Vilija — “101”
This is the shimmering, atmospheric end of the spectrum of synth-pop. Vilija’s relaxed voice glides through this song, backed by its simple melodies and slow beats. I imagine the lyrics (in Lithuanian) are appropriately laid-back and thoughtful. This would be a fine addition to a playlist for a summer evening, but I’m more concerned about its competitiveness when it goes up against the brasher, louder songs in this heat, let alone what might happen further down the track.

Basas Pegasas — “Ponai”
Well, rap-rock isn’t a genre we’ve seen at Pabandom iš Naujo this year. On the face of it, this sounds like an attempt to be the Lithuanian version of Rage Against the Machine — they certainly seem to have the general rhythmic structures and lyrical assertiveness well-established (the latter is obvious I can tell without knowing a word of Lithuanian). This is probably an instance where English lyrics would have helped them in the long run — when the message is most likely political, it doesn’t help when most of your international audience have to head to an online translation. All that aside, this is a decent song for its genre, albeit nothing unusual in its vocal and music presentation.