Song reviews

At a guess, I’d say that Shatterglass were an American band. “Sick” has all the menacing power chords that a hard rock song of today should have and enough machismo in the vocals to make a man wish for the return of hair rock.

This one sounds like it has dropped out of rather more trippy times than today with Sophia Knapp infusing “Lazuli” with enough in the way of jingle jangle and wandering lyrics to turn her song into an adventure. The clouds are talking to me.

As precisely constructed as a song of today needs to be, “Patience” has all the modern style boxes ticked yet NOA neatly counterpoints the artificiality inherent to the computer music box with her straight to the point style.

You can sense the menace hiding in the shadows of “Goldrush” and Little Thief duly thud, rumble and emote their way through their song with an entirely convincing sense of directional purpose. Add beer and volume for maximum enjoyment.

Some songs seem light enough to float, and “Butterfly” is one of them with Ilja Alexander throwing in enough in the way of fey lyrics to keep his song from ever falling back down to earth. I feel my mind drifting away as I listen.

I was wondering if there might one day be a Nick Lowe revival and, as if by coincidental magic, along came “Clear Crystal View” by Shem Sharples. This is the kind of song that Nick Lowe would have produced back in the day.

You can smell the money behind “Secret” and Julian Shah-Tayler pulls some neat nice later period Bowie moves to add that final spit and polish to this radio friendly song. Obviously commercial but none the worse for all that.

Interesting. “Barely” initially seems like just another laidback dream pop song but there is too much going on for this to be merely an extended venture into lo-fi land and Star Moles make this song seem, for want of a better word, twinkly.

Playing their cards straight are Edinburgh rock band Black Lesion with their song “Sins” giving genre fans exactly what they want in the way of muscular guitar riffs and purposeful vocals. Just the thing for a Friday night.

It makes a change to be able to say anything nice about Coatbridge and, for once, I can for Coatbridge band Feet of Clay have infused “Son” with enough casual confidence and guitar powered sounds of days gone to make it into a satisfying song.

Does London have soul? Maybe, for “Scarlet Woman” is the kind of song that could only come from an urban metropolis and Louise Golbey injects modern day sentiments and, dare I say it, soul into it. One for the cool cats, without a doubt.

Is this a sign of the return of the proper song? Could well be, for “Up The Nurses” relies not on technological gimmicks but instead on hook and melody as the main ingredients in Silverback’s recipe for ear candy.