Song reviews

They still make them like they used to. Bonneville takes the old school singer songwriter route with her song “Chimpanzee” and duly enchants the coffee shop crowd into following her every word. Laconically ironic is where it is at

Some nicely melodic pop from Hermetic Delight who season their song “Ankara Punk” with sentimental lyrics, eighties synth pop style and a sugary coating. It’s enough to make you want to eat cake and dream of better days.

Perhaps oddly for a French band, Apart sound positively American on their song “Unsaid”. The guitars lead the song along with spirit although the laconic vocals and tempo changes add an atmosphere of anguish. It’s intensity at work.

“In Your Pocket” sounds like a revival of the pop punk sound of retro America yet Technopolice hail from France and their guitar fuelled angularity is duly delivered with both bad attitude and better than average style.

Rock in the classic style hits our ears again with Hazel Gaze shoving in as much guitars and gravel into their song “Dirty Little Secrets” as they need to gain traction. There’s grit aplenty both in the singer’s voice and in the lyrics. No doubt about that.

And yet more retro synth sounds but this time from America and Arena duly does his best to remind us of the glorious days when every shopping mall had its own soundtrack. “What’s Your Damage” won’t hurt you at all.

Time for some more stylised retro with Lovatraxx sequencing their song “Träumen” with the kind of robotic precision that makes you rejoice at how eighties minimalist synth pop has metamorphosed into the coldwave of today.

“Eclipse” by French band Pythies features plenty of power chords in the best riot grrrl tradition and their three minutes of muscular musical mayhem manages to convince even me that such things can also be done with style. Play loud.

You can’t go far wrong with a Ruth Theodore song and “Hold On Me” is proof of that with intelligent lyrics and a suitably expansive arrangement reinforcing the song nicely. It’s like the heyday of female singer songwriters has returned. Praise be!

More unashamed sentimentality from Jim Byrne and Lesley O’Brien with “Take My heart” sounding like it should be spinning at 78rpm. Add in Kurt Baumer’s fiddle and this time travelling musical journey into a rose tinted past is complete.

Solidly pulsating in the best retro style, Sohodolls lay on the laconic with their song “What Kinda Love”. The lyrics have enough bleakness to make black your, and their, favourite colour even if their wardrobe is otherwise theatrical.

Swiss band Kodact prove that the art of making a catchy pop song has not been lost and their song “See” duly swirls around inside your head like it belongs there. As they might have said back in the day, this one is airplay fodder.