Formerly purveyors of lo-fi bedsit electronica, Edinburgh’s Sacre Noir maintain their links to both the shadows and the sequencer whilst injecting enough in the way of riffs and robust female vocals into “Listen To Me” to take their appeal all the way into the bleaker end of the rock pantheon. A mascara anthem if I ever heard one.
It must be a side effect of summer but everyone seems to be singing happy songs this week and “England” is no exception. Ilana J may well have a rather romanticized outlook on life but is that not the very thing that sells pop songs? A sweetheart of a singalong song.
It’s not often that I can describe a song as uplifting but that is the very thing that I have to do with Egi and Firsta’s song “Song For You”. The evidence of a musical education is there for all to hear but it is the heart and soul powering Firsta’s eminently civilised voice that makes the song special.
Wholesome and entirely reverential to the expectations of the Americana genre, Blackheart Honeymoon wrap up “Mountains Speak” in west coast ribbons and sent it out to the worthy audiences who attend roots festivals who, I expect, will welcome it with open arms.
Downbeat to the point of melancholy, Cape Snow show a splash of class with their song “One More Time”. It is Bree Scanlon’s voice that tempts the band into the shadows despite said band’s apparent eagerness to please the middle of the road audience that will surely be the purchasers of this song.
Oddly uneven for something electronic in concept and creation, “Welcome”, at very least, shows that Amo, who are from Israel, can escape the limitations of the genre and thus produce music that can actually generate atmosphere.
Running straight as the proverbial Americana arrow, JD & The Straight Shot play a stylish safety shot with their song “Better Find A Church” and duly hit that middle of the road target right in the bullseye. Let it be so, let it be slick and let those festival booking come rolling in.
Easy on the ear, Venus Rising casually roll further down the well-trodden folk rock road with their song “Lazy Daze”. The sound may not be new but the feel is definitely that of the good old days with singer Sheena Bratt keeping things securely on the sentimental track.
It’s a love song of sorts but “Love Me Badder” from Elliphant, despite her Swedish origin, is a rather brutal stylistic reinterpretation of the American urban style. She’s got attitude, without a doubt, and that easily sells the song.
“Golden” might well sound like homespun lo-fi synth pop but beneath it all beats the heart of a true pop song and it is to the credit of Mezko, who are from Sydney in Australia, that the result is harmonious and organic rather than synthetic and sterile.
Four sisters from Australia, Stonefield drift through rock music’s past in search of their muse. “Golden Dream” ticks all the boxes for San Francisco in the early seventies and adds a deliciously determined vocal. Girl power at its best, I would say.
Indie pop has its rules and Australian band Dianas know when to follow them and when to add in their own particular brand of quirkiness. “Good Enough Girl” has the requisite fey female harmonies but is actually driven forever onwards by the kind of insistent guitar that you would expect of bad boy indie rockers. Easy when you know how and Dianas do.
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