Song reviews

“An Ocean With No Waves” is about as far from being in your face as a song can get yet, with the hypnotic vocal talents of Yasaquarius adding the emotion, this low key song manages to both capture and hold your attention.

It’s actually refreshing to find a band that values impact over tidiness and Paper Tigers are such a band with “Flames” bouncing fussy, fuzzy riffs and the rhythms of rock of the walls in search that first foothold on the wall to success. Play LOUD!

Some songs sound serious and this seems particularly true of “Together (In The Pink) by Emperors Night with some post rock stylisations being added to this mix of casually paced poetry and meandering musical extemporisations in order to further the band’s intentions.

I sometimes wonder if folk music could be metamorphosed into something more modern by the use of electronic aids and perhaps Sciarra though the same thing as her song “Surrender It all” effectively counterpoints the ethereal with the harsh reality of the computer.

There was a time when you had to be old to look backwards to better times but not now as even the young are revisiting five years ago with their rose tinted glasses and “18” by Neimy provides them a very suitable soundtrack for their sentimental reflections.

For a song so heavily processed in its production, Nadia Vaeh nonetheless compensates by pulling in enough in the way of organic lyrical intent and indigenous pop culture references to confirm that “Monroe” is a song whose concept comes from the heart.

Offbeat is the way to go for Tiña with “Dip” splicing in the kind of lost in space vibe that one might expect of Dope Lemon but enhanced with a rather more paranoid outlook on life. It’s London style but not as we know it.

Yorxe does the hide in plain sight thing with her song “Hide Your Bodies” sounding like just another song in the modern urban pop style yet featuring rather more lyrical impact than you might expect. One to follow, perhaps?

I’m not entirely sure if this song is meant to be ironic but Mark Fredson’s, low budget take on old school dramatic pop actually works out rather well with “R U In It?” managing to be more than the sum of its parts.

Keeping her finger on the pulse of modern musical trends is Kendal Thompson with the message of empowerment in “Not Ur Girl” following the form of genre expectations whilst still suggesting that her conformity was merely a stylistic choice.

Almost tailor made for the cognoscenti, Leanna throws everything from French pop to jazzy interludes into her song “Nuit” with the result proving curiously invigorating to my tired ears and, perhaps unsurprisingly, making me hunger for more.

I doubt that many will regard “River” by Haneke Twins as a trivial song. There is too much in the way of repeated rhythms, anguished riffs and introspective lyrics for that yet, despite all those grey clouds, this song grows on you.