New Scandinavia – chasing kites
This is quite a nostalgic one for me, but I am a creature of habit in my music listening patterns. Has iamamiwhoami’s (in my opinion) signature sense of melancholy which cuts through the summery, adventure-y vibes I’ve always got from this number in particular. The kind of song I want to listen to outside on a warm evening.
Scythia – Time
Enjoyable, I can imagine tapping my feet to this in a bar or blasting it loud on a road trip. The lead singer’s voice grates a little in the way a lot of American country singers’ voices do, but otherwise it wasn’t a bad song. The guitar rhythm was very catchy and definitely took the song up a level for me, and I wish the solo had been a little longer.
France – Light
It's giving Eurovision vibes. Not bad at all, but not catching me either. I get what they were trying to do with the moody bridge, but it doesn’t come off for me. The guitar solo was good and saves it from a lower rating, and singer’s voice was very pleasant.
Mount Celeste – Lagtrain
This is a bop, and has a very catchy beat, but also feels a little repetitive. The singer’s voice clashed a little with the song for me and I found that a little jarring. I could definitely dance along to this though, and that I liked.
Chile – Aunque No Sea Conmigo
Moody, relaxing, enjoyable. I’m imagining listening to this in a tiny back-alley bar over a glass of good rum. Raw, but I think this works more than a more polished vibe would for this song (and I do like me some acoustic guitar). It’s possible that not knowing much Spanish allowed the vibe of the song to take over for me, but that’s okay.
Philippines – Growing Pains
I enjoyed this too. The music was very much up my alley, and the singer’s voice is raw but, again, I think the rawness suits this. It allows the emotiveness of the song to come through in a way that feels authentic. It could maybe have done with a flourish somewhere, but that doesn’t detract too much from the song.
Morgantown – Another Leaf
The rhythm is very easy to bop along to at first, but beyond that it isn’t catching me much. The speed change part of the way through was a little off-putting for me. The fiddle was good and definitely the standout element of the song, it had a slightly haunting vibe which meshed well.
Sumer – Bike Thief
It's making me think of the eighties, and I enjoyed the lyrics a lot (be gay, do crimes). I liked this a lot more than I like most electro. Very catchy, though it had a slightly nervous quality which may just be a feature of the style I’m not used to. Very different to what I’ve heard so far in this contest and that’s helping it to stand out. Definitely going to be saving this one.
Slovenia – Arm’s Length
My instant thought was that I really want to like this song, and it had a lot of good elements, but I don’t feel like those elements came together cohesively, and that put a dampener on the song as a whole. Which is a shame, because individually the lead singer, the beat and the rhythm are all individually good and certainly up my street style and genre wise. Had a great guitar rhythm which I did enjoy a lot. On the whole I think I might like it more on a re-listen.
Antarctica – Birthday Cake
This didn’t do anything for me, I’m afraid. I feel like the instrumentalism wasn’t too bad per se, but it didn’t stand out, and the singing/rapping grated on me very quickly.
Zanarkand – A Tune for Jack
This felt whimsical, and had a psychedelic vibe which I found very pleasant, and nostalgic in a way I can’t quite put into words (homesickness comes to mind). Musically, maybe it needed something else to take it up a level, but purely on vibes it was very enjoyable and soothing. I’ll remember it warmly either way.
Poland – Rivers in the Desert
This one fades into the background a bit for me. There’s nothing about it that I particularly dislike, but nothing standing out to me either. Had a nice beat which reminded me a bit of Spandau Ballet.
Mali - Burning Down the House
Not a particularly bad song, but not Paramore at their catchy, pop-punky best I’m afraid. The guitar was enjoyable and the best element, but the vocals left something to be desired here and stylistically it just didn’t hit.
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