Song reviews

Silence are apparently a Dutch student band and “Welcome To The Freakshow” does indeed supply ample evidence that staying in school brings benefits. The quirky and theatrical edge to the female vocals makes a welcome change from usual deadly sensitivity and the piano led song, whilst unpolished, stands up well too.

“Quinzhee” is a nice example of cardigan wearing indie pop with just enough quirkiness and left of field lyrics to class this song as endearing. I don’t think I could face an album’s worth of music like this without resorting to violent retribution but there are many out there who could.

Looped to the point of anonymity, The Luka State take no less than a full minute to demonstrate that they don’t have much more than a title for their song “Matter Of Time”. All credit to these three young lads nonetheless for stretching their lack of creative inspiration out to twelve seconds off the four minute mark. They are young so they can only get better. Maybe.

Rather dull and lacking in inspiration, “Soul Aspiration” is unlikely to generate much interest by casual ears in London band Knocking Host. More educated ears will have heard this type of sequenced plastic song done to death a couple of decades ago.

Simultaneously fragile and serious, Swedish singer If You Say So steps right up to the edge of melancholy with her debut single “Paint Me”. This is another slice from the Scandinavian pop cake, of course, and therefore this song stays close to the retro norm but I have to admit that the lady’s voice is not without that wistful appeal.

Rather careless in both its execution and production, the duo going by the name of Ummagma will struggle to generate any interest in their lo-fi single “Rotation”. I have no problem with DIY music making but this song would have been so much better if someone had been doing some quality control.

Obviously determined to ensure that you remember his name, Canada’s Jesse Burke takes as much looped plastic as he can find and recycles it into a song called “My Name”. Whilst his voice is much better than the song, all potential credibility is lost with the addition of a painful (but no doubt obligatory) white boy rap.

Although “We’re Going To Rio” is an oddball concoction of indie influences, Francobollo – yet another Swedish band – don’t go quite far enough to gain left of field support. A pleasant enough song but most likely not the one to break this band.

“Shoulders” makes for a rather pleasant intrusion of the present into the musical past with Petter Seander proving that being Swedish can make retro guitar pop an uplifting experience. His impassioned vocals suggest that this song is more than one for the road.

Although “Loud and Loveable” by Swedish band Long Long Showers seems little more than an untidy and rambling hybrid of Britpop and Postcard, there is nonetheless an underlying theatricality that suggests that the live environment may be their forte.

“Fall Out” is, to the credit of its creators Fou De Toi, an upbeat and melodic pop song that has more than enough musical buoyancy to overcome its drag bag of retro Europop musical references. It’s a pity that it isn’t summer as this song would be very compatible with warm nights.

“On The Way” is a respectable example of one man minimalist soft rock with more than a hint of retro psych pop seasoning added to the musical recipe. Although rather awkward in his execution of the song, Pop Culture Pirates – or at least the captain of their ship anyway – knows how to emote reflective bedroom melancholia.