This visit to the Singles Bar ends with some of our noisier picks from recent times, taking in a love letter to 90s grunge, a crushing metallic riff with alternative leanings and even a slab of old school thrash, but that’s not to say we’ve overlooked other musical interests. With a disco/electronica infused workout, a quirky track from an up and coming Irish singer-songwriter and some pure pop from a now familiar voice, the usual musical detours that have helped our weekly column retain interest are still very much present. As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy…
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In the summer of 2024, electronica act Zkeletons delivered a great disco influenced track with ‘Lonely’. They’ve returned with something almost as strong. ‘Wild For The Weekend’ builds pulsing synths beneath a steady post-disco groove, before applying a filtered vocal for an extra strange vibe making their unashamedly retro sound sound like an ultimate product of the studio. Within this track’s strong melodies, you might hear call backs to 80s Shalamar, but there are even bigger concessions to early Prince (there are moments here where everything sounds like it might invoke the saucy spirits of ‘I Wanna Be Your Lover’) and even the disco tributes shared by Daft Punk. It’s never quite as straight ahead as it seems, though. Midway through the jam, Zkeletonz introduce a harmonic guitar to bring an unexpected warmth, which gives the arrangement more of an epic quality. As the title suggests, this will make a great addition to your Friday night playlists.
Dark Tropics have been dubbed “pop noir” by their press team, and as far as tags go, that’s reasonably accurate. The Irish duo’s current single ‘Whispers’ has a rocky edge driven by very retro, hard edged twangy guitar lines, but the featured vocal comes more from a 90s pop school of melody. That sets up a push and pull between an air of darkness and a sugary musical hit. The number’s huge chorus also shares a love of a more commercial sound, despite being drenched in reverb, which again showcases a sound that sits delicately between the two moods. The end result isn’t a million miles away from feeling like you’ve stumbled across a more pop-centric Yeah Yeah Yeahs – and that can only be a good thing.
Hot on the heels of her ‘Guess Who’ EP, Róisín McCarney has released another single, and it’s another track that shows off the Scottish singer’s pop talents very strongly. ‘Even If We Ain’t Right’ opens with a huge, curling vocal set against sparse strums, but then twists itself effortlessly into a busy slice of pop that has a very positive quality. The use of jangling guitar work against drum machines evokes memories of 90s material from Natalie Imbruglia and Michelle Branch, but McCarney takes the familiar and now retro style and makes it her own with the help of a strong vocal presence throughout. It’s a track that has just a one line hook, but that’s all that’s needed to make the number work, especially given how how short it is and how “busy” it feels. In and out in under two and a half minutes, its the kind of single that showcases the vocal brilliantly and leaves no room for padding. If you’ve followed Róisín’s career for a while, you’ll definitely enjoy this summery number.
It takes all of about six seconds for ‘Previous Life’ by indie rock’s new arrivals Messiness to start to sound incredibly familiar. The jangling guitars that sit at the heart of the track draw influence from peak Britpop, but there are a couple of other musical flourishes that help to maintain interest, even with the band’s deliberately retro stance. The sitar-like sounds help everything to feel more like a love letter to Kula Shaker than The Charlatans or Oasis, and a vaguely psychedelic interlude where bright sounding keys and a spoken verse threatens to derail everything suggests that these guys might take a few stranger musical detours somewhere further down the road. What ‘Previous Life’ does, though, it does brilliantly. With a sharp riff and big hook, this is a three minute banger that’ll brighten up any indie-centric playlist.
With its strident piano lines, ‘Hello Hello Sunshine’ by Ro Malone immediately evokes the mood of 70s AM radio pop, but the Irish singer songwriter twists an old school melody into something far more contemporary with the help of a breezy, near spoken vocal. The blend of the contrasting styles sets something hugely interesting in place, and despite the piano never fading and the presence of a solid bassline, the pop-laden melodies remain strong, but gradually allow other musical features to bleed through, until Ro finds herself driving a really full arrangement. By the close of the piece, this feels almost like someone leading a rag-tag band of buskers. Relentlessly catchy and sometimes playing like something by Lily Allen without the smugness, ‘Hello Hello Sunshine’ never fails to lift the spirits. A brilliant track.
Introducing a world of slow guitar strums, an occasional bass note and a dour vocal, the debut single from Girljockey immediately throws the listener into a grubby world of 90s sounds. The quieter moments of ‘Manhood’ create a musical world that sits somewhere between Melissa Etheridge’s early work and the introspection of Fiona Apple, but it’s when everything explodes with a sheer force that the track really springs to life. An insanely overdriven riff and a world of distortion immediately casts the track in a grungy manner, allowing Girljockey to explore a landscape that sounds like Tracy Bonham’s debut album put though its paces by the Melvins, before dropping back to its moody origins. Beyond the riffs, ta wordless vocal supplys the most unlikely of hooks, and those who still hanker after the noisier aspects of the 90s alternative boom will find this slightly confronting performance strangely comforting.
When a track opens with a slamming riff that sounds like an echo of past works by Chimp Spanner, you know you’re onto a good thing. The current single from the Leeds based Foxhaunt isn’t just a throwback to a world of arty math metal, though. They merely use the massive riff as a springboard into an arrangement that melds metalcore riffs with a pinch of emo and something far smarter – and it really works. The way the huge, grinding guitar sounds are offset with clean, melodic vocals is a master stroke, since so much metalcore/alternative metal is dominated with guttural roars, and this allows for something far more accessible without drawing away from a central heaviness. An even bigger chorus takes the band further into the realms of alt-metal and a sound that has a vague air of a heavy Linkin Park, and a guest vocal from Sixth Wonder’s Rebekah Kirk increases the track’s commercial potential. This sounds like a really natural successor to the band’s earlier ‘White Noise’, and is guaranteed to impress a lot of listeners who love a smart blend of heavy styles, yet still crave a strong melody.
…And since things have taken a heavier turn, here’s something for the metal fans who love things in far more of an old school vein. Following an intro loaded with harmonic guitars and a pinch of power metal bombast, Germany’s Space Chaser throw themselves hell for leather into a track that captures the spirit of late 80s thrash, but is delivered with much bigger production values. With chainsaw sharp rhythm guitar work throughout, the track barely lets up, and with the aid of absolutely thunderous rhythms and taut vocals, everything ends up sounding like a speed driven Testament. There isn’t really any new ground broken here, but this track captures a band absolutely brimming with confidence and demonstrating a musical tightness that’s certainly impressive. Thrash metal seems to be one of those subgenres that’ll never die, but when its shared this perfectly, it’s obvious why.
April/May 2025