Song reviews

I normally don’t do any research for a demo review but when a little Google bunny told me that singer of Already Gone – one Luke Maskery – had appeared on Stars in Your Eyes as John Denver then I had to wonder if these songs would be a fame driven drive off the bridge of credibility, perhaps into the depths of the indie rock sea. Fortunately however, the rock this band hits is southern rock with bad boy vocals and muscular guitars much to the fore. Of the two songs, “One Good Reason” is quite clearly the radio friendly one with a nice hook but it is the sometimes awkward “Girls I Used To Know” that shows the spark of originality.

Another case of yesterday is today as this Scottish duo dish up the plastic everything retro cake and top it with scratchy guitar and restrained female vocals.  “The Day I Died” goes nowhere fast and struggles to keep your interest but “You’ve Changed” shows promise although it needs an arrangement rather than just repetition to give it some impact.

It might be sunny in Dumfries but it seems to be shades of grey for this band.  “Preachment” sees the male singer layering in the post rock melancholy before the rather abrupt end. Similarly reflective is “Ravens” with a minimal keyboard backing leaving your attention with the effective female vocals though, again, the song just grinds to an unexpected halt. At least they left me wanting more…

Zeindl Autohaus is a good name for a band. It suggests posturing krautrock or maybe hardcore underground electro. What it doesn’t suggest is curiously mellow and harmonious vocals decorating remarkably laidback indie rock. Admittedly, “How RU” instead of rocking out like it should does sound a bit half-hearted as does “Inner Self” for that matter. However, with some attention to making their songs swagger instead of stumble, this Edinburgh band could make the right noises for a bit of the old success.

Though they struggle to escape their rather obvious influences, there is no denying that Dalzel put their heart into it. Neither “Notion” nor “I Don’t Mind” are likely to stick in your mind however but I suspect that this relatively new Glasgow band might do rather better in the live environment. Their singer stands out as the kind of guy who could do some real damage with better songs.

Fighting away through the murk here is (probably) a respectable song and performance but it hard to be sure as the leaden and (surprise, surprise) loud electric guitar kills any chance of anyone wanting to make it through to the end. The other track - “We Fell Apart” – certainly doesn’t lack spirit in the vocal department and accordingly could most likely be turned into a very decent rock song if it were treated with rather more care than it has been in this demo.  The guitarist really needs to remember that volume is not a substitute for skill.

Richard Mailey has undoubtedly a bit of style. “Silk” is lyrically clever like Ricky Ross on a roll whilst bringing more than a bit of self loathing into the mix. “The Sandman”, on the other hand, takes a wee walk into Tom Waits territory both in words and in style.  Curiously, Mr Mailey’s voice tends towards a gruff affectation on both songs even though I’m sure that he could actually sound like himself if he wanted to.

I’m surprised that this band hasn’t come to my attention before now but they could well be new to the scene in Glasgow. OK, so they are hauling out retro influences like Wire and the Monochrome Set but both songs here (“Hailey” and “Locust”), although rambling, never actually stumble and more than usual care has gone into making the songs sound interesting. Memo to brain – must track them down.

You can easily guess that Mass Chemistry is an American rock band. Only America makes rock bands like this and you can hear that this band are aiming themselves at the stadium market with both  “Shadow” and “You Know” ticking all the boxes needed to make that journey. That said, it would have been nice if the guitarist had worked a bit harder at sounding like himself rather than taking the easy route and sounding like just another sideman.

I have a somewhat vague recollection of hearing this band and this song before but no matter as “Good Morning Lassitude” is a nice, laidback example of inoffensive alt folk. It would go well with summer sunshine and a nice picnic. It would go less well with a Subaru. Basically, it’s a lack of aggression thing.

The indie rock onslaught continues with “Colour Of My Mind” being a spirited if ultimately uninspired take on what has been done before by so many.  It would have been easy to write this band off if that had been all there was but “Song For The Underclass” showed another side to them. At a more relaxed pace, Freedom of the City even squeezed much in the way of punch into the down to earth lyrics. The potential is there but it is an each way bet at the moment as to their chances.

Oh dear, more victims of the Glasgow indie rock disease. The Dots have all the symptoms – one trick pony guitarist, a drummer that seems to be playing in a different band and a vocalist doing a weak impersonation of Liam Gallagher. Remarkably, “All You Need is Vulgarity” beats the four minute mark and “Last Horse” coughs and splutters to a halt at no less than five and a half minutes.  They clearly don’t know when to quit.