“Eclipse” by French band Pythies features plenty of power chords in the best riot grrrl tradition and their three minutes of muscular musical mayhem manages to convince even me that such things can also be done with style. Play loud.
You can’t go far wrong with a Ruth Theodore song and “Hold On Me” is proof of that with intelligent lyrics and a suitably expansive arrangement reinforcing the song nicely. It’s like the heyday of female singer songwriters has returned. Praise be!
More unashamed sentimentality from Jim Byrne and Lesley O’Brien with “Take My heart” sounding like it should be spinning at 78rpm. Add in Kurt Baumer’s fiddle and this time travelling musical journey into a rose tinted past is complete.
Solidly pulsating in the best retro style, Sohodolls lay on the laconic with their song “What Kinda Love”. The lyrics have enough bleakness to make black your, and their, favourite colour even if their wardrobe is otherwise theatrical.
Swiss band Kodact prove that the art of making a catchy pop song has not been lost and their song “See” duly swirls around inside your head like it belongs there. As they might have said back in the day, this one is airplay fodder.
If you want to get low key grunge mixed into your shoegaze cocktail then you have to go to Finland these days with Lala Salama justifying the price of the flight with their adorably energetic song “Aurinko sulattaa mun pään.”
“Our Home” made think back to the days when folk merged itself into the world of pop songs to make melody seem positively natural and organic. Burr Island might well be fey but in an ear pleasing and rather convincing way.
Kate Clover knows how to give a song some power with “Like A Domino” using up as much 98 octane guitar fuel on its three minute journey as it would to get all the way to Kansas. All the best songs are three minutes long for a reason.
Endearingly direct, For I Am stick to the maximum volume and bad attitude route for their song “Devil Undercover.” The guitars are aggressive, the drums are seismic and kickass female vocals make this one for fast driving.
I like an intellectually motivated pop song as much as the next man and “History Books” is one such song with Kev Bev sinuously weaving a musical spell with the help of a horn section. It’s a cappuccino groove thing baby.
Wistful in a sort of robust kind of way is Alejandra O'Leary and “My Religion” rolls like a sensitive singer songwriter would but with the murky and very nearly trippy arrangement robotically spraying the song with deeper meaning.
This song is undoubtedly of the heart on the sleeve variety but, if anyone can carry off this kind of emotional intensity, then it would be Chiara Berardelli. One for mature tastes, certainly, yet “Little More” will surely make you want more.
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