‘Insanity’, the new single from Scottish rock band Kelowna, opens with an absolutely killer riff. Adopting earthy tones with an almost stoner-like sound, the guitars launch into something very bluesy, but also latching onto a genuine crunch which should appeal to a hard rock loving audience.
This visit to the Singles Bar takes in various moods, highlighting a varied selection of submissions over the past two weeks. We have an absolutely superb track capturing a perfect indie/dream pop sound, some amazing folk rock, a sidestep into soul-pop, a nod to 90s slackerdom, and a great piece of contemporary alternative metal. There are also tracks from the world of power pop and retro shoegaze, so there’s a little of everything that we feel keeps the SB – and Real Gone as a whole – constantly interesting. We hope, as always, you find something new to enjoy.
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Back in 2007, singer songwriter Eugene McGuinness released ‘The Early Learnings of…’, an album that explored moody retro pop with a spooky undertone (‘Vampire Casino’), numbers centred around a hard strummed guitar and slightly distorted vocal (‘A Child Lost In Tesco’, ‘Monsters Under The Bed’), and even lo-fi works that sounded like the ghost of Brian Wilson colouring Tindersticks balladry (‘Madeleine’). His scattershot approach resulted in an album that presented a very interesting voice in the world of adult pop.
Lowsunday made a long overdue return with their ‘Ghost Machine – White’ EP in 2025, putting an end to approximately a quarter of a century’s radio silence. Keen to capitalise on the momentum that was quickly built off the back of that release, it would only take six months for a follow up to appear.
In 2025, Stephen McCafferty released a string of impressive singles. The best of the bunch, ‘I Only Want To Hear Sad Songs’ shared a strong pop rock sound that hinted at a love of The Killers but added a distinctive Scottish accent, while ‘I Am The Buffalo’ took a similar sense of the melodic and added a light folky touch. ‘Rubber Glove’ leant a little further into an indie pop sound, but with the help of a buoyant melody and hooky lead guitar part, created another number that really helped to give the performer’s debut LP ‘Monsters and Lullabies’ a strong musical backbone.