Song reviews

Pleasingly skewed towards the house of art, Vienna Ditto show that there is more to electro pop than just locking it to the beat with singer Hatty Taylor sparking the match that sets “Oh Josephine” on fire and sends it off to burn the nightclub down to the ground.

Determinedly time travelling, Axis/Orbit right click on the past and send their song “Riot Canal” meandering off on a journey through the land of the psychedelic instrumental with only a short visit to krautrock city diverting them from guitar solo nirvana. Alternatively, they could just get their collective hair cut and join the army.

Surprisingly robust and driven inexorably forward by a sleazy combination of keyboards and guitar, “Cry Baby” is the kind of song that would likely make a band’s name. The band’s name - and you should be interested in them - is Phone Joan, they are from Norway and Carina Moen’s powerhouse voice is clearly capable of leading a good man astray. A big thumbs up to this one.

Throwing her all into the atmosphere, Sinny uses her voice and piano to inject the necessary emotional anguish straight into her song “Who Needs Love?” with the result being a confident walk down the road that once led Sia to stardom.

Rather more modern in style than her previous releases, “Carry On” neatly illustrates that Coeur De Pirate knows what success in the American market demands. She even sings in English to make this very commercial, if somewhat anodyne, electro pop song enticing to the download capable masses.

Navi is a Romanian singer songwriter who once co-wrote a Eurovision song contest entry but her song, “The Burning Process”, is a much more intense affair with dark electro pop influences much to the fore. A downbeat song, therefore, but not lacking in atmosphere.

“Slow Motion Love Affair” is the kind of song that could only be associated with haute couture and the good life and, harking as she does back to the days when a lady was just that, Lola Lamour proves that style, as always, is where it is at.

Fusion cookery doesn’t do much for me and “Monaco” by Scottish band Dirty Money Handlers similarly suffers from having ingredients that seem to have been put together for the sole purpose of appearing to be different. The socially conscious rap in the middle indicates that the band has its collective heart in the right place but the song outstays its welcome by a good couple of minutes.

Few bands do the soundtrack to life in the modern day city as well as A Band Called Quinn. “Drive With Your Eyes Closed” is, unsurprisingly, chilled to perfection and delivered with digital precision to the MP3 player in your high end automobile. This song is, to put it simply, a fine example of super cool electro pop.

A neat and intelligent pop song from what would appear to be a new band, “Tyland” shows that Hen-Jenny are girls with both guitars and an independent streak. They do it all in under three minutes too with Jessica Powell’s precise voice leading things with undisguised confidence.

Although powered more by youthful enthusiasm than anything else, there is still a pleasing freshness to Indigo Husk’s song “Grin” with an energetic guitar providing support and counterpoint to the somewhat stylised male vocals. That works for me.

Pleasingly primitive post punk from Austrian band Chick Quest with their rough and ready retro approach energising “Somebody Call A Doctor” whilst, in the background, a trumpet pulls out a spaghetti western motif. It’s a European thing indeed.