Song reviews

I like a bit of dream pop in the morning. Well, not really but there is something endearingly misty about “Five Year Plan” by Night Swimming and that is enough to make even the mainly cynical walk once more in fields of clover.

Heavily processed mainstream pop in the modern style from Miss Madeline, “Competition” is distinguished from the product of other pop princesses by the somewhat angular and attitude powered lyrics. A cool contender.

It seems like it has been a week for the wistful and introverted and Little Bit fits her song “Out To Dry” right into the potential playlist for that time period. Throw in some lo-fi murkiness and this one will take you right out of the coffee shop.

Solidly commercial in the Nashville style, “You Should Know” has a strong enough hook to get Melissa Mannett some airplay anywhere in the world where pickup trucks congregate. The singalong chorus holds the song in your head.

“Slam The Rock Back Down” sounds pretty much like you would expect a hard rock song to sound these days with VK Lynne throwing some determined positivity into the lyrics. There is, of course, a guitar solo.

The D.O.O.D. are quite clearly a metal band yet, underneath the monster riffs and dramatic posturing, “Final Girl” - dare I say it? - infuses humour into the black leather theatricality expected of the genre. It’s over the top and down the other side.

A mellow ramble through the more adventurous past days of the rock pantheon, Vamberator nonetheless keep “Sleep The Giant of Sleeps” right on the track for a full five minutes. I’m sure there’s deeper meaning in there too.

Taking the manic, but ironically infused, use of repetition as the proverbial means to an end, Glasgow’s How To Swim kick the post punk football that is their song “Magazine” about the park for a bit and then put it squarely in the back of the net. Score!

Energetic nineties style rock from The Young Scones and “Bone” duly takes us on a beer drinking and riff heavy frenzy with a nice singalong chorus to ensure that the band gets their point across. It would be only right to call this is good time music.

This one is interesting. The sound is garage, perhaps even grungy, but the urban angst contained within “We Are So Alike”, diluted as it is with frustration and anger, lifts Rain On Fridays straight out of the shadows and into the light.

Old school blues rock from Ben Hemming and “Thorns”, whilst giving us more of the same, still rolls with an integrity that most modern pretenders cannot muster. If you like riffs to go with your beer then this will be the song for you.

indie rock in the old school style from Sweden’s The Search and “Pick Me Up” duly, and very smoothly, integrates all those familiar guitar moves and meaningful lyrics into a song that still manages to sound fresh.