Ailsa and the Seahorses - Awkward Social Situation (self-released)

I’m not saying that head Seahorse Ailsa McEwan is deliberately trying to sound like The Sundays; I’m not even saying that there would be anything wrong if she were. What I am saying is that I find a lot of the same sonic qualities at work in “Awkward Social Situation” as I did in songs such as “Here’s Where the Story Ends” or “My Finest Hour,” and that can only be a good thing because as you, the discerning music fan, will be all too aware, The Sundays are one of the great overlooked pop bands of our time.

And so, here, we find a similar brand of pop at work. Pop that is almost too smart to be called pop, but that ticks all the right boxes for infectiousness and groove, accessibility, and immediacy. And like the aforementioned Bristolians here, we have the same gentle groove and shimmering acoustics, riffs, and guitar lines that seem to coil and swirl around the song rather than lead the sonic charge, the same blend of chart accessibility and dream-pop artistry.

But perhaps two factors win the day more than anything else. Firstly, the use of space in the song, space that allows all those sounds to breathe, to chime and ring out, atmospheres that are more than the sum of the musical parts to percolate and pool in the gaps between notes and lyrics. Secondly, and perhaps I should have opened with this, Ailsa McEwan has a truly incredible voice.

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