Van Halst’s 2016 album ‘World of Make Believe’ is a reasonable slab of rock. It’s by no means an essential record, but its ten songs combine a semi old fashioned metal style with occasional gothy elements to create something that isn’t always a million miles away from the likes of The Pretty Reckless, often with half-enjoyable results. What seems pretty obvious, though, is that the album’s material wasn’t always given the best send off. On the title track, in particular, she’s presented quite low in the end mix, which results in some of her bigger notes not having the desired impact – especially compared with something similar from Nightwish and their ilk – and on the moodier ‘Questions’, her lower registers really don’t have much of a presence at all.
TEENAGE FANCLUB – Nothing Lasts Forever
Teenage Fanclub have come a long way from their humble beginnings on the fringes of shoegaze, and looking back, it’s interesting to observe their gradual shift towards a more melodic sound as Norman Blake and Gerard Love matured as song writers. A trio of releases adjacent to Britpop – 1993’s ‘Thirteen’, 1995’s ‘Grand Prix’ and 1997’s ‘Songs From Northern Britain’ – brought major success and enthusiastic press, and it’s easy to hear why. On those records, the band added a world of melody to their guitar dominated sound, creating the almost perfect 60s homage for the delight of 90s music fans. Decades on, they are albums that still stand up among the era’s very best.
IN THE PONDS – The Last Stop Ranch
On their 2022 release ‘Polar Night’, instrumentalists In The Ponds crammed a variety of musical moods into a very short playing time. Ranging from spooky, almost prog rock inspired echo driven guitar (‘Lonesome George’) to an atmospheric, David Lynch inflected ambience (‘Someone’s Always Watching’), and even supplying a nod to the distorted blues of The Groundhogs (‘Haruki On The Sand’), it was the kind of EP that created a great musical CV.
THE MATINEE – Change Of Scene
The Matinee’s 2017 album ‘Dancing On Your Grave’ was a great record. Its eleven songs bounced between upbeat pop rock tunes, retro rockers and music with an obvious nod to Americana, but felt like a really cohesive listen. Between some great chorus hooks, a heartfelt vocal and some fine guitar work, it showed off a mature sounding band whose songs could’ve existed at any point between the 90s and the present.
THE REAL GONE SINGLES BAR #23
Welcome back to the Real Gone Singles Bar, the place where we explore some of the individual mp3s that have landed in our inbox over the previous few weeks. A popular feature, the mixed bag approach at the Singles Bar has often allowed for coverage of things that people wouldn’t necessarily associate with the site. The selection this time around is a little more rock based in places, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a couple of interesting twists, and a jazzy, downtempo track definitely provides one of the best tunes. We present the return of Big River with a very melodic track, some brilliant pop, an interesting take on a classic band, and more besides.
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