First cuts: Eamon Mulvihill, The Remain, Peco, Bella Vista, Der Groupen

It’s usually fascinating when acts who’ve been through the travails of this column come back again for more. Are they just offering more of the same, going round in ever-diminishing circles or have they improved considerably or even reinvented themselves completely? Dublin singer-songwriter Eamon Mulvihill made his debut here as a talented, if somewhat gauche, young teenager. His second demo, which has been a while in the making, shows a major leap forward, not just in the quality of his songs, but in the confident and relaxed way he now delivers them. His voice is particularly attractive in the upper register, especially on the excellent ‘Lonely Days’, whilst ‘A Girl Like You’ is tasteful pop-rock in the Paddy MacAloon/Beautiful South tradition, complete with tuneful verses, intelligent lyrics and a catchy melody. Watch this boy.

Sean Kavanagh and Russ Keogh of The Remain got the nod here a while back for their song ‘Normal People’, which they’ve since re-worked and re-recorded at Sun Studios. They’ve also written new material and reached the finals of two band competitions. ‘Normal People’ has a great melody and its charms are even more evident in the new recording, with great poppy vocals, the band subtly restrained, jangly guitars creating a solid base, and the tension built by pounding drums before it erupts into the chorus.

Peco is basically Peco McLoughlin from Kildare and formerly of the fine band Pedestrienne. His demo is admirably home-produced with the man himself playing all the instruments, yet still managing to sound like a proper band on ‘Paper Cuts’. It has a slinky opening before slipping into rockabilly/early Beatles mode. ‘Ghost Pains’ is in a completely different style, all moody and atmospheric with strings that will remind the elderly of Jeff Wayne’s War Of The Worlds prog-rock epic. ‘Morfu’ is yet another change of direction, a tasty trip over acoustic singer-songwriter terrain, with a little of the vocal style of a Harry Chapin. It’s a bit long, but the late arrival of strings really works. All of which shows that while Peco can dip in and out of various musical styles and genres, he might have to make up his mind and pick one before he records the debut EP planned for later this year.

From somewhere in Derry come Bella Vista with a very dated approach to punk and a very odd name for a punk band to boot. Yes, all the songs are short and snappy, and all are played and sung with dollops of spite and venom, but it really amounts to little more than a pastiche of what bands like The Ramones did aeons back. One can’t help suspecting that Bella Vista are merely misguided victims of their parents’ record collections.

Finally, a demo called Jew Blood from the seven-piece (including four guitars) German band Der Groupen is one I could have done without. They inhabit the diseased hinterland populated by anti-Semitic pro-Hitler saddoes. Calling them racists would be to credit with them with more intelligence than they can muster.