Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual tracks that’ve landed in our inbox over the past few weeks. For our rock loving regulars, this selection offers a great track from Fen man Doug Harrison and some alternative leanings from an up and coming Scottish band. Exploring other genres, there’s a perfect slice of folk, some twisted pop, and even a slab of synth pop from a familiar figure. As always, this is just a small selection of the recent submissions and there will be many more singles shared in the near future. In the meantime, we hope you find something new to enjoy…
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First up, here’s something really understated. Irish singer songwriter SJ McArdle works a perfect fingerpicked acoustic melody throughout the laid back ‘Hesperus’. In doing so, the artist taps into a whole world of 70s classics – drawing from the acoustic works of Don McLean, Gordon Lightfoot and even the underrated Iain Matthews – but the way the chosen melody sways gives everything a light Celtic touch. This becomes more obvious during the later moments when an accordion arrives to flesh out the melody, and everything starts to sound more like something from Lisa Hannigan’s wonderful ‘Sea Sew’. As good as the music is, though, it’s McArdle’s voice that really shines, delivering his chosen lyric with an almost chocolatey warmth, which leads to a rich and inviting tone, selling a lyric regarding true love under the moonlight without it sounding like a tired cliché. Although nothing here rises beyond a late night hush, the repeated refrain of “here it is” provides a surprisingly catchy element, and a subtle percussion part echoing a lyric about bells is a smart touch. This is part of a series of planned releases from Bring Your own Hammer and Irish record label Dimple Discs where Irish musicians take inspiration from writers born in the nineteenth century, and as a stand alone listen, it’s rather wonderful.
On his current single ‘To Dance On Sands (Ode to Marta Becket)’, David Haerle takes the warmth of 90s roots rock and the light Americana influence from bands like Toad The Wet Sprocket and Hootie & The Blowfish and applies that to something that reaches a little further into the world of country. Opening with a very melodic guitar riff where notes quickly soar upward, David immediately grabs the listener’s attention, then, after the introduction of a steady rhythm, he shares a strong vocal that, with its lilting tone, feels rather friendly. Although the chorus moves into a very slightly rockier place, the big hook also gives a home to some superb harmony vocals adding to a strong melody, and by the time the second verse hits, David’s country pop sound shares something that’s almost perfect. With the addition of a few extra fills from the guitar, a reflective middle eight and a slow build back into the final chorus that sounds like something from the Five Easy Pieces album (one of the most underrated 90s discs), this has a little of everything fans of pop-centric Americana could hope for. A fantastic track.
Following his excellent single ‘Aidoru’, synth pop musician Richard Evans is back with the smoother ‘Born Perfect’. The track utilises his usual mechanical beats and huge swathes of a synth oriented sound, but with its use of filtered vocals, the song feels a little more pop-centric. This is very deliberate. Richard’s decision to make himself sound inhuman reflects the song’s lyrical content decrying the increased use of AI within the creative industry, creating something soulless. Not that the melodies here are in any way empty: you’ll find various nods to a classic 80s sound weaving in and out of the sheen, and a deep bass that veers towards reggae rhythms on occasion shows off an artist who is unafraid to branch out. If you’ve been following the progress of Richard Evans as a solo performer over the past year or so, this will certainly appeal.
Those paying attention to the power pop scene over the past few months will have almost certainly read praise for Lùlù. The young French band have released a couple of absolutely storming singles, and they’ve just shared a third. ‘Pugni In Tasca’ has a tougher guitar sound, drawing a little more from garage rock and, along with a slightly shouty vocal, shows off a harder edge to the band’s work. However, a buoyant rhythm, occasional ventures into harmonic guitar work, a huge amount of cowbell and some sugary backing vocals give the track a welcome balance. The counter vocal during the number’s closing moments is especially smart – again, giving a further insight into how melodic these musicians can be. It doesn’t have the immediacy of their eponymously named debut track, but in time, this could be a fan favourite.
The mix of chunky guitars and synths introducing Stay For Tomorrow’s ‘In The Way’ suggests a love for 90s darkwave material, but the big sounds that are used to make a first impression are only half of the musical picture here. A more melodic verse steers the band further into a more accessible pop-rock sound which, coupled with a strong Scottish accent, creates something distinctive, and with the arrangement’s highlights coming from a great AOR inflected chorus hook and an instrumental break where the guitars launch into more of a metal influenced chug – two elements that couldn’t be further removed from each other – it suggests that SFT’s complex sound has a massive potential to break down musical barriers. Inhabiting a world that pulls elements from ‘Riot!’ era Paramore, Twin Atlantic and a synth based alternative band, this is absolutely huge – and vastly different from the band’s previous single ‘Breathe’.
In terms of crossover styles, ‘Cowboy’ by Irish singer songwriter Robert Grace covers a lot of ground. The echoing, twangy guitar that opens the track leads the listener into thinking this’ll be a very retro affair, then Robert twists everything to introduce a slow, programmed beat, a huge sounding synthesised bassline and an R&B-like groove. This sets a rather big sound in place, and for most artists, that would be enough. However, there’s an extra layer of coolness here when a big pop-drenched harmony vocal fills the later part of the track. It mightn’t be a tune that carries the biggest of hooks, but with a lot of confidence and a perfect production value, this is certainly a single that’ll click with people over time.
Pitched as “zest pop”, the current single from Mustard Service provides an interesting twist on a radio friendly sound. The downtempo beats draw from electronica; the guitar work, though sparingly applied, has a very retro quality; the bass grooves lean towards funk, and the vocal doesn’t always reach beyond the spoken word on the verse, but makes its presence felt on a chorus that allows the featured performer to soar into the realms of alt-pop. The blend of everything together creates a smart and sophisticated track that falls somewhere between downtempo alternative and a 70s MOR sound. ‘Conversation Overtime’ is more about atmosphere than anything else, but it’ll make a great addition to any well-curated summer soundtrack.
Fen’s Doug Harrison has a solo project, Slug Comparison, and their current single ‘Wish To Adapt’ is great. The track’s verses share an almost agit-inflicted rhythm, taking the melody from a rock core into the realms of post punk and retro new wave, which Harrison accents further by adding a quirky, near spoken vocal. This gives the track a very rigid and uneasy quality. Then, everything does a massive about turn to smack the listener in the face with a huge sounding melodic rock chorus that sounds like a throwback to ‘The Colour & The Shape’ era Foo Fighters, making everything really accessible and welcomingly familiar. The more commercial moments of this rocker are big and impressive and eventually dominate, but that shouldn’t detract from the artier moments here, and Doug should be applauded for mixing styles in such an interesting manner.
April 2025