folk rock, Pat Nicholson’s song “Come With Me” seems more akin to old school Nashville style country music with all that is musical being efficiently painted in shades of mellow. A song, therefore, that is easy as easy can be on the ear

Formerly purveyors of lo-fi bedsit electronica, Edinburgh’s Sacre Noir maintain their links to both the shadows and the sequencer whilst injecting enough in the way of riffs and robust female vocals into “Listen To Me” to take their appeal all the way into the bleaker end of the rock pantheon. A mascara anthem if I ever heard one.

It must be a side effect of summer but everyone seems to be singing happy songs this week and “England” is no exception. Ilana J may well have a rather romanticized outlook on life but is that not the very thing that sells pop songs? A sweetheart of a singalong song.

It’s not often that I can describe a song as uplifting but that is the very thing that I have to do with Egi and Firsta’s song “Song For You”. The evidence of a musical education is there for all to hear but it is the heart and soul powering Firsta’s eminently civilised voice that makes the song special.

Wholesome and entirely reverential to the expectations of the Americana genre, Blackheart Honeymoon wrap up “Mountains Speak” in west coast ribbons and sent it out to the worthy audiences who attend roots festivals who, I expect, will welcome it with open arms.

Downbeat to the point of melancholy, Cape Snow show a splash of class with their song “One More Time”. It is Bree Scanlon’s voice that tempts the band into the shadows despite said band’s apparent eagerness to please the middle of the road audience that will surely be the purchasers of this song.

Oddly uneven for something electronic in concept and creation, “Welcome”, at very least, shows that Amo, who are from Israel, can escape the limitations of the genre and thus produce music that can actually generate atmosphere.

Running straight as the proverbial Americana arrow, JD & The Straight Shot play a stylish safety shot with their song “Better Find A Church” and duly hit that middle of the road target right in the bullseye. Let it be so, let it be slick and let those festival booking come rolling in.