Sherpa – Broken

“That’s a statement.”

Tim: Sherpa’s Danish, and this is a song by him, and listen to it all before you read the rest of this please because you’ll see why.

https://soundcloud.com/sherpamusicdk/broken

Tim: So normally I’m not so keen on a fade-out ending, but, well, that’s not just any fade-out ending. That’s a statement – very much a proper “I’ve made my point, and now I’d like you to think about it please” a bit like when films have something going on during the end credits to keep people hanging around and in the zone.

Tom: If it wasn’t for that chorus, that beautiful soaring vocal on the chorus, I’d have been wondering exactly what that statement is. But what a brilliant chorus. And then, yes, there’s that fade-out.

Tim: And as far as that goes, I think it’s a brilliant feature, especially since by the time it starts we’re already thinking “okay, where’ll you go from here”.

Tom: Yep, it’s pretty full-on. I’m still not convinced by those verses, but there’s so much going on — and so much in the rest of it — that I don’t think I really mind.

Tim: Helps, of course, that the production is fantastic (though I don’t think it would have hurt to have those drums in a bit sooner), which means it also provides that extra bonus of a fade-out: making you want to push play again. Because I do.

Saturday Reject: Dolly Style – Hello Hi

“God knows I’d not listen to whole album of the stuff, but right now? Lovely.”

Tim: Tom, meet Melodifestivalen’s interpretation of J-Pop; I genuinely don’t know what your reaction to this will be, though you’ll probably (and fairly) already have made your mind up from the band name.

Tom: Never mind the band name, you’re telling me someone’s tried to combine Europop and J-Pop? This’ll be either brilliant or brilliantly awful.

Tim: Only one way to find out…

Tim: And I think that’s just WONDERFUL.

Tom: The production is wonderful, yes. The music’s exactly what I hoped it would be from your introduction. But let’s be honest, the lyrics are abysmal and at least slightly creepy.

Tim: Well, it’s an introductory song, isn’t it – three 18 year olds calling themselves Molly, Holly & Polly, and if the various revelations in the song weren’t enough for you, in a recent interview they claimed to come from a dollhouse in Dollyville, so they’re basically the Spice Girls crossed with the Teletubbies. The chorus is incredibly catchy, and whether that’s a good thing or not is entirely subjective, and personally I love it. God knows I’d not listen to whole album of the stuff, but right now? Lovely.

Tom: I can’t see it doing well at Eurovision, but then my predictions for that have never been all that accurate.

Tim: Stylistically, this is, obviously, way out on its own; in terms of serving a purpose, though, I’d put it up with Hasse Andersson – not gonna win in a billion years, but it’s a lot of fun, a big break from the usual, coming with a fairly nice key change. Do they have a future after the contest? No idea. They see themselves more as appealing more to kids than anyone, so I guess it all depends on how many pre-teens have Spotify.

Mahanna – Here We Come

“I got properly enthusiastic from that first pre-chorus.”

Tim: Bringing us a song with a pleasingly introductory title, Mahanna are a Faroese duo, half of which is beardy and half of which isn’t.

Tom: Given the population of the Faroe Islands is only about 50,000, I’m surprised it’s as good as it is.

Tim: Well, he’s got a future in humming if nothing else, but I reckon that despite starting out slowly, that moves on to becoming a very decent track.

Tom: Oh, I got properly enthusiastic about this from that first pre-chorus: this is well composed, well produced and well sung.

Tim: It took me a bit longer, as it really take its time somewhat – the choruses show promise, certainly, with the pleasingly delicate piano underneath them, and the second one throws more in there yet, but it’s not until we get out of the middle eight that everything comes together and we get a proper clap-along track, but you know what? I don’t resent that all that much.

Tom: It’s rare for me to be okay with something that’s a “builder”, but this really does pay off. More like this, please.

Tim: Yes – I do mildly resent the humming, mind, because there’s just far too much of that whichever way you look at it, but other that it’s a great final chorus.

Ellen Xylander – Reckless Hearted

“It does a good number of things right”

Tim: You probably don’t remember Ellen, who previously gave us One Day We’ll Make It Home, although she did inspire you to wave your lighter in the air.

Tom: I’m coming to realise that I only remember about one in ten of the songs that come through here, Tim.

Tim: Well, given that we’ve got through almost 1500 now (bloody hell), that’s not’s a terrible rate. Anyway, clearly one to capitalise on her success, Ellen’s waited less than four years to release a follow-up.

Tim: I like that, and quite a lot at that, because it does a good number of things right – in chronological order, we’ve the violins in the background matching well with her stop/start vocal, the heavier introduction into the chorus with those beats and then her carrying the melody very nicely with the long notes, with her voice fitting the tone of the song very well.

Tom: Agreed: the start of the chorus is just lovely, but I don’t reckon there’s enough… stuff in there. The verses and choruses all merge together in the first half of the song, and the actual ‘reckless hearted’ hook just isn’t quite good enough.

