Song reviews

Eminently tasteful, as you would expect of a song that features a real harp, “No Mercy in the Night” is all the evidence you need that Natalie Lurie is a classy performer. Even your Auntie Flo will like this one.

Earnest to the point of being serious, Gillian Nicola sounds like a singer songwriter with a message and, even though she does not stray far from the norm, “Oh Marie” demonstrates that she is a performer of some maturity.

Up-tempo and robust enough to survive the festival circuit, “Happy To Groove With You” is what might be called a song for summer and Evan Taylor Jones sounds like the kind of guy that would bring the sunshine with him.

Noa Milan, from South Africa it would seem, has a distinctive voice and she uses it to make the most of “From My Heart of You” with the end result being a clear case of the singer making the song.

“Cold Shoulder” might well be downbeat and somewhat old fashioned in style but Glasgow’s Barbary Coast have got what it takes to get the song into second gear and out on to the highway with extra credit due to Craig Rodger for treating the lyrics like they were Shakespeare.

Although from Canada, Second Rate Brain’s frenetic song “Animal Thoughts” sounds more like the kind of band that you might have heard on American college radio in the eighties. The guitar, as you might expect, leads the song into battle.

Like some spectre, Sheila K Cameron sings from the ether and her song “Goodbye Baby Blues” moves from nowhere to somewhere with the kind of spiritual precision more akin to the French chanson style while the multiple tempo shifts subtly suggest underlying torment.

With a voice that exudes both spirit and poise, Yaara Levi waltzes her way through “Eretz Ktana Im Safam” like some sixties soulful songstress whilst the offbeat jazzy arrangement ensures that the song stays in your head. Pure quality.

A power pop song by any other name would sound as sweet and Bones Garage stamp their commercial sensibilities all over “Birthmarks”. The tempo changes add the necessary variety but it the voice that leads the song forever forward.

The middle of the road can be a very nice place to be especially if you are listening to a band like Polaris Rose. Endearing boy-girl vocals and some spirited guitar make “TigerBait” very easy on the ear.

I hesitate to call anything stylish these days but The Bohos are likely to cause an outbreak of finger snapping whilst smoking French cigarettes and “The Leaders Don’t Love You” gains substance from both sharp lyrics and vocal performance.

Even in Turkey they love the past or so it would seem from Cagri Raydemir’s song “Plastic Cirque”. There is a hint of Bowie to his voice and a whole lot of seventies rock guitar to take it to the proverbial bridge. Such things never go out of fashion.