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Music Blog for Indie Pop Fans

Miss Terious exhibited the power and pain of alter-egos in ‘Misty’

Posted on 26 July 2024

Miss Terious’ latest single, Misty, bridges the gap between the tender indie pop magnetism of boygenius, the artful expression of Kate Bush, and the gothic sombre glamour reminiscent of Evanescence. This coalescence is perfectly interwoven in the arcane atmosphere of the indie piano pop ballad, where the sparse instrumentals allow Miss Terious’ emotionally heightened vocals to spectrally overpower the production.

Each verse tightens the heartstrings as you become consumed by the raw emotion conveyed through the confession of how pseudonyms can deliver confidence while concealing the person behind the greatness. The deeply felt pain of being wanted through association rather than true connection resonates throughout Misty; anyone who has experienced this pain will find the ultimate consolation within the candour.

Miss Terious is a British-born alternative musician from the West Midlands, known for her originated mix of electronic and classical instruments. Since debuting with her EP Bleeding Green in 2020, she has tackled topics such as abuse, mental health, and her separation from the ballet industry. In 2022, she was honoured as BBC Introducing’s Artist of the Month for Coventry and Warwickshire and performed at the Backyard Festival in Leamington Spa. Her contribution to the music scene earned her the Local Hero Award for AIM Awards 2022.

After hearing Misty, there isn’t an industry accolade we wouldn’t see her as fit for.

Misty was officially released on July 19; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Urban Café Crew cruised through 80s nostalgia and became sonic heartthrobs in their latest single, Movin’ Down I39

Posted on 24 July 2024

It’s all gas and no brakes in Urban Café Crew’s latest single, ‘Movin’ Down I39’, which exudes a striking blend of 80s Hollywood glamour and heart-throb vocals that make the driving anthem impossible not to groove with.

With the opening sounds of engines revving against strident piano chords that are augmented by Blockbuster nostalgia, you’re instantly susceptible to the lyrics that compel you to seize the moment while the rhythmically magnetic progressions seize your pulses and evoke panoramic images of a guy driving to get the girl. The propulsion of the pulsating beats transcends auditory ingenuity to craft a visual masterpiece that you’ll never get tired of revisiting.

We didn’t need any more evidence of the Australian-based collective’s cultivated songwriting stripes after hearing their Christmas earworm and the eternally endearing single, Hey There Boomer, It’s Not OK. Yet, now that Movin’ Down I39 is here, it only cements their ability to produce hits that sweep you up in their infectiously soulful intensity; it’s the most syncable single I’ve heard this year.

Movin’ Down I39 was officially released on July 17; stream the single on SoundCloud now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bang emotional ambiguity cascades into Bang’s alt-indie lullaby, HOLD ON

Posted on 24 July 2024

In his latest single, HOLD ON, the alt-indie visionary, Bang, plunged his eternally expanding following into a pool of lush reverb-swathed ambience, intersected by sharp, reverberant trap beats that push momentum into the hazy lullaby which envelops the senses with wavy dream-like soul.

With this seminal release, bang captured the essence of affection as the harbinger of comfort and the precursor to uncertainty and confusion. The exposition of the dangers of letting down your walls is intricately crafted into the thematic visualisations of the introspective lyrics that are filled with late-night longing.  The sensory expedition into the heart of emotional ambiguity is an irresistible invitation to escape into the delicious delirium.

The seraphically disorientating release marks the Michigan-raised Asian-American artist as the Thom Yorke of his generation while becoming a milestone stride in his set-to-be illustrious sonic journey which was chartered after early exposure to Bollywood rhythms and 00s hip-hop beats.

As the architect of hits that pulsate with modern indie rhythm and find superlative equilibrium between evocative and innovative cultivation, Bang is elevating the airwaves with his solo work and his role in the genre-defying collective, Rarehearted.

HOLD ON will be available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify, from July 24th.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rhine Valley prescribed nostalgia-tinged serenity in their indie summer serenade, Instincts in the Red

Posted on 24 July 2024

If you want respite from the artists driven by delusion and to tune into an artist who grooves to the sound of his own nostalgia-licked mellow melodies, hit play on the latest single, Instincts in the Red, by Rhine Valley and discover one of the most underrated artists on the airwaves.

The 21st-century answer to the Zombies’ 1965 hit, Summertime, filters through a sepia-tinged lens which captures the heat of the sun-soaked season within the rhythms which ebb and flow beneath the artist’s idyllic vocal register; the harmonies easily reach euphony while injecting soul into the soundscape that is as laidback as Elliott Smith on Xanax.

