Browsing Tag

Bedroom Pop

Get into the euphoric electro-pop groove with Zach Schuh’s synthy and celestial single, Blurry Pictures

Posted on 26 October 2023

Capturing the sweetness of a perfect moment you never want to leave behind, the latest single, Blurry Pictures, from the ever-ascending independent artist Zach Schuh is, somewhat ironically, the perfect polaroid of euphoric gratitude.

The bedroom pop artist who never leaves any clues within his soundscapes to his DIY approach has discernibly mastered the art of song crafting, arranging, producing, mixing, mastering, and visualising emotional experiences to make them universal.

The Cali native’s vibrant style has all the trappings of an infectious electro-pop earworm; the 80s synths lend themselves effortlessly well to the funk-carved grooves that are cut as deep as the most body-rocking hits from Daft Punk, as for his vocal lines, they couldn’t be dreamier. You might want to pinch yourself to make sure you’re awake while you’re being consumed by the ethereal soul of them.

Blurry Pictures was officially released on September 1st; you can get into the kaleidoscopic groove with it by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

tonka._.b has made her bedroom pop debut with the sticky-sweet indietronica single, Me & U

Posted on 29 August 2023

The bedroom pop artist tonka._.b has made her debut with the indietronic pop hit, Me & U. Right from the prelude you will be invited into a dreamy, almost ethereal electronically crafted universe, which shares a few proclivities with the tracks orchestrated by the likes of Shiny Toy Guns, Metric, and Kill Hannah. Just when you think the single is about to border on twee, bassier dance elements work their way into the progressive mix that delivers a barrage of curveballs to keep you on your toes right to the outro.

It may be rough around some of the songwriting edges in some parts, and transitions between the verses and chorus could be smoother, but the up-and-coming artist clearly has an ear for a melody, and there is no telling where it could take her in the future – stay tuned and keep her on your radar.

Me & U was officially released on August 21; stream it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Boston bedroom pop trailblazer Eliora reached the epitome of bitter-sweet twee with ‘butterflies turn into stomach bugs’

Posted on 15 August 2023

The alt-indie-pop singer-songwriter Eliora ripped up trite romantic tropes and scattered them like melodic confetti in her latest lo-fi single, butterflies turn into stomach bugs.

Standing in her own league in a world of Phoebe Bridgers assimilators, the bedroom pop artist who never inhibits her hits always creates quirk-filled soundscapes that capture the messy and idiosyncratic nature of real life instead of normalising the lies that perpetuate through Hollywood and the Billboard charts. Her latest playfully twee single is no exception to her cardinal song crafting rule which was established when she made her debut from her Boston bedroom in March 2020.

butterflies turn into stomach bugs was officially released on August 8th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Put on Giancarlos Lopez’s latest cashmere smooth pop hit, Designer Clothes

Posted on 9 August 2023

If you want to slip into something comfortable, put on Giancarlos Lopez’s latest dreamy indie R&B pop hit, Designer Clothes. Far from an ode to capitalism, the cashmere smooth single is sweeter than honey for the way it undresses excess and celebrates the person beneath the wearable status symbols that become a façade.

The lo-fi bedroom pop feel to the release only serves to amplify the intimacy of the single that is dripping in romanticism instead of Gucci. If you don’t sonically fall head over heels for Giancarlos Lopez after hearing it, you may want to check your soul’s check engine light; his ability to create a hazy ethereal atmosphere with his vocal lines alone is second to none.

The independent Puerto Rico-born, Tampa-raised artist borrows plenty of inspiration from the Floridian culture before infusing it within soothingly nostalgic soundscapes that reminisce with the works of Mac Miller, Keshi, and Joji. If they are on your playlists, Designer Clothes should be too.

Designer Clothes hit the airwaves on the 28th of July; stream it on Spotify.

 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Foreign Saints is sonorously spectral in their debut shoegaze single, Here With Me

Posted on 11 July 2023

If you placed yourself in the middle ground of Elliott Smith and Slowdive, you would be in good company with the sonorously spectral debut single, Here With Me, from Foreign Saints.

With a slice of psychedelia written into the indie pop songwriting chops, Here With Me unravels as a hazy kaleidoscope of wistful colour. As the lyrics allude to what’s lost through time and distance, the dreamy instrumentals envelop you in their reverb-swathed cathartic tonality.

The bedroom pop project from the Brooklyn-based musician, Thomas Roberts, may not be far past its inception, but Roberts is already proving himself to be an unreckonable resonant force. Fans of The Japanese House, War on Drugs, and Day Wave won’t want to let the project slip them by, especially with the debut EP in the pipeline.

Here With Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Glenna Jane released the most cerebral indie pop hit of the summer with ‘Late Bloomer’

Posted on 8 July 2023

Indie rock got into the sheets of hook-filled bedroom pop with Glenna Jane’s latest single, Late Bloomer. With the high-octane energy of Paramore, the intimacy of Mitski and the absorbing gravitas of Phoebe Bridgers, Late Bloomer is set to take Glenna Jane’s career to stratospheric new heights.

Late Bloomer lyrically delivers a fatal shot to the kinds of fuckboys who use words as a means to an end instead of an expression of the truth to deliver visceral resonance to anyone who can relate to the line “I don’t like you as much when we talk, and you say you’re in love, I know you’re just lying to get inside me”.

