Song reviews

I miss big city festivals as they always gave a home to songs like this. Almost overdosing on the machine polished irony inherent to political correctness, Karen Bishko nonetheless kicks her song “My Name is Karen” right at the audience. Hallelujah.

With appealing wistfulness, “Pink and Blue” evokes the sugary side of C86 as Magazines take us on a three minute musical journey into the corners of dreamland. I have always had a failing for honeyed female vocals so this song works for me.

So sentimental the song is almost country, “By My Side” rolls on down the road of life at a leisurely pace driven forever forward by delicate harmonies and the Red Hearted Vibrations’ evident warmth. All it needs is a slide guitar.

“7’11” plays out like low key bedsit electronica but there is enough in the way of poptastic hooks and ladders to give Reyna a chance at moving themselves into the fast lane. All it is going to take is a bit of luck.

Starting off fey and acoustic but gradually growing into something grander and altogether more electronic, Mear nonetheless strike the right emotional note with “Soft Chains” even if the song is rather more cerebral than it might at first seem.

Guitars. Drums. Bad attitude. Three things that you need to make a rock song work and those three things are to be found in “Mean Rock n Roller” by MeMe Detroit. Take me to the guitar solo, I said, and indeed they did. Rifftastic.

Even if the machine runs the show throughout “Wasting Time”, it is still possible for a voice to score enough points to win the prize and Yawn duly takes the crown with a burst of inwardly targeted melancholy. Hypnotic.

I like a song that encourages delinquency and “No Ghosts Walk” by Paper Tigers does just that. A conventional rock start soon develops into a rasping, crash your car into the wall, three and a half minute house brick. Play loud.

Bleak synth pop has become something of a fashion statement these days with the robotic minimalism of “Under The Gun” ticking all the style boxes whilst allowing Violent Vickie to deliver her message on the dangers of conformity.

I’m glad to report that someone has remembered how to write a proper pop song and “The Battle Is On” is a fine example of just that. Forces season with a big pinch of quirkiness but the song remains ear candy to the end.

About as unassuming song as you might get in these troubled times, “Flies” nonetheless neatly demonstrates that Jasmine Rodgers can take us on a wind powered journey through the shadows into the dawn.

Infused with enough wistful intent to induce a sugar craving, “The Paper” is plenty sweet and sufficiently hypnotic to easily introduce the low key wonders of Leyya to the curious ears of a wider audience.