Song reviews

Steering a course left of centre, SoLBLoMMa juggles old style vocoder interludes, neo jazz stylisations and her own special brand of individuality for the length of her song “Magic Space Man”. Definitely not conventional but I like her style.

A song with a bit of scale for a change, “Peter Pan” aims for emotional grandeur and hits the target square on with enough in the way of emotive vocals and guitar solos to guarantee Mona Visa a place on your Spotify playlist.

A curiously appealing blend of woozy synthwave and pop sensibilities provides the sonic seasoning that makes “No Fun” candy to the ears with Anna Sofia’s bleakly direct lyrics getting to the point whilst staying within the three minute style boundary.

Firmly rooting their sound in the overlap between synth pop and retro electro funk are Neon Tapehead with their song “Know What I Want” affectionately evoking memories of a time when everything was melodic and pleasing to the ear.

“ETA” is something of kissing cousin to the big ballads that the were the sound of the world back in the eighties with their combination of wistful female vocals, synth riffs and cascading guitars giving What If Elephants the opportunity to go retro large.

When it comes down to it, we all like a good pop song and that is what “Castle Keep” is. Relaxed and with enough in the way of jangly guitars and knowing winks to the past to keep the retro team on her side, Sasha Bell gets the job done.

Another purveyor of low key bedsit melancholy, Laurent Bourque stays close to genre expectations but still finds the space to let his song “Lightning Mood” breathe deeply and thus finds the emotions necessary to sigh once more at the frailties of the world.

The past is the new black once more with Foxy Mojo digging out all the dirty guitar love that history has given us and spreading it all over their riff laden song “Till The Morning Light”. That said, add a dash of volume and this song becomes a tasty Friday night snack.

I sense a message of solidarity underneath the eloquent melancholy that provides the motive power for “Brothers”. The Pillow Queens are reliable purveyors of such things so this one won’t disappoint their fans one bit.

It takes a notable degree of musical skill to infuse the near robotic precision of a song like “AI Am In Love” with emotional impact and Novaa pulls it off by using her minimalist approach to melody and lyrics to add a definite hypnotic appeal.

The pounding drums and jagged guitars may suggest another indie rock contender to many but St Andrews Fall clearly like to move things further up the musical ladder and “It’s Never You” has been brought up on a diet of Scottish rock to do just that.

Locked to the loop synth pop will never go out of fashion and Niki Kand adds to the appeal of such things by adding her own wistful style stamp. “Sexy But Sad” isn’t the biggest song you will ever hear but you will want hug her after you hear it.