And that is just the tip of the crucifying iceberg in Late Bloomer, which Glenna Jane used to embolden herself and her audience through vindicatingly honest candour. The poetically meta propensities of Late Bloomer made the single the most cerebral hit of the summer. We can’t wait to hear where the Brooklyn-based storyteller takes her sharp wit next as she continues to embody the complexity of identity, intimacy and attachment.

Stream Late Bloomer from July 7th on SoundCloud and Spotify

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MASSIVESAD became the cinematically sad poster boy of melodic ennui with his latest art pop release, Balance

Posted on 7 July 2023

The cinematically sad poster boy of melodic ennui, MASSIVESAD, will mainline himself into your melancholic veins with his alt bedroom pop deep-cut, Balance. If you know all too well how it feels for your world to be knocked out of kilter as the scales perpetually turn against you, the catharsis you will find and the compassion you will feel will be visceral.

Emanating disorientating dissonance from his e-piano before the flourishing crescendo of a finish was the perfect way to ensure the instrumentals matched the bitter-sweet vocal lines and lyricality, which paints MASSIVESAD as an existentially amorous diehard romantic at heart. From LANY energy in the main body and the arcane touches of Bjork towards the outro, Balance will undoubtedly remain one of the most artful singles that have slipped into my ear canal in recent years.

Stream Balance from July 7th on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Niky Pasolini has unleashed her illuminating indie dream-pop single, Light On

Posted on 20 January 2023

Alt-Indie singer-songwriter, Niky Pasolini, will release her debut album, Update, on January 20th. We were lucky enough to get a sneak preview of the standout dream-pop single, Light On; from the first ring of the alt-90s guitars and bleeding Shoegazey vocals, we were hooked into the vulnerably delicate self-produced hit. With engrossing reminiscence to Sixpence None the Richer in the guitars and the sense of sentimentality Light On is as illuminating as the title alludes.

The London-based artist wrote, created and recorded the entirety of the album in a makeshift studio in her basement to provide a refreshing antithesis to the extensively produced plastic pop that does little more than scratch at the superficial surface lyrically.

Light On will be available to stream with the rest of Niky Pasolini’s debut album, which documents her coming-of-age story, on January 20th via SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Honeyyycrush has unvelied her confessional piece of Southern Gothic Slowcore, Belly Empty

Posted on 4 November 2022
https://soundcloud.com/honeyyycrush/belly-empty/s-MuIWNMqXx86?in=honeyyycrush/sets/honeyyycrush-demos/s-5mJz94CLze8&si=c7945eabfed94be686e3c440ea981fc4&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Brooklyn-based Singer-songwriter, Honeyyycrush (Alexandra Antonopoulos) established herself as one of the most underrated artists of her generation with the launch of her hauntingly soul-stirring single, Belly Empty.

The dark Southern Gothic meets alt-pop single entwines shoegazey guitars with ritualistic percussion and, of course, the evocatively efficacious nature of her ephemeral vocal timbre that meanders with the grungy slowcore melodies.

By building Belly Empty into one of the most arresting crescendos I’ve heard in a long time after grippingly raw lyrical confessionalism which features a vulnerable reprise of “you don’t know me like I do”, this progressively beguiling single is one born of understood isolation and sheer innovation. We can’t wait to hear her forthcoming EP, Milk Teeth.

Belly Empty will officially release on November 4th. Check it out on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Denim Blue tore off the facade in his indie rock bedroom pop EP, Vacation Blues

Posted on 27 August 2022

In his new EP, Vacation Blues, the Norway-residing bedroom pop artist Denim Blue tore off the facade and abstracted any sense of pretence to deliver a 6-track release which encompasses the dissonance that the journey of loss and recovery imparts.

Inner turmoil is always a field of landmines, but never has it been filled with so many efficacious hooks. Vacation Blues stands as a testament to Denim Blue’s ability to capture the confusion within the human condition while sending you deep into a state of sonic beguile.

Track 1, Brand New, is undoubtedly the earworm of the EP. Unlike your average earworm, the melodic indie pop rock hit sticks to your synapses like superglue through the cohesion between the apathetically hooky vocals and the colourful melodies. Track 2, Tear Me Down, heightens the emotion by stripping back the production to an art pop serenade of lost love.

Track 3, Field of Dreams, shares sonic textures with shoegaze while Denim Blue runs with his signature rough, raw and relatable vocal timbre before Down completely shifts the synthetics of the EP into a hazy synth-pop lament. Decidedly one of the sweet spots on the EP, Waste My Time exhibits the best of Denim Blue’s lyrical gravitas before the concluding single, Bloom, blossoms under warm saturated delay.

Putting context and intensifying the listening experience, this is what Denim Blue had to say on Vacation Blues:

“Vacation Blues is a short but open story. There are a few ways to interpret it as it grows darker with different stages of losing hope, love, will and identity. At the end of the EP, there is a realisation, but it is a cyclical story; the first and last tracks have the same vocal hook with different meanings.

It is about struggling to move on, whether from heartbreak, addiction, mental health, or any other personal matter; it is up to you to decide, as the listener. I wanted it to feel familiar, almost like the inner voice that tries to speak up.”

Stream Vacation Blues on Spotify & SoundCloud.

To stay up to date with new releases, follow Denim Blue on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast