Song reviews

Although categorised as a Swedish Americana band, “Mud” makes The Wife seem more of an alt-rock band with a fondness for Ry Cooder style musical reinvention and Natalie Johansson’s world weary voice makes a compelling case for giving them closer examination.

Convincingly doing the white boy funk thing, Misun put their song “Justice” on the retro groove train and take it to the end of the line. Robust female vocals and a guitarist with a loop fixation keep the song right on track.

Although they would appear to be too young to understand irony, Virgin Suicide play that very card as they revisit the sound of Suede with such thorough reverence that “Virgin Suicide” (the song) becomes no less than perfect pop revisionism.

“Safe To Surface” seems initially no more than the work of yet another Chicago rock band suffering flashbacks to a past time. However, give Brontosaurus some of your time and you will hear a band unafraid of the subtleties and complexities required to make a song memorable.

Although inoffensive almost to the point of parody, “Street Lights” does highlight that Sweden’s Mon Sai have the ability to marry melody to harmony in the best indie pop tradition. There are, however, hints in there to suggest that a sense of adventure will develop once their confidence grows.

A neat, if unadventurous, song, “Podesta” shows that California trio Peptalk could easily become the soundtrack to your next latté with the oriental style percussion lifting the song above competing laptop electronica.

You can hear the hard work that has gone into “Phonecalls in the Bath” with none of that one tempo and three chords approach that curses so many Glasgow bands. Instead, we get a restrained start, a spirited middle and an elegant coda to close this glorious song off. May we be blessed with more music from this connoisseur’s choice of a band.

Some band exude obscurity so, other than they are from Chicago, there is little I can tell you about Vissuda. However, it would seem that their music will speak for them with “Drone Octet” developing from a languorous ambient groove into a hypnotic blend of edgy guitar and wistful female vocals. That’s a cool concoction in anyone’s in-car entertainment.

After a minimalist start redolent of sixties psychedelic pop, Colornoise rev their three cylinder musical engine until drama pours out of the exhaust. “Amalie” is the name of their song and the future of this Costa Rican band looks bright indeed.

Whilst never straying far from what you might expect of proficient indie rockers, London’s The Beautiful Game nevertheless show plenty of energy and that, with a spirited vocal performance from Jason Crowley, powers “King William” right through to the end.

Although somewhat sluggish in the rhythm department and heavy handed in the guitar department, Misun – from Washington DC – have just enough oddball charm to get “After Me” to the finish line. The underlying appeal, however, is in the edgy paranoia of the lo-fi female vocals.

Pleasingly insistent, Austrian electro pop duo Leyya have learned lessons from the dancefloor and applied them to their song “Superego” with the laconic female vocal easily exceeding the click track in emotion.