Scenius’s first release ‘Glass Rain’ was poppy but dark. ‘Wild & Wooly’ is a darker, much darker, sound, although it still has a pop sensibility.

It has that dark synth based post-punk sound – for example early Human League – but the richness of some 80s’ synth bands – OMD, Depeche Mode, combined with a certain atmosphere that I can only describe as the bleakness of Joy Division.

And over this is the compelling voice of Fabrice Nau, a voice that is yearning, desolate and haunting. The voice of a true singer. I love the vocals on this song.

What the music and voice combine into is something that is at once modern and retro, 80s’ synth pop for now. Something that becomes more compelling the more you listen to it. Something that has both musical and emotional depth. And it’s that emotional depth that draws me to the song, and has made me fall head over heels for it.

To describe this as pop seems to be understating quite how musically rich and clever this is. It packs more emotion and depth into its 31/2 minutes than most songs described as pop. In fact my only criticism is that I wanted more of the track, way more (perhaps the digital equivalent of a 12” inch remix, just a thought there).

This is a lovely song with a beauty all of its own. If you are into synth based music this is something you must listen to, although to imply that that it’s only of interest to people who like that sort of music is wrong, very wrong. So if you like good music, and this is good, very good, music, you should listen to this.

What the fuck VENUS, just what the fuck are you doing to me. The three songs on ‘Wicked Things’ are powerful in their own right, but together they’re enough to leave you reeling, in a small heap on the floor, speechless with admiration and love for a band that can make music this good, scarily good.

So speechless (is that the right word to use when you have to write a review?) was I that it’s taken me several days to even be able to start the review. The headline is that I absolutely love this EP, although I don’t think you need me to say that, do you?

The EP opens with ‘No Signs’. It’s loud, it attacks with a power that is incredible. GK’s vocals are frankly amazing – at one point they are so high and pure they almost hurt, physically hurt. Guitars roar, synths growl. But wait, in all that noise there is subtlety. The guitars don’t just do noise, they do noise with a point, with cleverness.

And there is something that had me so surprised in this song – an almost psychedelic, a punky psychedelic, ‘freeform’ section that whirls around, GK just sings. I say ‘just sings’ but this is something of an understatement, before it crashes back in. So musically it’s brilliant, but the words of this song are great, do take some time to actually listen to them properly.

What can you follow that with, well VENUS follow that with ‘Amy’. Something that the release press release describes as ‘an empathic lullaby’. I might describe this as a big building torch ballad. It starts with synth atmosphere, adds what I think is bass, and then vocals. It has hints, strange hints to be honest, of All About Eve (go Google people, but I’ll give you a clue ‘folky goth’) before it let’s go. It doesn’t build as such, but that tension, the feeling that it’s going to let go is there throughout the track, and when it happens it comes as something as a relief. No more than a relief, a joy.

My ‘helpful friend’ described this as ‘a defining moment in VENUS’s development’, I get what she’s saying there, and agree. Before I played it to her I described it as an powerfully epic song, and I stand by that.

I thought about how to describe ‘You’re Alright, I Guess’ for ages, absolutely ages. My first thought was ‘VENUS do metal’ and it kind of is so I’m sticking with that. It has this sort of NWoBHM feel to it, check out the intro people. It is guitar heavy, way heavy. Guitars fucking scream people. That metal feel is confined to the music though, the lyrics are something else entirely. The ‘VENUS do’ part of that statement is crucial because even though musically it kind of steps outside of what you’d expect, it’s still obviously them. It rocks hard.

I’ve gushed, and will continue to gush, about this EP but that’s allowed, it’s in the rules of being a music reviewer. Ever since I started reviewing VENUS, both their releases and gigs, I am more impressed each time. With this EP that’s taken a huge step up. The three songs show different sides of the band, musical progression, a sonic expression of the skill and craft of the band both musically and in song writing. It’s fucking beautiful thing this EP.

I want to finish this review by saying that although VENUS are an all female band, let’s not focus on that, however tempting it may be to write a review from that point of view. The fact is they’re a band, a bloody fucking fantastic band. This EP is a brilliant release NOT for an all female band, BUT for a band, any band. You get what I’m saying here, don’t you.

The info

Lead singer GK, says; ‘With it being our first body of work, we wanted to take both ourselves and our listeners on a journey. Life can be sporadic with what it throws at you, it doesn’t ever seem to slow down when you need it to. This can definitely be heard throughout the tracks, from my point of view, they all represent some level of emotionally processing your experiences, and the many different stages of it. Instead of strictly writing three prominent feminist songs, we wanted our EP to have undertones of it across the board. We’re girls in alternative rock music, it’s hard, it might always be in our lifetime, but we’re trying to normalise it in any way we can. We can do that by writing about our experiences in day to day life and hoping someone can relate to it, which we’re hoping comes across when people listen to Wicked Things’

VENUS are

Grace ‘GK’ Kelly (Lead Vocals)
Jess Ayres (Lead Guitar)
Hannah Barraclough (Bass)
Grace Stubbings (Synth)
Gabby Cooke (Drums)

‘What’s The Point’ is indie, but it’s old style indie. But Hollow Doors throw some other things into the mix – a kinda rockabilly thing, something that I can only describe as old time music hall, and a vocal that at one point references Elvis.

