Song reviews

“Brown Eyes” is mid paced soft rock song that would have been quickly parlayed into radio airplay back in the day. However today is today and, while it’s a nice enough song, the mix loses Monica Ward’s vocals – surely the epicentre of a song like this – in the murk.

To give them credit, Banana Beach are toughening up. “Antibodies” is a damn sight more purposeful than their previous songs with their Swedish electro pop sound benefitting from a course of musical steroids. A convincing vocal performance leads the song off into the sunset and that is just how it should be.

Old style and none the worse for that, Braggers get out the Ouija board and contact those glorious guitar powered post punk days to get guidance on how to get their song “Better Life” to the end in four minutes flat. No problem, it would seem, as the road is a straight one. Available from Bandcamp.

Swiss duo Huck Finn excise any excitement from “Before You Begin” with near military precision. The piano drowns in reverb and the vocals follow the mood into the land of melancholy. It’s a long walk.

Nicely polished, Boston’s Louie Bello rattles through his dancefloor friendly song “Take The Money” like it was 1989 once again. He might well get you thinking of Rick Astley and long nights in white stilettoes again but his heart and soul are in the right place.

Obviously fond of taking their urban poetry out for a drive in a fast, and probably stolen car, Sleaford Mods speed mercilessly through the back streets to John Cooper Clarke’s house. “ A Little Ditty” is righteously quirky and full of barely suppressed anger all at the same time making it a fact and a fight all in one.

Perfectly poised for the mainstream, Liverpool’s Helena Johnson aims “Take Me Home Tonight” right at Adele territory. Ms.Johnson has a civilised yet robust voice and she transcends the limitations of the song with ease. I shall light a candle of hope for her.

“Firebird” demonstrates that Apache Darling are a more serious band than their previous output might have lead you, or I, to believe. The retro electro sound is still present and correct but the mood is altogether darker with Stefanie Lawrence’s voice easily evoking shadows rather than sunshine.

France has always done well when it comes to producing quirky female singers and Laetitia Shériff proves the point with the lilting “To Visit Brighton” taking a minimalist, yet also stylish and acerbic, approach to reinventing the urban sound. Cool is the word.

Conventional yet charming, Seattle’s Courtney Marie Andrews takes the acoustic route through the past towards that time when innocence could occupy the same stage as empathy. “Not The End” is a softly sung song with a message and is available as a free download from Bandcamp.

“The Arising” sounds more the product of a band from the good old US of A than Sweden with Hillström & Billy using up all the right Americana influences on their walk up to Robbie Robertson’s house. We already know the way and so, it would seem, do they.

It often seems that Jamie Flett has a world view that verges on the spiritual and, this time around, he takes his philosophical outlook and uses it as the vehicle to float “Worth It In The End” upon the sea of lost souls. His candle, nonetheless, burns brightly in the gloom.