"SELECTED DEMOS 2002-2009 is something of a revelation. ‘Prettyish’ opens the collection with a nicely strummed intro that winds its way through the whole song. Vocally, Aidy has a young, rather sweet voice. The song is strongly melodically and lyrically, while production is surprisingly good. A dark and reflective start to the album. ‘22′ is an altogether rockier affair with blanket electronic guitar riffs dominating with Aidy’s voice just managing to show through the dirty haze.

Another powerful melody drives the song and I’m beginning to think that Aidy is a bit more serious about his music than he lets on… both songs so far are excellent. ‘Bored’  changes tack again with a highly rhythmic, punkish narrative about a life-less-exciting. That electric guitar returns blanket-style for the choruses while melody again powers it along. ‘It’s Only A Drink’  repeats the dose but adds retro style vocal harmonies to the mix to spice things up. It’s a driving pop-rocker that I cannot fault.

‘Edinburgh’ goes contemplative and dark with a slow, steadily pumping rhythm and murky vocal. Light and dark arrives with the slow-moving ‘Seattle’s Filled With Stars’ which reveals a further interesting sonic change. Bright keyboard notes appear around the middle-eight together with the most subtle of backing vocals and sighing country style guitar riffs. It’s back to Europe with the bouncy pop tones of ‘Amsterdam’ but the lighter sound contrasts quite sharply with the more serious lyrical tone. ‘Arogillian’s Gone’ has a strong folk vibe as it wistfully meanders along. ‘Is This The End?’ completes the album on a sultry, reflective note with its monotone vibe relieved by flashes of climbing keyboard notes. It’s a lovely song.

I’ve heard many ‘demo’ song collections in my time but this one is different in that the songs are consistantly good and hang together really well, i.e. this could be a conventional album. Killen may be unconventional (weird even) and on the fringes of a difficult music industry, but this demo song collection proves that he is more talented than some artists I could mention who are chart toppers. I wish him luck, he deserves it.

4/5"

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