The Beths do their eternally endearing indie thing once more and their song “No Joy” duly bounces along on a combination of caffeinated coffee shop quirkiness and fuzzy guitars. This one makes you want a chocolate muffin.
Solid singer songwriter stuff from Margaux and she duly sweeps all the sentimentality and introspection she finds in her heart and stores it in her professionally presented song “Nothings Gonna Hurt You”. This one has solid commercial appeal.
You know its indie pop when you hear both wistful vocals and layered yet still murky guitars. Dear Boy do indie pop well and “Kelly Green” duly has little problem making its way into your affections. Especially if you wear a cardigan.
Heavily processed and sounding distinctly synthetic, “Sunshine” is nonetheless sufficiently upbeat to make you want to tap your feet. 5ON5 may have retro moves on their mind but their song isn’t stuck in the past..
An earnest pop song, “Junk Food” is catchy enough to hold the attention of your ears and Nat Dempsey does his bit with a suitably energetic vocal performance keeping those indie influences company for three minutes.
“Turquoise” tunes out to be a rather playful song with its influences drawn from the days when French pop was about as cool as you could get. Kacimi and Le SuperHomard update the sound to today but the vibe remains the same.
Delicate to the point of becoming fey, Natalie Holmes pulls together some metaphorical lyrics and some suitably wistful vocals to make “Bird Song” light enough to float amongst the clouds. A sweet and wholesome song indeed.
Josie Duncan has the kind of voice that would make you believe the world is a better place than it actually is and, with sentimentality to the fore, she duly sugar coats her song “The Wee Hours” to ensure that you want to eat it.
A rather extended and somewhat low key combination of rock moves and dancefloor beats, “Sevens” successfully shows that The Kut has more than one string to her bow. As such songs go, this one would work well on a nineties boombox.
Danjul loops “Dirty Playground” all the way into urban territory with retro style samples and repetition being used to add that essential character. Powered by the computer, this is truly the sound of a modern day pop song.
Vikki and The Gits are from Glasgow but they actually sound more like an American punk band than victims of that no mean city. “Dopamine” has decently acerbic lyrics and more melody and vocal character than you might have been expecting.
J D Allan has been about for a bit so “Kill In June” has, unsurprisingly, put the stamp of maturity upon his song with some almost obsessional lyrics keeping things well and truly on the dark side of the street.
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