Tim: Oh. Well, if that and the repeat of it aren’t enough for you, we’ve the middle eight with another string section brought in to raise the pitch of it all, hanging around for the rest of the track and basically wrapping it all up nicely.

Tom: It is a glorious middle eight, and while I think the melody could use a bit more excitement in there — yep, that last chorus is good.

Tim: Indeed – let’s hope we don’t need to wait another four years, shall we?

Madonna – Ghosttown

“That’s just wonderful, isn’t it?”

Tim: Madonna’s great, isn’t she? At least when she’s on the top of her game and not putting out uninspired tracks or total rackets like she has been recently.

Tom: Or covering “American Pie”. Fifteen years and it still haunts her.

Tim: I’m gonna put it out there: I was not offended by that as much as seems to be expected by society in general. Admittedly it doesn’t sound great now, as its dance-pop style was very much of its time, but I don’t think it’s all that terrible.

Fortunately, this here is at the top of her game.

Tim: And to top it all off it comes with a damn good video. It’s not quite examining stigmata on her hands good, but we have properly high production values, telling an actual story working out with the lyrics (Moa, please pay attention), and a distinctive visual tone matching that of the music.

Tom: Yes, yes, I’ll grant you, it’s all very arty and well-directed.

Tim: But back to that music – that’s just wonderful, isn’t it?

Tom: What? Er, no, it’s all a bit long, drawn-out and unimpressive. Why do you think it’s good?

Tim: The verses start out great, with the downbeat vocals that stay there in tone but only take until the second half of the first verse to start the lyrical journey upwards. From there, it just keeps going up, with the continuous reminders that YES, Madonna will BE THERE FOR US, however mad, mad this world may be and even if we did start out trying to shoot her in a post-apocalyptic world (seriously, what a video).

Tom: I can’t help but feel you’ve been drawn in by that video. I mean, it’s not bad, but it’s an album track at best, surely?

Tim: Oh, no. I’m listening to it several days later, and I still think it’s great, especially that “when it all falls down” melody in the chorus.

It’s really not often I can say this, but I genuinely don’t think I can fault this. Even by her standards, it’s brilliant.

RedTop & Niklas Gustavsson – Heartbeat

“YOU JUST CAN’T DO THAT YOU UTTER BELLENDS”

Tim: Yesterday you suggested losing the first line of the song, and I disagreed. Today, I’m going to propose that, and I don’t think you’ll disagree at all.

Tim: That’s right guys, it’s an eight years out of date keyboard shortcut! Because who doesn’t love THOSE in a song?

Tom: Ugh. That’s a line written by a Mac-using musician right there — even if it was accurate, it’s a line that’ll confuse most of the audience, who’ll spent most of their time on their smartphones or on Windows computers.

Tim: Yes, although if you must use a keyboard shortcut in your lyrics (can’t believe I’m typing that) the more mainstream Control or more modern Command would sound wrong, but still, you’re USING A KEYBOARD SHORTCUT IN YOUR LYRICS YOU JUST CAN’T DO THAT YOU UTTER BELLENDS.

Tom: And “undo” would work just as well.

Tim: That aside, it’s not a bad dance track.

Erik Hassle – No Words

Tom: Our regular reader, CB, sends this in with the comment “I am pleasantly surprised”.

Tom: You know what? So was I.

Tim: Me too – I was first introduced to this a few days ago with the line “probably your new favourite song”, but I wasn’t sure because Erik’s more recent work has been, well, not dull, but hardly exciting play-on-repeat stuff. This, though – it’s much closer.

Tom: At least with that introduction: it’s summery, it’s bright, and it sounds like someone actually managed to fuse the 1980s and 2010s somehow.*

*There’s also that quick extra line in the background, just before the end of the track — that’s what made it feel retro, more than anything else.

Tim: True – it brings elements of the funk renaissance that’s happening at the moment, but there’s enough modern bits in there that it’s still very listenable.

Tom: And then the first lyrics hit, and he’s talking about driving past a funeral, and a woman crying. I realise the photo of him attached to that track has a similar emotion on his face, but it rather broke that summery effect.

Tim: Hmm…perhaps, but it does provide an effective way in to the rest of the song – we don’t know how long we’ve got left, so let’s spend all the time we have together, and that fits the mood of the song very well..

Tom: Once that particular bit of mood-whiplash had passed, though: it’s a pretty good chorus. It’s not a floor-filler by any means, but as long as the DJ mixes it in after that weird first line, I reckon it’d fit quite well.

Tim: Agreed, except for the first line bit – a dance floor crowd wouldn’t pay attention to the lyrics, and if anyone does, it’d almost be the musical equivalent of skipping the opening part of Up – the rest would work and be happier for it, but narratively it wouldn’t be as complete.

Saturday Reject: Erika Selin – Break Me Up

“This is what a good, modern Avicii song sounds like.”

