Samir & Viktor & TIX – Karantän

“A fun track, to be commended for its dedication to cybersecurity.”

Tim: A couple of months back, TIX (Norwegian, previously most notable for co-writing Sweet But Psycho) recorded Karantene; you can probably guess what it’s about. It went big in Norway, and it seems he fancied having some success in Sweden as well, so he got on the blower to Samir & Vikor, as you would.

Tom: Who are basically the slightly-more-polished teenage-appeal version of yesterday’s Two Friends.

Tim: Indeed. There’s a bit of a rude word in the first line, though it’s hardly as if there’s any work for it not to be safe for, so press play!

Tim: Obviously there isn’t actually any lockdown happening in Sweden, so it’s a little jarring to see them jumping around the recording studio singing a chorus that starts with line about sitting at home with no pay, but never mind that, it’s a catchy tune.

Tom: I was going to say: it’s an interesting choice of song to translate. A quick-and-dirty machine translation reveals that they’re singing downbeat lyrics to an upbeat tune, which is always a brave choice. Particularly when the lyrics are quite so, uh, of-the-moment.

Tim: It’s weird – brands in the lyrics left right and centre like this normally irritate the hell out of me, but all I’m mainly left wondering here is why FaceTime and Skype are getting all the action when most people are using Zoom.

Tom: Because Zoom is terrible and it’s going nowhere near my laptop. Anyway.

Tim: Hmm, good point. So all in all, it’s a fun track, to be commended for its dedication to cybersecurity; something enjoyable to come out of a bad situation, with a lovely key change as the cherry on top. What’s to complain about?

Neon – Echte Freunde

“There aren’t many songs here which manage to actually make my jaw drop, but blimey, that key change managed it.”

Tim: These guys again, singing about Real Friends. Apparently they’ve been best friends for a couple of years now, so they’re the perfect act to sing this song. Ain’t that sweet?

Tom: If you’re sending me a video with that schlager channel’s branding in the thumbnail, then I’m already interested. Not because it’s necessarily good, but because it’s almost certainly going to be fun.

Tim: Well there’s a slogan for them right there.

Tim: And I’m not sure why, but I really wanted that to end with a d-d-d-DUM on drums.

Tom: Me too: it’s because of that slightly dissonant brass stab that’s a few bars earlier: you’re expecting something to resolve it.

Tim: Aside from that, how fun! I pressed play, and just a few seconds later I was smiling, because there’s a lot of joy in this song and it’s infectious. It was when the trumpet first hit that I knew we were in for a good tune, and the next three and a bit minutes just served to confirm that. A catchy chorus, two enthusiastic singers and a key change that is straight out of Songwriting for Beginners.

Tom: There aren’t many songs here which manage to actually make my jaw drop, but blimey, that key change managed it. Could it stand to be one verse shorter? Sure. Are their voices occasionally a bit more like two lads who’ve decided to do karaoke down the local pub? Yep. But none of that matters, because this is German schlager, and I can absolutely see these two going on reunion tours in fifty years’ time, their voices gravelly and half an octave lower.

Tim: And we’ll be there in the audience.

Saturday Flashback: Aarzemnieki – Cake To Bake

“I’m properly surprised we’ve never featured it.”

Tim: In normal years we’d still have a Reject here today; since we’ve got through all the decent ones, though, let’s have this, a Eurovision track from 2014 that I’m properly surprised we’ve never featured it. It was Latvia’s entry, and despite that being the year you and I went, we never got to see it as it failed to qualify. Nevertheless, I love it.

Tom: And I remember it! Which by my standards is practically the same thing.

Tim: It’s silly, it’s ridiculous, it knows it, and it’s having a lot of fun. Take a look at the violinist: she knows there’s nothing being heard from it, so halfway through she just gives up on it; she’s not alone, and the fact that the only one still going at the end is the one with the silly shaker thing (there’s probably a proper word for that, it’s not important) says basically everything we need to know.

Tom: Is it a novelty song, or is it a genuine attempt at making a pop song? Who knows. It’s catchy, at least, and… hmm. I’m not sure “wholesome” is the right word, but also “banal” sounds too harsh.

Tim: Way too harsh. The lyrics are fun, even if they don’t quite cross the bar into funny, and the music is, well, probably exactly the genre you need if you’re going to ask your mum for help baking.

Tom: I’m not convinced that recipe’s thorough enough, though.

Tim: Good point – and now you mention it, and much as I normally hate a rapping breakdown, I’d be interested to have someone jump in with an actual recipe, which could well push it up to the next level of excellent. Or ruin it, who knows.

Upsettingly, the best part isn’t in here, or in the proper video, but only in the studio version: the second guy jumping in occasionally with the ‘piece of cake’ only happens once, he’s far more gruff and it comes out of absolutely nowhere. It’s still good here, but it doesn’t have quite the same East End gangster vibe to it. Ah, well. Either way, fabulous song. Should have won.

