Song reviews

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.

Glasgow veterans Marshall Chipped keep it strictly downbeat for the five minutes or so of “The Architect” with enough in the way of strident guitars to let those who remember the style signature to jump on the song’s serious retro vibe.

Middle of the road seems to be the place to be these days and that’s where El Sartel have taken up residence. “Take It From Me” plays out with the kind of commercial polish that makes for both radio airplay and happy housewives.

Another band from the past rises from the rose tinted mist of days gone by and The Cowboy Mouth duly demonstrate that they have not forgotten how to put a polished pop song together. “The Swimmer” is just that.

This one makes for a bit of a change. “Escape” hits the dancefloor in the unmistakeable EDM way with Katharina Pustka using her violin to add a bit of class into the mix even if the jarring edit at about 02:30 sounds out of place.

Solidly angular, Death Sells prowl the punk shadows with their song “MF”. I can hear guitars. I can hear anger. I can hear the voice of a woman on a mission. I will feel this song more if I turn the volume up. I do just that.

Energetic full on rock from Manchester’s We Three Kings and it would not be too much of a stretch to imagine “Get Back” being added to the jukebox of any establishment that serves beer. Just beer though. No cocktails.

It’s pretty much straight down the line rock from Electric Children although there is enough grungy untidiness and lyrical purpose in “Deceivers” to remind you that keeping it real works a lot more often than not.

No idea where Berenice is from but, if I close my eyes, I can hear that she has ingested some Nashville style polish and “Little Red Heart” duly spends its three minutes ticking all the right boxes to get commercial attention.

Pleasingly episodic, Qoya infuse their song “Timeless” with more than enough grunge and long form artistic posturing to induce visions of escaping shadows heading into the light. Full on guitars and relentless reverb fill in the gaps.