Ten singles, 2021/7

Another week has gone by and it's time to dive into the singles on offer. Chances are that most people will have never heard of any of the artists involved here. All the more reason to pay a little attention as you never know what you might discover. Music from the U.K., Ireland, U.S., The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium and Greece, also quite diverse. One of the bands is releasing its very first single, others the first single announcing a new album for 2021. Curious? Below you find a link so you can follow all songs while you read and can form your own opinion immediately. Feel like sharing these? There's a comment section below as well. Looking forward to reading your views. Ready? Here we go.

Moment. The Crayon Set

Who as a child has not drawn pictures with a crayon set? This band name brings back instant memories, also memories of having to draw within the lines, something I have never been particularly good at, in many ways. The Crayon Set is a band from Dublin working towards the release of its third album, 'Downer Disco'. Moment is released as a single on route to the June planned release. It is a subdued electronic pop song. The synth are swirling most of the time around the voice of singer Kate Dineen, often doubled by Robert Baker's singing. The background vocals go for the same effect in the aahs and oohs behind the lead vocal melody. The result is the suggestion of perpetual motion, like Franz Ferdinand achieved in 'Always Ascending' and more recently 'Spirals' by Django Django. It lifts a nice but subdued pop song up to something that intrigues. The effect is well crafted and executed in a song that is pleasant to listen to.

White Noise. The Yummy Mouths

Looking at the title and band name, I thought to have do with a Rum Bar Records release, but no. The Yummy Mouths are from Belgium. The band releases its first single ever and we have the opportunity to review it. White Noise is full of energy and melody. It falls into a long tradition of alternative rock music tending towards punkrock, that is going through a total revival since 2018.

The way the bass kicks off the song, full of spunk and forward motion, announces exactly what is to follow. Things are not as straightforward as they may at first seem. Midway White Noise totally falls apart into, well, white noise. A referee's whistle brings it all back together (and ends the song) and makes The Yummy Mouths play according to the rules of a three minutes pop-punk-rock song once again. White Noise is an introduction to a new band that is full of promise. Let the debut EP 'Ugh!' come.

Jacaranda. Hayley and the Crushers

After the perfect powerpop of 'Church Of Flag', it's time for a new single by Hayley and the Crushers. All the way from San Luis Obispo in California the trio shows once again how good it masters a music style that went out of fashion around 1980 and is totally back thanks to bands like Justine and the Unclean and Hayley and the Crushers. The world needs upbeat and energetic songs like this. Where the original bands making this music had the Cold War hanging over them, always holding the mood back in a lot of the songs, in Jacaranda it is as if there's no financial nor Covid crisis. The song aims to please the ears, body and mind all at once. The guitars are loud, the rhythm section tight and the melody sweet. Jacaranda is the right song for the times we live in.

Non-Dramatic Breakup Song. Linnea's Garden

They still exist, pop songs of just over two minutes. With the release of Non-Dramatic Breakup Song the new Boston based label Red on Red gives another example of its ambition. Linnea's Garden is the new band of Linnea Herzog. The first song the band releases is a great pop song that incorporates 60s girl groups, Blondie and pure pop, including the many women fronted pop groups of the 80s and 90s. Linnea's Garden blends all these influences in an incredibly light and open sound. The kind of song that is so easy to instantly like. There's enough of a rock element to give it credibility, a sprightly guitar riff that catches the ear immediately and Linnea Herzog's voice holds enough of Debbie Harry and all the Bangles to please with ease. Non-Dramatic Breakup Song is a kind of song impossible to dislike. Sing, dance, listen, it will get you there if you let it.

Hope. Opera Alaska

Within a year of Opera Alaska's first album, a new single sees the light of day. The collaboration between Moss' Marien Dorleijn and jazz guitarist Marzio Scholten receives a delicate yet successful continuation. Hope is a song as soft as the title suggests. It is a slow meandering song, like a big river with huge, slow bends. A trumpet plays a solo like a boat navigating the stream and the bends, slowly but surely. The trumpet's sound is muted as if coming through me through the mist from the boat somewhere on the big river. The sound of Hope is so delicate, as is Marien Dorleijn's singing. With a song like Hope there's only a binary choice: either as a listener you pay the closest attention or you miss it completely. All who follow the former route are awarded with a beautiful song. There's no other word for it: beauty.