Boy In Space – Forever Young

“Doesn’t sound anything like you’ll expect it to.”

Tom: Forever Young, again?

Tim: Weird coincidence: yesterday I was trying to think of my favourite cover song to submit for a work playlist, and naturally my mind briefly went to One Direction, and then I ended up listening to the Interactive version, and (for a few seconds at least) the German rap version; later on, I found out that Boy In Space has just released his own version – which doesn’t sound anything like you’ll expect it to.

Tim: Forever Young’s a difficult one, really – it’s been covered so often that you’d imagine it’d be hard for anyone to do anything new with it, and yet pleasingly Mr Space here seems to have managed it.

Tom: It’s not a song that I’d have expected to become a standard, certainly. “Perish like a fading horse” continues to be an incredibly clunky lyric. It’s the power of a good chorus, I guess.

And you’re right that he’s done something new, although that something new appears to be “having almost zero percussion whatsoever”.

Tim: We’ve a lovely dreamy sound to it that I don’t know of having been done before, even though it suits the song really really well – it’s got a relaxed tone that gives the song a more reflective note, a sort of ‘sitting in a field contemplating what it might actually be like’ vibe, and that really works for me.

There are bits I’m not keen on, mind – the vocal shift in the chorus comes as a bit of a shock, and while the constant build through the second verse and chorus is lovely, it’s frustrating that it leads to absolutely nothing.

Tom: Yep, that’s my big complaint. It’s the lack of percussion: it implies strongly that at some point the drums are going to kick in, possibly even with a Phil Collins-style, In-The-Air-Tonight triumphant drop, but… no. This is just the style.

Tim: But for the feeling it brings, and for the interpretation, I do like it.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: there’s just no contest.

Tom: Yes, there is.

Grace Davies – Amsterdam

“It’s a clunky metaphor, sure, and it falls down completely in the second verse.”

Tom: Grace Davies: 2017 X Factor runner-up, great voice. Advance warning: this is a lovely, slow, builder of a ballad, utterly ruined by one single clunker of a lyric.

Tom: Which is a shame, because everything else on this is brilliant. You could argue it’s a bit by-the-numbers: all the orchestral bits hit exactly when you’d expect them to, and then it’s back down and quiet for the final chorus.

Tim: As you’ve described, a perfect builder. And I’m guessing I know the line you mean – though I’ve got no problem with it. It’s a clunky metaphor, sure, and it falls down completely in the second verse when it sounds like Amsterdam is another girl rather than a city where he’s done all so many bad things, but the line itself I think is quite nice.

Tom: But her voice is just lovely, the production is excellent, even the rest of the lyrics are good. It’s just that one line: I cannot imagine how anyone thought “damn you Amsterdam” fits anywhere outside of a children’s rhyme or… maybe some novelty apres-ski party song?

Tim: It’s a METAPHOR, darn it, a METAPHOR.

Hogland feat. Melanie Wehbe – Just A Little

“So, I know I said last week that I wasn’t in the mood for a banger right now.”

Tim: Swedish dance producer whose tracks I really enjoy every time we feature them, but who I completely forget to add to my ‘watch for new music by this artist’ app; that’s now been rectified, so let’s hear the song.

Tim: So, I know I said last week that I wasn’t in the mood for a banger right now.

Tom: Well, I mean, everyone’s being affected by lockdown in different ways.

Tim: But as it turns out, when it sounds this great I absolutely am. The lyrics don’t really mean anything – caught in the middle of what, exactly, and is ‘just a little’ better or worse than it was when you were caught there? – and I’m really not convinced by the ‘oah’ spelling in the lyric video.

Tom: You can’t open with all that! You’ve covered basically everything I was going to say! (Although “oah” feels right to me; short of putting a hyphen in the middle I can’t think of a better way to transcribe it.)

Tim: But those things don’t matter, because the dance breakdown bits are really really good.

Tom: It’s a good album track, I reckon; not going to be a sudden summer smash floorfiller, but it’ll do well enough.

Tim: That speedy xylophone run sounds brilliant (tropical house, ridiculous as ever), the rest of the chorus melody fits in nicely around it, and all in all this is a top notch track.

Dagny – Somebody

“A good approximation of a CHVRCHES song in style, and I have no problems at all with that.”

Tom: After yesterday, when we talked about the Weeknd’s style, I’ve started noticing that boots-and-cats synth-percussion drumbeat everywhere, as if someone reset the pop industry’s synthesisers back to “80s default”. Is that just me being more aware of it, or has this suddenly come back into fashion?

Tom: The trouble is, it’s also all I can remember from this track.

Tim: Hmm. Bit harsh, I’d say, as there’s a decent chorus in there, and I’d be almost certain there’s a bit of confirmation bias going on there, or at least pulling of focus. This is, to me, a good approximation of a CHVRCHES song in style, and I have no problems at all with that.

