Song reviews

Some songs run deeper than others and “Nari Nari” is such a song with Holbrook spinning their guitars into a coat of much meaningfulness and duly wearing it with style. There is, of course, European quirkiness stitched in but it’s quality nonetheless.

I can live with this one. “Want To Go Back” loops round the bedroom like a song borne of a well provisioned record collection yet Wolf Manhattan has the nous to revere his references rather than just replicating them. I shall sing along.

Solid old school dancefloor moves from Smoove & Turrell with “IGOTCHA” having the irresistible post-midnight vibe that would make even an archbishop put on his dancing shoes and speed into the dawn. Feel the groove.

Once again, I feel a sigh coming on as “Mox Nox” by Alison Eales takes command of my ears. Sweetly sentimental, delightfully delicate and lyrically intelligent, this song is, in a way, a throwback to a time when quality mattered. This, my friends, is quality.

Packed full of droning synths and moody intent, “VHS” embodies the retro lo-fi vibe that its title would suggest with Alex Kelman executing his downbeat intentions with notable efficiency. The bleak tone is no doubt deliberate but the song hits it mark.

It seems to be the week for sentimental songs and Erin K duly adds “Keep Her” to the “what becomes of the broken hearted” playlist. Her lyrical adeptness is always obvious and her level headed approach to telling it like it is has appeal.

Scottish band The Camans resurrect a standard song called “The Banks of Inverary” and do the diligent and reverential thing by replaying it in a form that even the long gone would recognise. Then again, you can’t actually go wrong with a song like this.

Had to give this one a third listen as this curious hybrid of loops, guitar melodies and excessive plastic processing never seemed to go anywhere yet left me somewhere far away from where I started. Offbeat just about covers it. It must be a style thing.

Ever wondered what a protest song might sound like in 2023? Pretty much the same as it would have sounded in 1968 if “Peak 2023” by Chris Pellnat is anything to go by. The lyrical references might well be of today but the irony is timeless.

You don’t hear a vocoder used much these days. There’s probably a reason for that but there is a certain degree of amusement to be found in The 23s retro synth loops that suggests “Never Be The Same” wasn’t recorded in black and white.

Certainly singing and sounding older than her years, Jessica Woodlee treads an introspective trail with her song “By Now”. Her words do have more meaning than most and the end result stays resolutely in the shadows. A serious song indeed.

Solid is the perfect word to describe Ben Hemming as he chips yet another brick out of the rock wall. We are talking old school seventies style blues rock, of course, and “Holy For A Day” duly rumbles, emotes, purports and struts its way into the sunset.