Rhine Valley, easily one of the most self-effacingly grounded artists in the music industry, used his bedroom-recorded lo-fi number to candidly reflect on life and the embarrassment of his streaming numbers. By using the tribulations of operating as an independent artist sans a trust fund or nepo connections, he spearheaded the indie music movement with unflinching authenticity.

The song’s mellow indie vibe is perfect for fans looking for something genuine and grounded, it is a true reflection of an artist who can capture the beauty in the mundane and the plight of grassroots music with swathes of tongue-in-cheek panache to spare.

Instincts in the Red will be available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud, from July 24.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jayne Sugg – Belief is Hard: A Soulful 60s Sojourn Through Secular Spirituality

Posted on 21 July 2024

With her standout single, Belief is Hard, the NYC Indie singer-songwriter, Jayne Sugg, unveiled a strikingly soulful testament to the tribulations that transpire from spiritual metamorphosis. The title track of her forthcoming LP unspools a rich kaleidoscope of introspection, filtered through the soulful echoes of the ‘60s, creating a profound space for Sugg to narrate her wrestle with the ethereal and material reality.

The refraining lyric, “Why should I bring myself to pray if I can’t even find faith”, speaks volumes of her transformation following a deeply religious upbringing in which she was constantly brushing against the billboard legends of her parent’s generation.

Initially confined within the walls of religious music, Sugg deconstructed the constraints to unleash herself from creative stagnation. This transformation is the soul of her crowdfunded album, Belief is Hard, a collection that traverses her shifting perspectives, resonating with a love for soulful, nostalgic sounds that nod respectfully towards icons like Bonnie Raitt and Joni Mitchell. The instrumental backdrop in the title single, a subtle homage to the 60s soul, envelops her lyrics in a cocoon of warmth and organic richness, ensuring the listener feels every vibration of her vocal tremors.

The Good Shepherd Music Collective, a sanctuary for artists exploring deconstructed spiritual themes, finds its spirit woven into the album’s fabric. This collective, and by extension the album, sings of peace, love, and acceptance, echoing Sugg’s liberated spiritual and creative stance.

Recorded in the hallowed halls of Sonic Ranch and Dreamland Studios, featuring the performances of musicians like Tim Lefebvre and Terrence Clark, the lush and layered single is a gateway to catharsis.

Stream Belief is Hard on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: ‘Find Out’ and Fall in Love with Dilly Dally Alley’s Indietronic Jazz Infused Earworm

Posted on 19 July 2024

As lightness meets lyrical depth, Dilly Dally Alley’s latest feel-good earworm, Find Out, opens a doorway to rhapsodic bliss with a juxtaposing key of edgy off-beat style and an all-consuming sense of jazz-collective-next-door soul.

Straight out of Minneapolis, the ensemble, led by Sophia Spiegel, spun every-day awkward moments into sonic sugar for the soul; the single pulsates at the crossroads of indie-pop and jazz-inflected alchemy and unravels as the ultimate affirmation that you’ll always be free to shed your inhibitions and embrace your idiosyncrasies in front of the people who matter.

If there was any definitive formula for indietronica pop perfection, Dilly Dally Alley found it with Find Out; the kinetically weightless rhythms pull together to form a dance-worthy anthem that is equally as liberating for the mind and soul.

With Find Out, Dilly Dally Alley doesn’t just step into the limelight—they grab it, twist it, and weave it into a tapestry of infectious grooves and raw, emotive energy. The track is a testament to their journey from late-night jam sessions to becoming the heartbeat of Minneapolis’ vibrant music scene.

Dilly Dally Alley Said:

“Find Out is about the silly, clumsy moments in a relationship that grow to be the very reasons why you fall in love. It’s a song about running into your crush when you’re too drunk at a bar, or the grocery store without your makeup on or being completely tongue-tied trying to ask them out.

It’s about the love that nevertheless persists between two people because it’s meant to work out. This tune is to dance to – maybe a bit clumsily – so long as you’re doing it with someone you’re crushing on.”

–

Find Out will be available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify, from July 19; shortly followed by the next single in Dilly Dally Alley’s line of sonic succession, This Just In, on August 23.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ben Thuesen mastered the art of indie pop euphonic immersion with ‘Angel Face’

Posted on 19 July 2024

In his latest indie-pop release, Angel Face, the affectingly irreplicable Ben Thuesen channelled the soul-wrenching mourning of a love lost into a composition that haunts with its lyrical depth and intricate melodies.

