Single Reviews - 20/11/20

Published on 20 November 2020 at 14:46

Mike Clerk is a Scottish Singer-Songwriter and Keep Movin’ is his second release. Phenomenal. The best song you’ll hear all week. Piano chords appear on top of a fuzzy guitar riff. Understated vocals. A massive sound. Reflecting on a dizzying few months, Mike said Since I put the first single out it all went a bit wild. I never expected it to be honest, as I’ve not even been able to gig yet - and especially during a time like this where most of the industry is really struggling. I mean, I have mates that do sound engineering and tour managing for some huge bands that are having to get jobs at Amazon to keep themselves afloat - it’s beyond brutal, so I never expected to end up in a position to be signing anything apart from mail deliveries. It’s the main reason why I’ve still never bothered approaching any record labels to work with on putting out the album. It’d just be bad manners to go knocking on anyone's door while they’ve got their own problems to deal with”.

Above Mike Clerk sounds as humble as ever but new single Keep Movin’ certainly doesn’t lack an edge or attitude. Stream our Single Of The Week here. 

 

Slow Thai attempts to salvage his career with panderingly titled new song NHS, “this ones for the NHS, the NHS yeah” is sandwiched in there somewhere. The cynical listener will have marked the fellas card on this one. The flow itself is alright and the production is top notch for this kind of thing but the writing is surely on the wall if it wasn’t already...Vistas bring us a Christmas record in the form of a cover of Shakin Steven’s Merry Christmas Everyone, easily the best Christmas song we have heard so far this year not that it doesn’t help that this is our favourite Christmas song ever. A top notch effort indeed...Shame are an overhyped band if ever there was one and Water In The Well does nothing to dispel that notion with their non ironic sub-punk sound They are bound to come up with something passable one of these days surely...Tom Grennan, the man with one of the best voices in pop in recent years releases another one from a forthcoming album in Something Better. The last single Amen was decent enough though this one is middle of the road album filler material which is a shame as Tom does have a few bangers under his belt so we know it’s there...Blackbird by Crying Beauty Queens is all ghostly and soothing almost before picking up the pace. The voice is there for sure with Jordan putting in a stellar performance here...Premium Leisure has something retro and lovely with Ready For Forever, a 70’s California sounding rhythm filled track..West Midlands indie rock back Five O Five’s have released their debut single Through The Darkness and impress immediately. Vocalist Alice Bloor has one of those unique voices that likely sounds great reciting the alphabet; any band with someone who sounds like that are halfway there. This is a highly impressive debut single that is emotionally charged in places yet is also given room to breathe...Peyton Stelling is Healing on her pop release, complete with silky melodies and candid lyrics, Healing is a listenable pop record, done better than her contemporaries..LA band The Drives bring us guitar goodness on All This Boredom, a Weezer sounding alt rock tune. All This Boredom is proper music like proper bands used to make in the 90’s; it’s very American sounding (in a good way)...Poltergeist is the scary titled new one from scary sounding band Eat Your Own Head. The song itself is a bit scary too. If hard rock is your thing you likely can’t do much better than Poltergeist..Epilogues has released his Me EP, featuring the lead single from the EP, The Gap. This is an emotional collection of songs that is perhaps a bit samey if we are looking for negatives. The vocals are tender and perfect; title track Me is the one to seek out..Civic Green released City Streets last week so you’ll likely know by now how quality it is. On this, Civic Green have created a detailed and flawless rock song. Showing maturity that belies the age of the band (this is their second single), City Streets has elements of traditional rock in tone, the chorus and especially the fantastic vocals. One of the best new bands in the country...Star City Serenade is brought to us by Jay Tennant, a midlands based performer. The passion shines through as does the quality of the song itself. There is a whole lot of energy on this; the sound of a man sure in his work. A joy to listen to...Mystic Peach sound eccentric as anything on the strangely titled Wanna Be My Daddy?, a band not fitting into any moulds that’s for sure. This is entirely different to anything you’ll hear this week and all the better for it. The chorus is good you know..Bedroom music is all the rage right now and some do it better than others, with Amber Jay being better than most on Pencilled Brims. Hailing from Liverpool, this has a fat synth and strong atmospheric production...Rames have an indie pop monster in Won’t Be Long, a song that can only be described as glorious. The sound here is smooth with a mature vocal...Free Spirits are brothers Carlo and Lucas Mariani, formerly of Hurricane #1. Always True is their new release and it’s hard to pin down. It rocks that is for sure. Free Spirits have a familiar sound yet remain almost unique on this. We like it...and finally we finish off with Games by Reilly James. This is a chilled tune best listened to post BBQ in the summer when you’re sobering up as the sun starts to come down. It is refreshing for a singer songwriter to not go down the acoustic guitar route and Reilly conjures up a decent pop tune that is packed to the brim with a great vibe.

 

Most of the above singles can be found on our Spotify Playlist here.

 

WIGAN BAND RIVVER RELEASE AMAZING NEW SINGLE 'SMILE BACK' ON 4TH DECEMBER. PRE-SAVE HERE.




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