Song reviews

Although from modern day Russia, Fizica draw heavily from the history of European pomp rock for the influences that drive their song “The Melody of Our World” relentlessly forward. It’s a big bombastic song, as you might expect, but Maria Stepanova’s voice provides a subtle counterpoint to the power chords and synth riffs.

About as indie pop as you can get these days, Manwomanchild exude politeness and intellectual intent all through the way through their song “Return To Ithaca”. That said, I kept drawing unconscious comparisons to early Depeche Mode as I listened so it was something of a surprise to learn that singer David Child is actually American. That makes them, or him, OK by me.

With his spirited voice working in his favour, Erik Smallwood manages to make “Water In My Hometown” both mainstream Nashville and subtly sentimental at the same time and duly turns it into an easy on the ear pickup driving kind of song.

A pleasingly robust pop song seasoned with a more than a hint of sixties’ style experimentation, “Cloud Nine” allows London’s Shannon Wardrop to make that all important mark on your consciousness. Her voice exudes confidence and that’s all she needs to get by. Trust me.

Easily the most therapeutic song that I have heard this month is “Travel Where The Moon Pulls” by Tom Adams with its spiritual vibe leading my mind on to the path that leads to an altogether more beautiful time and place. It's not often that a song is both elegant and uplifting these days but the evidence is here for all to hear.

Whilst essentially derivative, the sheer manic energy of this rough and ready assault upon the ears is more than enough to make me give Drown That Fucking Panda the thumbs up. “Pen Pals For Panda Prisoners” is their song and the future is now history. Make it loud and make it so!

A solid and commercial song, “Water To Fire” shows that Roberta Howett has the kind of voice that can sell a song even if the plastic backing track fails to match her class.

Relentlessly retro, Beverly Girl take all that eighties dance floor electro groove and inject it into the veins of their song “DNA” with Johanna Saarinen’s voice adding a smoky individuality to the strobe light sequencing.

Seemingly determined to make indie rock actually interesting, Liverpool’s Jimmy & The Revolvers go large on the chorus with “The Morning Paper” and, with smarter than average lyrics, their song stays longer in the memory than you might expect.

The Sunday Reeds might well have a retro sound and singer Romana Ashton seems have been infected with the Nico virus but, nonetheless, “Pretty People” has far more style than you might expect with the druggy power chords complementing the red lipstick admirably.

Pleasingly dramatic in her presentation, Birgit Bidder takes her ballad “You Don’t Wanna Know” into theatrical territory with the hint of quirkiness in her voice lifting the song skywards and making this a song with commercial potential.

Showing a Springsteen song the respect it deserves, Sweden’s Moa Holmsten adds her plaintive voice to a respectful and reverential cover of “You’re Missing”. You can’t argue with her choice of song as it suits her so well.