The Sacramento-based singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer exhibited how he has perfected the art of euphonic immersion with this vignette of the bittersweet aftermath of affection. The anthem for the lovelorn echoes the melodic poignancy of artists in the same vein as Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen, while ensuring that no influence overshadows the uniqueness of his distinctly cultivated sonic signature.

By weaving guitar strings and heartstrings together, the independent artist crafted a sonic landscape that mirrors the isolation of heartbreak. The stinging clarity of his guitar lines cuts through the nightscape with the precision of a seasoned jazz musician, his roots bleeding into each note, offering a raw, unfiltered emotional narrative which reflects the alienatingly quiet hours of introspection that often accompany the loss of love.

Angel Face will be available to stream on all major platforms from July 19; stream it on Soundcloud first.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Seraphic Soulstress, Cati Landry, Struck Again with Her Sophomore Single, Riptide

Posted on 18 July 2024

Cati Landry defied the confines of material reality with the rush of euphonic etherealism in her sophomore single, Riptide, inspired by an equilibrium of the timeless music she grew up on and the rugged beauty of her coastal Canadian upbringing.

Ensuing from the ring of acoustic guitar chords which tinge the intro with 90s nostalgia, the single quickly oscillates into a diaphanous, quasi-hymnal ballad which reminisces on the most tender and mystifying-on-the-heartstrings facets of a relationship while conjuring a seraphic sense of serenity.

Landry’s crystalline vocal lines take the dreamy indie pop meets alt-country soundscape to a whole other celestial level; you can’t help but surrender to her otherworldly command when immersed in Riptide, which doesn’t stop at washing over your rhythmic senses; the single permeates the soul to implant the reverie rendered into the release.

Cati Landry set the bar high with her 2023 debut single, Mind’s Eye, but she reached nirvana with Riptide and sits alongside Beach House, Mazzy Star, and Chayr in the dream-pop pantheon.

Prior to focusing on her solo career, the Vancouver Island-born-and-raised artist lent her talents to various bands and performed in jazz clubs, bars & theatres. After studying Literature at the University, she pursued a Master’s in Songwriting at Berklee, where she wrote her debut single, which was brought to life in an LA recording room and polished by producer Neil Wogensen.

The dream-folk daytime lullaby arrived on the airwaves on July 11, distributed via Foundation Media, stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Self-actualise with the debut single, Superhero from the alt-indie originator, The Black Holes Philosophy

Posted on 16 July 2024

For the standout single in their eponymous debut album, The Black Holes Philosophy filtered a folky 70s pop twang into the cosmically expansive production style of ELO while poetically narrating the internal conflict of grappling with personal desire and external expectation.

While the introspective protagonist cherishes authenticity and simplicity over grandiosity and superficiality in Superhero, the beauty and the solace in the little things in life profoundly resonate through the prism of kaleidoscopic colour that spills from the piano pop-rock progressions.

Superhero is enough to make you contemplate every aspect of idealism reverberating through your psyche to ensure it derives from within instead of the confluence of cultural demands. The softly and soulfully rendered release reaches the pinnacle of liberation as it guides through a journey of self-actualisation while establishing The Black Holes Philosophy as one of the most artistically unbound artists on the airwaves.

Superhero was officially released on June 14th; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

In Our Sea electrified the airwaves with their rhapsodically eclectic alt-indie single, When You Kissed Me I Went Numb

Posted on 15 July 2024

The third album, Flowers! Swallow Me!, from the inimitably rhapsodic and harmonically euphonic outfit, In Our Sea, has landed, introducing one of the most infectious singles to date from the architects of unpretentious alt-indie.

If you took the jangle pop guitars of Johnny Marr, the sticky-sweet synthy sensibilities of Yo La Tengo, the kaleidoscopic colour of the Beatles and the innovatively rhythmic flair of The Violent Femmes, you’d be left with a soundscape as electrifying as the standout single, When You Kissed Me I Went Numb. The lyrically avant-garde celebration of pure and innocent passion hits as hard as any of the tracks on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea LP. With the unbridled self-effacing energy that’s poured into the single by the smorgasbord, it is impossible not to fall for In Our Sea, melodic hook, line, and sinker.

When You Kissed Me I Went Numb was officially released on July 5th with the Flowers! Swallow Me! LP; stream it on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast