Song reviews

I would almost be tempted to say that there are no surprises here but that is perhaps the point of “West Coast”. Step Rockets, from Minnesota in the good old US of A, throw in a touch of keyboard powered irony but the song knows where it is going right from the start.

With the kind of intensity that will surely endear them to trendies in search of deeper meaning, Hawk tick all the urban festival boxes with “The Hunt”. The main selling point is Julie Hawk’s soaring voice that seems more of the forest than the city.

Sounds like Australia may be rather more interesting than I had thought with “Sympathy” baking a cake made of wholesome radio friendliness and topping it off with the spirted voice of the lady Iluka herself. Sugar coated quirkiness all the way through.

Soaking her song “No Last Call” in melancholy works out pretty well for Emily Rodgers with her voice, lost forever in the shadows of life, calling out triumphantly for redemption. Remarkably, this song sounds like the work of singer who actually understands country music and yet she isn’t even Nashville bound.

Neatly capturing the urban anarchy of Glasgow, Seconds grunge their song “Breeding Feeling” right up yet, in a curiously oblique angst infected way, make it seem uplifting with the sunshine being provided by the girlish vocals. Prescriptive rather than proscriptive, if you know what I mean.

Distinguished by the entrancingly manic female vocals, “Holy Sick” demonstrates that Australian band WAAX have both absorbed all the right post punk influences and learned how to use them to drive this jagged little song along the freeway of life at a relentless pace. Turn the volume right up and enjoy!

It will soon be the time for the festival season and London’s Red Sky July duly step into their Americana boots and walk their song “Walking Country Song” on to the well-travelled road to Nashville. It’s a nice song and undeniably radio friendly.

“Ahnen” might well be regarded as playful compared to what is normally expected from this serious, both musically and lyrically, Scottish band but White Heath mix up complexity and quirkiness successfully with the result that this song soon justifies its place on the steps of the arthouse.

Marlene Oak has her own vocal style, without a doubt, and the bleak, bluesy feel of “How Long” provides her with the opportunity to show what she can do and you can almost feel the redemption coming to get you. She’s a class act.

Endearingly robotic in style, “Just Wanna Belong” makes all the right European noises with the distinctly confident voice of Eric Rapp injecting just enough passion to both counteract the potential sterility of the song and simultaneously give crossover appeal.

Ah, if only it were yesterday! Low Cut High Tops might be well be seen as an American indie rock band these days but “Let’s Runaway”, entirely the work of one David Burns apparently, embodies all those good old fashioned values like a melody and a singalong chorus that once made a profitable and healthy record industry. Throw in enough power chords to give the song boy appeal and you have a winner.

Spaced out and yet cool enough to catch the ear of the trendsetters out there, Bouche takes her wistful voice and double bass and uses them to cross the border between jazz and folk with her song “Everything and Nothing All At Once” being her passport. Quite mystical and strangely hypnotic.