Song reviews

Layering on the self-reflection like only a proper singer songwriter can, Jodie Nicholson takes “Sleep On It” and turns it into a wistful anthem for the sensitive souls amongst us to enjoy with our soya cappuccino.

Every time is night time and Pixel Grip unearth all that is to be found in the avenues and alleyways of the big city with moody vocals and brooding synthesisers keeping the robot behind “Split” on a near industrial course.

Abandoning subtlety and with cultural oppression being the name of the game in the lyrical content, the full on mix duly pounds all that is “Tribal” into your skull. Only You are a music machine on a mission.

Italian band Saint Mary Candy aren’t short on style and with their mix of retro sounds and post punk angularity taking their song “Black Darling” all the way to the bridge of sighs with the fuzzed out guitars leading the way.

You don’t get much in the way of that old school funk groove these days but The Steele Syndicate blow their horns all the way through their song “Take It Eazy” just to let you know that it’s time to get back up on the good foot.

Jakob The Liar is walking on the twee side of the street with “A Song Like You” and that element of awkwardness in the lyrics is right in sync with the time honoured sentimentality and even the almost but not quite guitar solo

Playful in that way that many recreations of the punk sound are, Liliths Army bounce amiably through “Eat My TV” with much in the way of wry humour evident. At least I now know what anarchy in Northamptonshire sounds like.

Now here’s a song that will chill your wine. “Working On The Next Life” is elegantly sung and so cool that you could use it to survive the heat of the Sahara desert. No idea who Club 8 are but I guarantee that they wear sunglasses when indoors.

I feel that I should know who David Cloyd is as he clearly hails from those halcyon days when power pop was intertwining itself with the remnants of soft rock. His song “If We Could Escape” is duly polished to commercial standards.

“Ghost” has its moments of awkwardness yet Hannah Duckworth has the charm to make this song more than music by numbers and her words soon loop themselves around you in a rather radio friendly manner.

Propter Hawk do a nice line in straight down the line four on the floor rock music with some suitably robust female vocals giving “Sorry!” the power to energise your beer fuelled ears. Definitely nothing to apologise for here.

Splendidly anodyne, “Fields of Green” sounds just like a pastiche of the more skywards looking side of seventies rock right down to the guitar solo. Of course, it is probably more than that and Izabella Lily duly puts her heart into the vocals.