Song reviews

I like a robust song in the morning. It smells like blues rock to me. Emily Mac duly hits that old time guitar riff road and, whilst doing so, confidently tells it like it is. Or how is should be anyway. She’s loud, she’s post-feminist and “Whiskey Like Me“ resonates like it is 1975.

You can go far wrong with a song as resolutely upbeat as “Is This The Guy For Me”. It might well be plastic dance pop but Michael Runswick has the voice to make this particular trip down to the club rather appealing. Yes, it’s mirrorball love time again.

Rock has another new face with Devora bringing plenty in the way of brooding synths and guitar riffs along for the ride. Her song “Wild West” struts to the three minute mark with click tracked precision and forthright attitude. It’s style and substance combined.

Giving us polished pop music in the modern vein is Barbi Nadas. “Overthink” ticks all the processing boxes for radio friendliness in these streaming days and, whilst not quite a feminist anthem, the song deserves a listen.

Jordana of Earth is a cool name and, unsurprisingly, “Need To Know” is a cool song with her classy vocals joining together with urban beats to produce sounds that many will class as soulful. It’s one that Chevy Suburban owners will take to their heart.

Jangly and offbeat in the same stanza, Burn The Louvre nudge themselves further towards country rock territory with their song “Easy.” The lyrics aren’t as casual as the tune, however, and you can tell that the best is yet to come.

Putting together something resembling a funk beat isn’t common these days but Glass Bandit – from Austin Texas – do a very decent job of sounding like they have just stepped out of a time machine and “Ghost” stomps with both style and a guitar solo.

Sone fey folk stylings give “All Behind” by Dr Fabola a bit of ear candiness and yet the lasting impression is of one of several minutes of seriousness and social commentary. It’s an acoustic singer songwriter thing at the end of the day.

There is plenty of reverb to tease the ear in “The World’s Gone Still Now” and Hannah Schneider has no problem navigating this downbeat song. Not the kind of song that makes you smile, “The World’s Gone Still Now” nonetheless has a hypnotic appeal.

Both robotically powered and delivered in a deadpan style, “One Minus One” makes you feel like you have stumbled into somebody else’s misery. The lyrics seem superficially uplifting but Cornelis Gerard clearly knows the meaning of counterpoint.

Smelling sweetly of bedroom compression and sequencer fascism, L Y S plunder the urban genre for inspiration and glue their song together with disjointed vocals and discordant synths. There a dancefloor remix in there somewhere.

One more for the nu soul crew. RÓQA and SENA – from Hungary no less – hit the smooth road for a trip back to the days when urban was still young and fresh. The groove is right and this song makes you feel all warm and sentimental about those bygone days.