Browsing Tag

Indie Folk Singer Songwriter

Diehard Romantics Will Meet Their Match in Kaleb Cohen’s Bluesy Indie-Folk Release, Our Eyes Met on Friday

Posted on 26 July 2024

Kaleb Cohen is set to become the second biggest Cohen in folk after the release of his bluesy indie single, Our Eyes Met on Friday.

After opening with an introspectively tender extended prelude, inviting listeners into a defining moment that captures the essence of a soul finally finding its home the song unfolds through increments of upbeat folk elements reminiscent of the Lumineers and Mumford and Sons which surge through the ingenuity within the genre-bending energy.

This release showcases Kaleb’s profound ability to make loungey piano keys bleed pure raw emotion, complemented by his seraphically timbered vocals that masterfully blend the gruff with the smooth. The continuous sonic reinventions throughout the track play havoc with rhythmic expectations, yet each new arrangement is as euphonic as the last, exhibiting the devilishly playful innovation of an artist who could easily skate by on his larynx of gold but chooses instead to go the extra aural mile to beguile.

Kaleb Cohen, an indie-folk-rock prodigy from Connecticut who writes, records, and self-produces his music is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Film & Television Production. As an omen of the illustrious path he is destined to pave, his first-ever show in New Haven was a sell-out with fans coming as far as Pennsylvania to witness one of Indie Folk’s most promising names etch their legacy.

Our Eyes Met on Friday will be officially released on July 26; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Susie McCollum – New Year’s Eve: part love song, part soulful indie-folk ode to bitter-sweet tradition

Posted on 28 September 2023

If it isn’t too early for commercial stores to deck their aisles with items that prove we’re in the midst of a consumer-industrial complex, it isn’t too early to pontificate on what will be the staple fixtures on our holiday playlists, especially when the singles are as superlatively resolving as New Year’s Eve from the folk singer-songwriter Susie McCollum.

Part love song, part soulful indie-folk ode to bitter-sweet tradition, the loungey and luxe feel of the NYC singer-songwriter’s debut single allows you to slip into a reflective sanctuary of a soundscape. The gentle piano keys against the minimalist acoustic guitars construct an absorbing platform for McCollum’s endlessly sonorous harmonic notes to drift into as the lyrics go beyond the commodification of the holiday, which, whether we like it or not, forces us to take sentimental stock of the year gone by and anticipate what we’ll be grateful for next year.

However you choose to spend it this year, there isn’t a situation McCollum can’t elevate with her Joni Mitchell, Norah Jones and Janis Ian-esque sound.

Add New Year’s Eve to your Spotify playlists now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ted brewed the ultimate blend of jazzy indie-folk dream pop with ‘The Coffee Shop’

Posted on 18 August 2023

There was no forgetting Ted’s folk-meets-dream-pop hit, Revolution Then, which reminisced on the times when revolution action was a feasible act of retribution amongst the repressed masses.

In his latest single, the Australian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist waltzed into The Coffee Shop to share a jazzy and intimate vignette of an unassuming female protagonist who inspired the laidback with luxe style from the fleeting observations made on her curious reticence.

With touches of the Beatles melding with a dreamy iteration of the 70s folk style, The Coffee Shop is far from short of beguile. Ted captured the coffee shop mood perfectly. The snug comforting atmosphere breathes right through the sax-infused kaleidoscopic melodies.

Visit The Coffee Shop for yourselves by heading over to Spotify first.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

BREGN inspired cognizance in the ethereal art-rock world of his latest single, Dopamine Mind

Posted on 24 December 2022

The Danish 100% DIY artist, BREGN, explored neurobiology within his ethereal indie art-folk single, Dopamine Mind, to inspire mindfulness around one of the most toxically prolific habits imparted by the 21st century.

Anyone with a smartphone will know the subconscious compulsion to gaze into its black mirror. What is less understood is the key driver behind the habit that is tearing away at our ability to connect with the real world, as opposed to the divisive world depicted across social media.

While the euphonious melodies work to quell you into a state of quiescent meditative calm through the angular guitars against the quasi-jazzy keys, the lyrics allude to the entrapment of our dopamine reward system. With each new notification bringing a validation-soaked dopamine rush, breaking the habit is hard. But it’s a necessary step towards a more enlightened existence, unblighted by the platforms that profit from and exploit our mindlessness.

“It is so easy to get distracted and addicted to those distractions, which are now more instantly accessible than ever. The protagonist in Dopamine Mind thinks it is the phone’s fault, but he reveals that the root of the addiction is elsewhere.

He sets out to reset his mind and restart life, focused on things of meaningful deep value, away from artificial dialogue and small talk.”

Stream DOPAMINE MIND on Spotify and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Orlando indie-folk singer-songwriter Faae spoke for us all in her Anthropocene-conscious single, summer song

Posted on 2 July 2022

Ahead of the release of their debut EP themed around derealization and identity in this smouldering Anthropocene, the Orlando indie-folk artist, Faae, has shared her gracefully haunting single, summer song.

In their own words, summer song is “shining a light at the end of the world”, and heartbreakingly, the lyricism gets even more profound as it explores the mental ties that get taut and tormenting when we try to make positive moves. “it is hard to be better when there is no one to account for you” is a lyric not easily forgotten.

In the style of Phoebe Bridgers, Mitski and Daughter, the instrumentals confound the expressive and vulnerable nature of single with the raw, ragged and still sublime acoustic textures that anyone with a pulse will want to surrender to. I haven’t felt this excited about Indie folk since I discovered Big Thief. And I’m pretty sure I won’t be the only one utterly captivated by Faae.

summer song will officially release on July 2nd as part of the artist’s debut EP, rudolph. Check it out on SoundCloud and follow Faae on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Allan Hill is profound in the indie-folk delicacy of his sophomore album, Oxford

Posted on 26 June 2022

With each single an embodiment of warmth and compassion, any indie-folk fan with a semblance of self-awareness will want to make Allan Hill’s sophomore album, Oxford, their aural home.

In the same vein as Elliott Smith, Adrianne Lenker (Big Thief), and Sufjan Stevens, the album which was officially released on June 10th, is profound in its delicacy. Consisting of little more than subtly warm synths, banjo, fingerpicked guitars and quiescently revealing vocals, the release aids just that; the release of every frustration our isolated age has imparted.

With finding resilience being an overarching theme, which ebbs through the nine-track release, by the time Goodbye Blue Monday rolls around you have a confidant in the Canadian artist.

Starting with the single, Angell Woods, which was recorded in one take in the woods, it is all too easy to ease yourself into the enveloping accordant resonance of the LP. Before track two, This Time of Year cuts to the bone with the precision of the artist’s ability to allude to weather-triggered emotion that words alone can never explain.

The sepia-tinged melodicism of the title-single allows the fact that Hill only picked up a guitar during lockdown almost unbelievable. As simple as the light production, which contrasts the heavy lyricism, may be, there’s a tenacity to the rhythm, allowing it to feel as natural as breathing.

Here is what Allan Hill had to say on his sophomore release:

“Oxford delicately documents the process of starting over and coming to terms with solitude, guilt, and inevitable change in real-time. Impermanence is a common theme. Empty stretches of highway, late night phone calls, decaying suburbs, violence, tender conversations and flora and fauna are all intertwined to create an intimate yet isolating universe.”

Hear the album on Spotify & Bandcamp. Follow Allan Hill on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast