The big debut tune

Pale Waves – There’s A Honey

Well, it has to be said we really do love this, an extraordinarily strong debut from Manchester four-piece Pale Waves, who have just signed for the excellent Dirty Hit Records. ‘There’s A Honey’,  is set for release on 21st April, ahead of the band hitting the road on the inaugural Dirty Hit tour, where they’ll be playing alongside Superfood and King Nun. They’ll also be stopping off at Liverpool Sound City in May. ‘There’s A Honey’ is a fabulous slice of heartfelt, euphoric indie pop, a genuine earworm and if the band, who comprise Heather Baron-Gracie (vocals, guitar), Ciara Doran (drums), Hugo Silvani (guitar) and Charlie Wood (bass) have more bangers like this in their musical box of tricks we envisage big things for ’em this year.

The Big Local Tunes

Circa Waves – Fire That Burns

Circa Waves latest track ‘Fire That Burns, sees the band expanding into heavier and ultimately more interesting territory, eschewing rock cliches and instead creating a vibrant, melodic and uplifting three and a half minutes . It’s the second single from their upcoming album ‘Different Creatures’, released 10th March on Virgin and the band play a will be playing Liverpool University on Friday 24th March.

Shrinking Minds – Something Better

Liverpool’s Shrinking Minds win sneeriest vocal delivery of the week on their raucous new track ‘Something Better.’ There’s an angry energy to their sound, yet whilst sounding disaffected and a tad pissed off the overall impression left is that of an invigorating and joyful racket. The track is released via Liverpool’s The Label Recordings (Hooton Tennis Club, Feral Love, Youth Hostel) and they’ll also be appearing on ‘The Labels’ showcase at Liverpool Sound City which was one of the major triumphs in terms of emerging music at last years festival.

Big tunes from that there USA

Lunch Ladies – Love Is Overrated

New Jersey’s Lunch Ladies could certainly match a band like Camera Obscura in terms of wistful nostalgic melancholia. ‘Love Is Overrated‘ is from their debut full-length, Down on Sunset Strip, out March 10th, 2017 which is released via Good Eye Records.

So is love, actually really overrated? ( the film is ;) ) Lunch Ladies Cynthia Rittenbach (vox, bass), “Love definitely isn’t overrated. Love is very important, always, and especially in times like these. I wrote this song during a period where I didn’t get other people’s relationships and the drama that comes with it, and felt happy being on my own.”

Sad Vegan – New Years, New Fears

California’s Sad Vegan do the power-pop-punk thing with some aplomb as their latest tune ‘New Years, New Fears’ proves. Yet beneath it’s relentlessly upbeat catchy exterior lies a slightly seedier tale of infidelity on New Year’s Day – starting off the year with a bang one might say? Guitarist and vocalist Bailey Blanton explains “New Years, No Fears” is basically about hooking up with someone one last time before deciding that it’s time to settle down and show commitment to someone else and the regret that comes along with doing that. That incident also happened to take place on New Years Day so the name seemed fitting. My favourite thing about the song is that it switches from the male perspective of the situation to the female’s.”

“New Years, No Fears” will be on Sad Vegan’s upcoming EP Another Life, Another Day, which will be available March 3rd via https://sadvegan.bandcamp.com

The Big Pop tunes

Dyln – Mimosa

Dyln’s ‘Mimosa’ is undoubtedly a supremely well-constructed electro-pop tune with a massive “fuck off “chorus, and darker lyrics than the melody might suggest.  Mind you we did wonder what on earth “Mimosa” actually meant, especially when she sings ‘I’d rather swim in my ‘Mimosa’  -we wondered if this was perhaps some sort of euphemism for skinny dipping?

Apparently not, “Mimosa” could actually be one of three things …

A/ a genus of about 400 species of herbs and shrubs, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family Fabaceae.

B/ A Mimosa is a cocktail composed of equal parts champagne (or other sparkling wine) and chilled citrus juice, usually orange juice unless otherwise specified (e.g., a grapefruit juice mimosa). It is traditionally served in a tall champagne flute at brunch, at weddings, or as part of First Class service on some passenger railways and airlines.

or even

C/ “Mimosa is the leader in cloud-managed, fibre-fast wireless solutions for the post-copper era. Solutions for everyone, everywhere. ”

So probably B/ yeah? Anyway, Dyln is apparently a shortening of the singer’s real name Gwendolyn who had been working on an album for two years only to become increasingly disillusioned with the direction she was being guided towards – or as she says ” I was done chasing the train and was ready to create a sound that was true to myself. Mimosa” is exactly that – both musically and thematically. Many of us experience some sort of anxiety throughout our lives. The song captivates that inner struggle we go through in our heads, that battle to either drown in it or to fight it. The world can feel like it’s crashing down on you and everything in your life can seem like it’s coming to an end. “Mimosa” is a way of saying sometimes you need to just take a deep breath and let things happen. Sometimes knowing you dwell in the dark with others is surprisingly comforting.”

STACEY BEE – G.R.L. P.W.R

It took us a while to realise that fun could be had which didn’t involve contemplating the unbearable lightness of being, thumbing through the collected works of Dostoyevsky, or chuckling wryly over the works of that zany metaphorical surrealist, Franz Kafka. We discovered that fun could be had for its own sake. Musically this awakening came in the form of Shampoo and specifically their ‘Girl Power’ album, yup they did it before the Spice Girls and did it waaaayy better in our opinion.

Which leads us to a new pop artist, 17 year old Stacey Bee with a song definitely aimed at the teen market and revives the theme of Girl Power but minus the vowels hence the title ‘G.R.L P.W.R.’ This is a good thing, certainly for anybody who recalls an 80’s pop monstrosity created by a band who were totally in the thrall of vowels (… Listen HERE if you dare … ) Stacy’s debut does kind of pay tribute to commercial 90’s pop but the difference between her performance and the Spice Girls, for example, is that she can actually sing. It’s certainly a tune that would not be out of place on the Radio 1 playlist .