Naked In The Rain. Holy Monitor

Psychedelia from Greece? Why not? Holy Monitor applies a great wah wah pedal to the guitar sound, creating an immediately recognisable sound as huge as Cream's 'White Room'. The warm organ keeps an ongoing long-lasting sound underneath the whole song. The traditional rhythm section are playing a distinct role. Alex Bolpasis' "walking" bass runs carve out its successful place in the single. The drums played by Dimitris Doumouliakas are far from straightforward too, resulting in a musical situation that it's the organ and guitar that are the real mainstays of Naked In The Rain. They are totally predictable, until the organ, played by Vangelis Mitsis, steps out for a great solo. Naked In The Rain precedes the album 'Southern Lights' to be released late in the month. It will be the band's third full length release since forming in 2015 in Athens. There's no denying one of the guitars, George Nikas (also vocals) and Stefanos Mitsis, plays a front role, but both are not the most distinctive features of this song, which is surprising for a two guitar band. It sets Naked In The Rain apart and the more interesting. Like I asked, psychedelia from Greece? Certainly.

My Muse. Para Lia

To celebrate the release of Gone With The Flow on vinyl, a huge next step for the musical project of René and Cindy Methner from Cottbus in Germany, My Muse is released as a single. A totally correct choice as it is one the best songs on the album. My Muse manages to capture a rocking energy and blends it with a great melody that is easy to sing along to when dancing around to the music. There's no standing still with a song like My Muse. Together they sing, while René takes care of all else on the record. That includes a blistering guitar solo that must have caused the paint of his recording studio's ceiling to crack. The start is like Led Zeppelin's 'Rock And Roll' a fiery drum pick up and then all is allowed to go off for a short while, as the song is masterly built up as well. René Methner has a keen ear for dynamics and never to overdo things. The result is a great, melodic rock song that I simply love listening to.

The Laughing H E A R T. The Puzzle is Cast

The Puzzle Is Cast releases a song every second Friday of the month and on the time of writing it is that Friday. It works towards a cd release late in the spring. With the first song 'O Rif*' it startled and surprised me. What to make of it? Search these pages and you will find out. With The Laughing H E A R T it is not as if The Puzzle Is Cast plays a pop song in the best ABBA tradition. Of course is does not, but by comparison, this is 'Fernando' or 'Does Your Mother Know' alright. Against a backdrop of electronic sounds and effects, all of a delicate nature, a guitar plays soft but pleasant, jazzy notes and riffs. A melody that is nice to follow while alternately it is fun to follow the sounds going on around it and in the background. The guitar is prominent and starts by playing a melody that reminds me of the opening riff of 'Drive', the country rock song by American band Hazeldine. Two totally unrelated songs make a connection in my mind, before The Laughing H E A R T plots its own route through a series a flageolets on the guitar. Listen to it but don't forget that background, it's interesting as well.

Girls Just Wanna Dance. Modesty Blaise

Girls just wanna have fun gets a 2021 reincarnation. Less exuberant but perhaps only in the difference between the U.S. and the U.K. as Modesty Blaise captures the sound of Madness, like in 'Our House', in its extreme pop song called Girls Just Wanna Dance. The only thing slightly eschew is the no longer innocent voice of singer Jonny Collins. So many boys in my younger days were always standing on the side, beers in hand. I preferred dancing with the girls. A lot more fun.

Girls Just Wanna Dance is a single from the upcoming, third album of Modesty Blaise, the first in 20 years. This explains the not so innocent voice. What the band captures is that mood of just twirling around without having to think about anything else then dancing and who will buy them the next round. No, this is not the best song I've ever heard, but it is sheer pop fun. The prospect mood of a night out is caught well and presented with the resigned voice of a man who knows he doesn't stand a chance tonight. This explains the lack of a total festive atmosphere of Girls Just Wanna Dance as it is sung not from the girls' perspective like Cyndy Lauper's hit but from the boys', probably standing on the side afraid to move onto the dance floor (until they had too much to drink). The psychology of a song? Who knows, but experience may prove me right here.

Owl In The Parlour. Cathal Coughlan

Owl In The Parlour is the second single from Cathal Couglan's (Microdisney, The Fatima Masions) upcoming 'The Song of Co-Aklan' album (26 March). His first in ten years. If a ghost hovers over this song it is David Bowie's. In the chord changes and parts of the vocal melody the more esoteric compositions of the first half or the 70s Bowie shine through. It gives Owl In The Parlour a flavour from long ago. The kind that I had almost forgotten, were it not that I played 'Hunky Dory' last week because one of its songs, the stellar 'Life On Mars. came by on the radio. Owl In The Parlour is a languid song, one that's more for a long, warm summer night that a frostbitten day like this one. Coughlan's voice is not good enough for this song, although he does come a long way. There's a little power missing, that would have carried it across better. The fact that he is able to write this song does speak in his favour. Bowie meets Scott Walker, something like that is what I hear. Two singles under way, still a positive score.

Wo.

Listen to our Spotify Playlist to find out what we are writing about:

https://open.spotify.com/user/glazu53/playlist/6R9FgPd2btrMuMaIrYeCh6?si=KI6LzLaAS5K-wsez5oSO2g