Song reviews

France has always done well when it comes to producing quirky female singers and Laetitia Shériff proves the point with the lilting “To Visit Brighton” taking a minimalist, yet also stylish and acerbic, approach to reinventing the urban sound. Cool is the word.

Conventional yet charming, Seattle’s Courtney Marie Andrews takes the acoustic route through the past towards that time when innocence could occupy the same stage as empathy. “Not The End” is a softly sung song with a message and is available as a free download from Bandcamp.

“The Arising” sounds more the product of a band from the good old US of A than Sweden with Hillström & Billy using up all the right Americana influences on their walk up to Robbie Robertson’s house. We already know the way and so, it would seem, do they.

It often seems that Jamie Flett has a world view that verges on the spiritual and, this time around, he takes his philosophical outlook and uses it as the vehicle to float “Worth It In The End” upon the sea of lost souls. His candle, nonetheless, burns brightly in the gloom.

An amiably drifting soundtrack to those nights alone with your headphones, Warehouse Eyes quietly convince with their mix of electronic ambience, masculine guitars and sugary vocals. “Tokyo” will, if you are so inclined, make you scratch that goatee beard that you so carefully grew and ponder the wonders of the relationship you no longer have.

Balancing their appeal somewhere between the street and the dancefloor, Sweden’s BLKMGK neatly wrap their song “You Don’t Deserve Me” in rap and reggae decorated wrapping paper. They are probably the most exciting band to come out of Sweden since Alcazar.

Rough and energetic, Aberdeen’s Cook Doo draw on all the best bluesy influences to give “Ivory Tower” its beer soaked impact. Not subtle but their collective musical heart undoubtedly beats like that of a lion.

Eerily conventional, “Beneath The Shadow of the King” easily demonstrates that, with their eminently aurally pleasing female vocals, Steps of Doe have what it takes to uplift the spirits of any folk festival audience attendee. It is, therefore, a song with heart. Available as a free download from Soundcloud.

I’m not sure quite what to make of “Get It Together” as Starfire Rainbow Jellybean’s combination of west coast pop influences and their recreation of the sound of the heyday of disco seems less a homage to either than a deftly executed pastiche of both. That said, the lounge revival has made such efforts respectable even to critical ears.

With flexible musicality clearly on his mind, David Philips infuses “Angel” with the dual essences of Americana and seventies folk rock. He’s not quite Kris Kristofferson but there is, without doubt, a muse motivating him. Nice guitar work adds some class to the song too.

Some class power pop from Brooklyn – where else? – as The Davenports right click on their Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers influences and select the correct menu option to make their four minute claim to fame called “Don’t Be Mad At Me” both quirky and memorable. Let it be so.

Stripped out and yet retaining intensity, Glasgow’s Sinny sounds smokier and deeper than her years on this planet might suggest. “Take A Picture” takes an American, and distinctly melancholic, route to your ears but the song works admirably nonetheless. Get your camera ready for her.