Tom: There’s nothing wrong with it! It’s a reasonable pop song. The chorus melody, now I listen back to it, is really decent. But I was distracted by trying to work out which balcony in Kings Cross she’s filming on, and honestly, that’s not a great sign, is it?

Tim: No, admittedly that isn’t. Mind you, Dagny’s the sort of artist where every time I see the name I think “surely they should be getting big over here right now”, so hopefully that won’t be too long.

The Naked and Famous – Blinding Lights

“Risky, but sure, it’s lockdown, why not.”

Tim: Covering a six month old hit by one of the world’s biggest acts? Risky, but sure, it’s lockdown, why not.

Tom: Well, that started out disappointing, didn’t it? The thing that draws you into Blinding Lights is that driving boots-and-cats percussion matched with a really dark vocal. This is… not an improvement.

Tim: Probably worth mentioning that as far as The Weeknd goes, I am basically entirely neutral – his music’s fine, he has a ridiculous name, that’s kind of it, so I’m open to this, with no advance feelings at all.

Tom: Whereas for me, I really like Blinding Lights, and I’ve been really impressed with the live performances he’s been doing: he’s someone who knows the medium well enough to play around with it.

Tim: And so, it’s…perfectly fine. To start with, anyway, as for the first 49 seconds I was wondering ‘why have they done this?’, because it doesn’t do anything new, doesn’t bring anything of them to it. But then it changed! The second and fourth lines of the chorus, we’ve their echo-y chanting sound, and then the guitar post-chorus is definitely new and notable, and now it’s worthwhile.

Tom: You’re right, that electric-guitar is a really interesting way to play with the synth line. And this does redeem itself by the final chorus. The additional two-beat hesitation in there is clever. It’s just that there seems to be so much missing up until then.

The Postal Service’s cover of Against All Odds did this right: it’s so different in genre, at least to start, that it doesn’t invite immediate comparisons. By the time it actually gets going, you’re not expecting to hear the original.

Tim: Better or worse is obviously up to your genre preference – but it terms of a cover, it’s good.

Saturday Reject: Diana Rouvas – Can We Make Heaven

“You thought Beyoncé hit some high notes in Love On Top, you ain’t heard nothing yet.”

Tim: Here’s one that Australia didn’t have a huge amount of time for; I think that was a mistake.

Tim: SO, first chorus, I’m thinking this is missing something. I don’t know what it is, but there’s something that’s not quite there.

Tom: Yep, that’s what I was going to say. It’s Eurovision: I shouldn’t be drifting away to another tab on that first chorus.

Tim: It’s okay, it’s fine, should qualify to the final. From then until the final chorus, I’m still okay with it – it’ll manage, it’s fine.

Tom: Right! Good voice, half-decent composition.

Tim: But then BLIMEY, you thought Beyoncé hit some high notes in Love On Top, you ain’t heard nothing yet.

Tom: That is an astonishing whistle register. And as Eurovision gimmicks go, “astonishing high notes performed live” is pretty decent. She elevates an okay-ish track to “huh, yeah, I remember that”.

Tim: And that moment there, that single moment, would have single handedly made it one of the best clips of the night for the interminable recaps. It doesn’t matter that the rest of it is just above average – it matters that that final bit is utterly and inordinately ridiculous.

Tom: But I don’t think anyone would have voted for it based on that recap. Because that recap wouldn’t remind you “oh, yeah, that was the song I really liked”: it’d remind you “that was the woman who hit the piercing high note”. And I don’t think people would vote for just the high note.

Tim: Oh. Oh, yeah, good point.

Secret Service – Secret Mission

“It really is very, very 80s.”

Tim: Secret Service, a Swedish group from the 80s who came back at the end of last year with a track called Go On, and now they’ve got this one out as a follow up (and it really is very, very 80s).

Tom: Blimey, you’re not wrong there. It’s like someone put Duran Duran’s View To A Kill and Kiss’ I Was Made For Loving You in a blender.

Tim: So, normally the first thing I’d go in for here would be the lyrics, and how silly the chorus is where he’s telling the world exactly what the secret mission is, thereby rendering it entirely pointless, but this time I won’t! There’s a simple reason for that, mind: this song’s bloody brilliant.

Tom: Strong words. There’s certainly a lot to like here, although I’m not sure it stands out all that much. Why do you like it so much?

Tim: It’s very much like Wednesday’s track, really, and I guess 80s synthpop in general: when it’s done right, it can be really, really good. It got me going from the very start with that nice twiddly opening, and then those guitary synth as well.

Tom: And, to be fair, I can absolutely remember the chorus after one listen.

Tim: Part of what I love is that as well as giving us all the usual bits, we’ve the odd surprise here and there as well. Someone coming along all French? Sure! Key change in the middle eight? Absolutely! Howling vocals in the background of the final chorus? OH GOD YES. Lyrical pedantry aside, I’ve not got a single problem with this song. It’s wonderful.