Tim: This is the second of Ireland’s good but rejected tracks, though you’d be forgiven for thinking otherwise: the writers are Swedish, the singer is Swedish, and for backing singers she had actual successful Swedish girlband, the recently featured Timoteij. Still, there’s nothing in the rules against that, and it ended up coming a respectable third place.

Tom: This isn’t a bitter rewrite of Avicii’s Wake Me Up, is it?

Tim: Entirely not, though I suppose there’s an opportunity there.

Tim: Returning to the theme of slightly rubbish judges complaints, this was (unfairly) described as a bit of an Avicii ripoff.

Tom: I mean, it sort of is. The title’s close, and while it doesn’t go full-on EDM it’s certainly got something of the farm-house about it.

Tim: Well, possibly; it was also (fairly) described as having a slightly wonky and unnecessary key change. Disappointingly, that key change sounds excellent and not at all unnecessary in the studio recording, and it came a close second with the juries, who’d only heard that.

Tom: Again, the score suffered for the performance: you’re absolutely right that it sounds strained in the live version.

Tim: Maybe it’d have done better without that wonkiness; we’ll never know, of course, but if I’m honest it’s probably better that an all-Sweden act didn’t go for Ireland – even Canadian Celine Dion has a Swiss lyricist when she competed for Switzerland.

Tom: And there’s at least a French link of sorts between parts of Switzerland and Canada.

Tim: WHATEVER the case, though, this is a good track – instead of a cliché, that key change struck me as unusual and interesting in a dance track, and if it did come across as an Avicii ripoff that’s only because this is what a good modern pop song sounds like.

Tom: Oh no, no it doesn’t: this is what a good, modern Avicii song sounds like. This is his style.

Tim: Hmm – maybe I’m subconsciously trying not to hear it. Anyway, this was the third track performed, but the first one that made me actually realise it might be worth sitting through Ireland’s selection show, so it’s at least got that going for it.

FLY NiCOLE – Stranger Things Could Happen

“Mirror neurons getting used to new patterns.”

Tim: No, I’m not sure about that capitalisation either, but apparently this is right.

Tom: It’s like Apple decided to launch a pop star. Who is she?

Tim: She’s a new Swedish artist who is bringing us “blues and soul – all wrapped up in an edgy rock inspired sonic landscape”. Shall we have a listen?

Tim: Hmm. Not so sure about the blues or soul bit, as I’d just stick an electropop label on it, but the rock-inspired is hard to deny.

Tom: That’s true: I think that chugging bass chord progression is probably meant to filed under ‘blues’, but it’s a bit different from normal.

Tim: I feel we should have a thing – label or sticker or something – that we can slap on tracks that don’t really do anything on the first listen until the last chorus but then on subsequent listens suddenly become okay, because this is the second time this week, after The Fooo Conspiracy, where that’s been a thing.

Tom: The “Uptown Funk” Effect? Maybe that was just me.

Tim: No, that’s actually started growing on me as well. First time with this, though: ehh, that chorus is okay, I guess, but nothing much; middle eight and then came back with the final chorus and it seemed a whole level above it. I have no idea why, as sonically it’s identical, but somehow it seemed a whole lot more enjoyable, and I didn’t mind that it wasn’t just a reworded Anything Could Happen.

Tom: I wasn’t going to point that out.

Tim: Second, third, all the other times I’ll now hear it – it’s great. Why is that please Tom?

Tom: Mirror neurons getting used to new patterns. Sorry, I don’t know if you wanted an actual answer to that.

Tim: No, I did, thank you very much. Every day’s a school day.

Lykke Li – Never Gonna Love Again

“Life’s not so awful, even though it patently is.”

Tim: A video for this track came out a couple of days ago; we won’t be featuring that because it comes with a (quite literal) car crash moment that takes you out of the song in an annoying manner for a good forty seconds or so. Here’s the audio.

Tom: This is a going to be a complete downer, isn’t it?

Tom: Two out of ten for enunciation, nine out of ten for a surprisingly good chorus.

Tim: Listening to this (and watching the video), it would be incredibly easy to find it all very depressing, because that is one seriously bummed-out message – please let’s get back together, “think of me on a lonely highway”, “I’m alone tonight” and of course the titular “I’m never gonna love again”. Basically, life sucks – in a Rolling Stone interview, she said “Loneliness and heartbreak follow you everywhere” so that’s nice.

Tom: That’s just not true!

Tim: Oh, I know, and it would seem that on some level she does too, as somehow she manages to turn all those lyrics around with a strangely triumphant chorus, which I’m a real fan of – there’s a sense of hope there that isn’t present in the rest of the song, which despite all the “never gonna love again” repetitions still seems to leave the listener (or me, at least) thinking that life’s not so awful, even though it patently is.

Tom: It is an odd dissonance, but it’s one that works well.

Tim: A fairly hefty achievement, really.