And the words of this song are a joy, they’re going to leave you with a smile on your face, or even, if you’re anything like me, a laugh that lasts for most of the song.

And the thing is, that this song on the face of it isn’t the sort of thing I’d imagine myself getting into. But the combination of clever, incredibly well played, music and smile inducing lyrics have me well and truly hooked. And that vocal is just the icing on the cake.

Look it’s fun, and we all need something that’s fun from time to time. But actually look behind the fun and there’s something of a philosophy expressed in the song. It was based on a saying Connor’s (the band’s singer) grandmother coined “You die if you do, you die if you don’t”. The lyrics tell stories based on that.

It’s great stuff, a wonder and a joy.

The info

Hollow Doors are a 4-piece band from Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire. Since forming in 2017 the band have built strong ties with fans in their community performing at almost every music venue in their hometown. Believing that live music should sound as good as the studio recording, their high energy performances have caught the attention of supporters, quickly becoming a local favourite.

Hollow Doors’ next step is to self-release a set of singles which they have written, recorded and mixed entirely independently. Thanks to a large support-frame of fans and collaborators, along with their DIY attitude, the band continue to build their following self-sufficiently.

Connor Haggarty (Lead Vocals)
Josh Follows (Lead Guitar + Backing Vocals)
Corey Lockwood (Bass Guitar + Backing Vocals)
Callum Frost (Drums + Backing Vocals)

Right now I seem to be drawn to great pop songs and ‘Say You Want It (That Way)’ is a great pop song.

It’s kind of indie-pop but it also throws in hints of Talking Heads – especially at the start – all sorts of 80s’ pop-ish sounds, and those great VALA vocals. It continues that ‘VALA come at Frank in an unexpected way’ theme that the previous two releases have done. What they do is twist the concept of indie-pop into something that is very much of their own.

Given that I’m describing this as a great pop song you’d expect a tune that bores it’s way into your head, and this has that. You’d expect something that at the very least would get you jigging in your seat, and this does that, in fact it’ll have you up and dancing.

It also has the most unexpected guitar break in indie-pop I’ve ever heard – that isn’t an indie-pop guitar sound at all, I’ll leave it to you to discover this for yourself but I’ve decided to described it as sustained and tubular.

And most importantly it’s full of joy, and leaves you with a big big smile on your face. And that’s something we all need, especially now. Jump on it people.

The info

The band recorded the track entirely themselves in various kitchens, spare rooms and living rooms and it was mixed in that kitchen by the lovely indie-pop artist Sfven (Jamie Clarke). They then blew all their budget, which they’d saved by self producing, on sending the song to be mastered at Abbey Road Studios.

The song itself deals with feelings of not wanting to get much older, and struggling with the realisation that you might not always have a full, youthful head of hair.

A music video filmed by close friend of the band and collaborator Jack Grindrod will be available on the 27th March

Weirdly this is the second release called ‘Animal’ I’ve reviewed recently (the first was by Samh) but this is a completely different animal – sorry I couldn’t resist that.

Fuzz Lightyear do – as their name might suggest – fuzz ridden noise. In their case fuzzy noisy grunge. As you might have released I have a particular liking for noisy fuzzy bands and Fuzz Lightyear are going to be joining that list.

But while that description might give you some idea of what they do, it doesn’t indicate the rather subtle touches of sound this track has in places, or the heavy surf sounds, or the hints of psychedelic noise.I like a band who do that, and Fuzz Lightyear do that incredibly well. Pure fuzzy noisy rock is great but those touches are like salt and pepper on food, they season it, they make the noise better.

I should warn you that playing this at work, or at home while you’re working from home and on a conference call or video meeting isn’t to be recommended. Not just because the track might cause mass moshing, but because it contains ‘explicit lyrics’.

Warning over, back to the review. I realise that so far this has been a rather restrained review for a track as out there as this.

So, look my friends, this track fucking rocks. It builds into a whirling wall of noise that removes any possibility of logical thought, it throws you into a messy place that you want to stay in. It makes you want to throw yourself around a room recklessly and wildly. So turn it up as loud as you dare and let yourself go. Go listen, people.

The info

A band used to playing dingy basements and rooms filled with rowdy pits, Fuzz Lightyear emerges from the chaos of the Leeds punk scene bringing with them a torrent of horrific Noise-Grunge to satisfy your tinnitus.

https://www.facebook.com/FuzzLightyearOfficial/