Guilt Coins score bonus points for managing to mature the indie rock sound in a cask of power pop influences to thus allow their song “Iza Crime” to emerge into the singalong sunshine with both immediate appeal and hidden depths.
Pleasingly sludgy, Little Junior twist that perennially popular guitar pop sound all out of shape with their song “Crooked Teeth”. This might well be more posturing than anger but it grinds against you all the same.
Doing the downbeat melancholy thing is always popular with singer songwriters the world over and Endika Sangroniz throws his heart into the ring with his song “You Never Knew Me”. No surprises therefore but a fair amount of emotional intensity keeps your interest.
“Necessaries” is as low key and wistful a song as a hipster might want in these troubled times but even those without an ear for fashion will find the grace and poise of Many Voices Speak more than sufficient reason to pay attention.
“Circles” introduces us to the laidback rock sound of Glasgow band Red Hearted Vibrations. The song seems more American than Scottish in presentation but the female vocals are notably appealing to the ear. That said, a bit of editing to trim the fat from the six minute running time would have been beneficial.
Pleasingly upbeat with just enough retro to be counted as cool, Meera hit the mark with their song “Fine Without You” and duly take you right along with them as they dance in the sunshine on their way to a beach party.
If you are going to drown in your own influences then it makes perfect sense to dive deep into the bay of Britpop. Animal House do just that with “No Mamma” and find themselves floating quickly to the surface as their song turns out to be distinctly buoyant.
Another example of bedsit electronica, “Undo” by Searmanas features all those synthesiser sounds that we know and love and tops them off with some ethereal and melancholic female vocals and that makes the song more effective when listening late at night.
Oddly appealed in a heavily sequenced way, “We Will Never Rule The World” by Lines escapes the dancefloor by the wicked addition of decadence courtesy of Dolores Haze. Is this what discontent sounds like these days? Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.
“Home Fires” by Tranquil Sea sounds like it has been squeezed flat to fit into the indie rock genre with all the artistic flourishes that such a song needs getting pummelled by the incessant, and repetitive drums. Time for a remix, methinks.
On first acquaintance, “Silence Won’t Help Me Now” sounds like a straight out of the box electronic pop song of today but Laura Jean Anderson has a trick or two up her sleeve and uses literate lyrics and a dash of drama to stamp her individuality all over the song.
Again a retro sound looking back at the bleaker days of analogue synth pop with enough Bauhaus stylistic influences evident to permanently smudge a guy’s mascara, “Prey Drive” stalks the shadows successfully for Philadelphia band Kiss of the Whip. Sniff the finger, so to speak.