Song reviews

Aka Belle sound a bit dirty – in a good way – with their song “Fittin’ In” digging the retro depths and finding enough in the way of guitars and trippy time lyrics to make all those hand claps seem like a damn fine idea.

Being sung in French always make a song seem stylish and “Envoler” duly passes the cooler than cool test with The Ultimate Dreamers using their laconic take on the late period synth pop sound to make you want to wear sunglasses at night.

“Garden of Stone” resonates with the power chords and stylistic touches expected of a hard rock band and Bastion Rock even manage to include a touch of emotional sensitivity while they are going large on the volume.

Although sounding rather like time travellers from the days when the mall was the only place to buy your guitar, Linda From Work throw in enough in the way rebellious sentiments to make their song seem relevant to today.

Whilst clearly not of the mainstream, “O Quam Tristis” nonetheless has ear appeal with female vocals of such purity that they would make an opera singer jealous turning this song into a fairytale. Electrio abound where others do not.

Rachel Yamagata goes down the piano led ballad route with “Backwards” and she has little trouble stamping literacy, emotion and sheer class all over her song. A song that will offend no one and enchant everyone.

Listening to “Minute Ago”, I thought for a moment that I was hearing a lost Fleetwood Mac song such was Smith & Liddle’s super smooth impersonation of that west coast sound. No doubt about it, this song works.

Whilst always looped solidly into the retro chill out room next to the dancefloors of yesterday, “Falling Behind” still exhibits a certain hypnotic appeal with Yndling floating her lyrics on a cloud of post midnight style.

I didn’t think that fey indie pop was still in fashion yet that is the very path that Sandy Shorts have chosen to follow. Their song “Dimpleface” is laidback, melodic and makes you want to wear a cardigan even when the sun is shining. Sweet.

Looped into a world of angst fuelled bleakness, Debdepan add enough musical aggression into their downbeat synth pop sound to make their words worthy of a listen. “Habit” duly exudes purpose without added complexity.

Talking of style, next up is Kat Robichaud and her song “Alien Sex” resonates with theatricality and a certain, rather trashy, quirkiness. The lyrics suggest the human race has a tried and tested means of interacting with alien invaders. Indeed we do.

No doubt about it, “Look Where We Are Now” is a song decorated with ironic lyrics that are delivered with a curiously appealing mix of loops and laconic vocals. The Helmut Bergers are definitely downbeat but they do have style.