Song reviews

“Typical” is perhaps a song of our times and, in the best sensitive singer songwriter style, Zara Smile emotes her inward focussed anguish in words and music and sends it in an outward direction. Sweet but with substance.

I can’t say that I had heard of New Zealand band Underwire before but, on the evidence of their song “Greener”, they seem to have adopted a rather more critical lyrical stance than you might expect of a rock band of these times. Worthy.

There’s not a lot to “Detour” by La Sécurité but it is reasonable to assume that the drums, bass keyboards and distant vocals are part of a greater plan to charm and enchant innocent ears. As plans go, this one might actually work.

Manchester band We Three Kings hit the maximum volume button again with “Blackout” and riff their way their song as if they had been raised on a balanced diet of bourbon and seventies hard rock. Loud and all the better for it.

A somewhat British take on the urban r&b sound, “Camel’s Back” follows a more adventurous path with Tlya X An’s laconic vocals and oblique lyrics weaving a web of processed intrigue between looped beats and late song tempo shifts.

A solid effort from Edinburgh rock band Dark Hearts with rather restrained riffing guitars guiding “Talk To Me Of Poison” along the path to safety. The somewhat theatrical female vocals add a note of distinction.

The retro is strong in Transmission Suite as they continue on their chosen path to revive those halcyon days of analogue synth sounds and brooding, downbeat vocals. If you remember those better times then “Driving Rain” will work for you.

Club 8 sound like the kind of band that I should have heard of. Perhaps I have as there is something endearingly familiar about their sound and “All I Know” is stuffed full of wistful memories of the glory days of twee pop. Deliciously sweet.

Definitely walking on the raw and raucous side of the rock street are “Black Paint” and their song “All Bad” duly benefits from replay at maximum volume and added beer. Subtle it isn’t but a perfect Friday night song it is.

I was just thinking that it has been a while since I heard an old school rock meets funk groove when along came The Rideouts with “Perfect Man”. Female vocals, suitably supportive guitars and a horn section make it all happen.

As singer songwriters go, Jennifer Klein is on the wholesome side of the street even if the words to her song “Talk to You” have more sharp cuts in them than you might perhaps expect. Nonetheless, she sings from the heart and that is no bad thing.

“Out In The Garden” is an endearingly cute song that ticks all the boxes that a sensitive singer songwriter like Annika Kilkenny should tick with her literate, and rather poetic, lyrical style helping this song go over easy.