Song reviews

Sort of indie poppy and then altogether sort of stormy, Savannah based duo Sunglasses take “Blessing” from the land of twee to a destination somewhere close to a land where late sixties psych pop meets downbeat industrial rhythms. Marks are duly awarded for having the courage to derail your own song and then get it back on the tracks before the fade.

Endearingly lo-fi and innocently bouncy, “You Think You’re Cooler” makes for a very respectable introduction to the music of Glasgow duo Mistake Pageant. Nothing in the song seems to be in the right place but despite the awkward tempo changes, primary school guitar technique and the straining to stay in key female vocals, the end result is sweet and huggable. You’d take this song home. You know you would.

Classic rock lost in England style from Naked Sunday as they stroll confidently with much thudding and riffing through “Sunflowers In the Rain”. While they might never stray far from the clichés of the genre, they do at least demonstrate a very respectable amount of ability.

Help me Jesus! The eighties have finally reached Australia with the proof being the enigmatically named “1 2 3 Faux Leopard” from Circle. There’s a decent vocal in there but the locked in lumpy circles (ha!) plastic backing track lets the side down badly. Rocking like it is 1984 (but, like, in Switzerland).

Whilst they don’t seem to be trying anything particularly radical during the course of “Slow Motion”, Alberta manage to sound remarkably convincing as if they had been downloaded from more truthful times. A nice touch of melancholy seasons the male singer’s voice too.

A singer songwriter from the UK it would seem,  Arron Brown treads lightly through “Stargazing” as if scared of attracting a beating from the school bullies but is nearly overpowered by the laptop in a loop backing track anyway. Kind of sweet even if our Arron seems unsure what he is trying to achieve.

Upbeat Swedish rock band with a convincing melodic feel and more than a tip of the hat to late seventies Rolling Stones in style. “Between The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea” sounds like the kind of song that they don’t make any more and is none the worse for that. Your aunt will love it.

A mid paced display of lightweight but poetic sensitivity, “What If” leaves plenty of space for the melancholic male vocals to shine through. Nice enough but there are many many more like it, as they say.

Offbeat and displaced male vocals ride a lo-fi looped bit of reasonably convincing of plastic coated indie rock. However, you do get the feeling that the band are missing a guitarist but, that said, the lyrics do suggest a lot more intelligence than the laptop in a frenzy backing track would otherwise have you believe.

It would appear that bedsit electronica exists even in Cornwall and Sister Savage is the proof. Perhaps that physical separation from the big city makes all the difference as “Stars Fall Like Leaves” floats upon an ethereal cloud that showers you with folk inspired, gently persuasive female vocals. Really rather beautiful..

Stomping four on the floor electro rock from, I assume, a German band. Squeezing in an ironic one chord at a time guitar solo in as a counterpoint to the three chord riffing, Mont Go set up “Seelenleer” and send it off to invade neighbouring dance floors. Perhaps I’m being a bit harsh as I did want to bang my head off a wall as this song stomped all over my brain.

Once more into the pit of melancholy as Gus By Heart makes his heart bleed in the “The Last Place” and, like too many such practitioners of beard scratching, going all deep and serious did not add significantly to his appeal. Bit of a shame as the song has potential and would suit a proper rock band a lot better.