Song reviews

Sweetly sentimental in approach, Caragh also demonstrates that she has more than enough poetic poise to power her song “Sail Away With Me” on the short journey from your speakers to your ears. Satisfying in a summer smoothie kind of way.

You can’t really argue with a man’s choice to use sixties’ pop influences and George Katsos certainly has used plenty of those very influences to fuel his song “How Would You Handle This?” with the looped minimalist percussion and keyboards holding the song up until the fade.

There is a certain offbeat charm underpinning “Offbeat” by New York duo Teeniest and that gives this song its legs. The lyrics take Jonathan Richman to the coffee shop for a cappuccino with an extra shot of suitably ironic commentary thrown in.

Polishing up that nineties pop rock groove and injecting it straight into a twenty first century song is Dagny with this Norwegian singer sounding like she is actually from sunny California. “Heartbreak in the Making” is retro Cadillac cool.

“Still Holding On” is a fine example of the pop punk style and The Dollyrots easily demonstrate their grasp of the core concepts of this raucous retro sound. I don’t know if they still have shopping malls but this song should be booming from the speakers in all of them

Mona Mur is a musical legend and it is therefore no surprise that she can take oppressive retro beats and nihilistic lyrics and turn them into something that could make the shadows dance. I wear black because that is what she decrees. Worship her.

Maybe Nashville will take over the world? Sometimes it looks that way with the plethora of country ladies ready to pull a blue collar bunny out of the cowboy hat. “10 Bucks” is the hook that Katelyn Lehner uses to do just that.

Another excellent name. This time the moniker is Miss Tammy Darling and she also does not disappoint with her song “Electric Love” neatly crossing the line between neo and northern soul. Old and new at the same time and she also takes it right to the bridge.

Let’s face it, Virgin Mary Disco is a great name for a band and their song “Automation” also does not disappoint with its initial, retro eighties, vibe transforming into something altogether rockier and lyrically bleaker than you might expect. Very promising.

The are times when the old ways are best and “Rubber Hits The Road” proves just that with SUSU pulling out some powerful blues rock moves and joining them with strong female vocals. Yeah, play this one loud. Then play it loud again.

Nicely polished and confidently performed, “Aztec Jewel” seems a safe choice for airplay with nothing that Murdo Mitchell does with his song likely to offend even the ears of the musically savvy. The soundtrack to any aspirational advert.

Metal bands don’t generally do melodies these days but Shadow Smile do and, even with the inclusion of all the stereotypical growls and steroid fuelled guitars, their song “Hellhound Heart” sounds like it could live on an acoustic guitar if it had to.