Song reviews

What’s this? A band that sound angry at the world that engulfs them? Indeed they do, and Terry and The Good Time Boys viciously merge their Britpop influences in with old school punk lyrical motivations to make “Open Your Eyes” more than worthy of a listen.

Always a songwriter of maturity and elegance, Sofia Talvik delivers another intelligently worded and neatly performed song in “Circle of Destruction”. The quality is obvious and ears who hear beyond the melody will find that she is a protest singer for our time.

The days of proper musicianship are not over with Burn The World providing the proof in their near six minute epic “Burn The World”. There’s an environmental message in the lyrics yet it is the fluency and precision of the assembled musicians that sticks in the mind.

Taking the retro rock route, and none the worse for that, is Swaye with his song “Getting Back To You” reverberating with all the qualities that would have guaranteed radio play back in the day. Just as it was back then, easy on the ear is the way to go.

Anaklav mercilessly loops the super cool into the disco meets house beats of “Hello Darling” with the result liable to induce maximum pleasure in the ears of the dance until dawn crowd. Not just for the dancefloor either as this one also has BMW driver appeal.

Rosellas walk the indie rock walk with some confidence and their song “Come Alive” even stretches their reach into the true rock arena by the simple expedient of including a decent guitar solo. All in all, not a bad effort.

Techno will never die, or so it seems, but the passing of time has given SHSHA the chance to polish those metronomic beats until they shine like a diamond. “Hyperphoria” is wordless, as you might expect but the beat goes on until the dawn.

“Enough of Your Love” exudes redolence and this laidback rock song successfully weaves grungy guitars and enticing female vocals into a song that sneaks up on you. The Wanes are from Nashville but this, fortunately, isn’t country.

Brooding electronica from Paradise Guerilla with the looped beats of “Intoxicated” roaming through the big city streets on the hunt for the ghosts of the past while classy female vocals interject with style. This one is for the cool kids.

“No More Waitin’” isn’t the kind of song to catch you by surprise and Vicious Kitty are the kind of band that know how to make the kind of music that goes well with beer on a Friday night but there’s a guitar solo in there so that works for me.

Another laid back song with, this time, Sara Lew moving her song “Shady Light” along at a leisurely pace whilst leaving plenty of space for listener contemplation. Her guitar leads and her languid vocals follows those chords to a mist covered nirvana.

An exercise in minor chord laconicism, “Last Time” is targeted at the urban coffee shop with Hunter & Wolfe’s downbeat lyrics leading the listener all the way to a piano break and something akin to a big chorus. If indie retro were a thing, this song would be it.