Browsing Tag

Indie Folk

The UK orchestral folk duo River Knight is on melodious form in their sanctuary spilling single, Unsprung

Posted on 25 December 2022

The folk duo River Knight has been fairly quiet since their 2021 album, Grow. They are back on melodious form in their latest orchestral folk single, Unsprung, which borrows fractions of the melody to Take on Me, but with such a stunning orchestral string ensemble and hints of the Verve and 90s Britpop in the verses, who is complaining?

The earworm brings the ragged and rough timbres through the acoustic guitar strings and percussion while the smooth can be found in the gloss of the orchestral crescendos, which are as close to heaven as the impious are likely to get.

Each new progression is a brand-new opportunity to fall in love with the duo who banded together in 2017 as a form of therapy for Darren Knight after the tragic passing of his wife. Stone River was there for unwavering support and to offer the Ying to Knight’s songwriting Yang. The duo are well known on the London, Portsmouth and Southampton live circuit, but it’s only a matter of time before they take their international-level approach to indie folk rock to the status it beckons.

Unsprung officially released on December 16th. Catch it on Spotify.

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

From tragic inevitability, hauntingly filmic beauty is born in Rico Friebe’s single, This Day

Posted on 23 December 2022

Folk singer-songwriter, Rico Friebe, has unveiled the hauntingly filmic second single from his upcoming debut album, Word Value. Born from tragedy and hope, the vividly redolent single, This Day, explores the inevitability of the days we fear the most, alluding to our inability to avert discourses we are compelled to run from.

There is a profound grace in the alchemic vocal layering that spills soul across the stabbing minor piano keys that torridly flurry through the soundscape to reflect the phenomena we have to accept we can’t overcome. In concept and execution alike, This Day is a masterful piece that has left us with plenty of anticipation over the debut album.

Listen to This Day on Spotify from December 23rd. Await the alchemy in the debut album, which is primed for release in early 2023.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Peaks & Valleys speak for the melancholic souls in their orchestral indie-folk single, Surrender

Posted on 13 December 2022
https://soundcloud.com/peaksvalleysband/sets/how-far-we-fell/s-gE9cEGTNYtf

Peaks & Valleys have debuted their masterful, aptly morose EP, How Far We Fell, featuring the bitter-sweet exposition of grief, Surrender. The Edinburgh-based three-piece start with sombre acoustic guitars before the quiescently ennui-laden vocals hush desolation into the polished orchestral production, which brings in orchestral strings and minor piano keys to pay homage to the roots of Scottish Folk and laden you with compassion for the disillusioned protagonist portrayed.

In a time when it feels like everyone with a shred of empathy and awareness is succumbing to the subjugating grips of futility, Surrender will undoubtedly have a profound effect. The grief shared through the lyricism that leaves plenty of room to inject your reason for melancholy against the climactic orchestral crescendos is inexplicably beautiful in its resounding darkness.

Surrender will be available to stream from December 13th via SoundCloud.

Follow Peaks & Valleys on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Edinburgh’s premier indie-folk evocators Peaks & Valleys bid a sweet farewell in ‘Before We Go’

Posted on 13 December 2022
https://soundcloud.com/peaksvalleysband/before-we-go/s-ZcIsPz8OE27?in=peaksvalleysband/sets/how-far-we-fell/s-gE9cEGTNYtf&si=7b8f7ea531b8431393f330a09f696707&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Taken from the EP, How Far We Fell, the standout single, Before We Go, from the Edinburgh-based indie-folk outfit, Peaks & Valleys, is a lesson in romantically wistful meditation.

You will be inclined to lean into the cinematic work so deeply that you will be able to hear a pin drop between the mellifluous yet minimalist progressions which make the dual vocals the arresting centrepiece of this stunning serenade that wistfully anticipates departure.

The intimately entwined vocals carried as much harmonious chemistry as what you hear in Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s collaborations, while the strikingly sonorous strings over the rugged timbre of the acoustic heighten the evocative potential in Before We Go to the nth degree. Colour us spellbound.

Before We Go will be available to stream from December 13th via SoundCloud.

Follow Peaks & Valleys on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Snows of Yesteryear ‘Wait by the Shore’ in their orchestral indie folk exposition of generational grief.

Posted on 7 December 2022

Snows of Yesteryear could only hail from Scotland with their mesmerising future-resisting take on orchestral indie-folk, which resounds in their debut single, Wait by the Shore.

No one can ever truly replace the alchemy that blossomed in the melancholy of the original Frightened line-up. But Snows of Yesteryear set our hearts and minds alight with a similar spark as the high-octave vocals from Kat Orr captivate as they mourn the tragedies which befell Scottish fishermen in 1881.

Classic, but still a million miles from archaic, Wait by the Shore is an achingly artful dark exposition of generational grief that proves the up-and-coming indie folk outfit is inseparable from their sonic and hometown roots.

Wait by the Shore is now available to stream on Spotify. The official music video will premiere on December 9th, and their debut album is in the pipeline, so get them on your radar.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Pinwheel Valley culminates a sense of hope in a disparate world with his Indie Psych Folk two-track release, Willow

Posted on 6 December 2022

With every new release from the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer, Pinwheel Valley, we know we are in store for two things, deeply intellectual yet accessibly resonant contexts, and a glimpse into a brand-new facet of his creativity. His latest two-track release, Willow, was no exception.

The opening single, Willow, is a defeatism-traversing intrinsically melancholic work, which utilises solemnly angular art-rock lead guitar lines to completely submerge you in the cold tones that exemplify the isolation and frustration over deceit. Regardless of the inspiration of the lyricism, Willow extends sentiments that will viscerally resonate with anyone feeling adrift by the contemporary times, which all too often leave silver linings out of sight.

The second single, On to Land, uses an extended prelude of ardently raw acoustic guitar strings, rhythmically hammering zealous emotion before the first word is spoken. After cavernous shimmering reverb crawls across the folky, sparse soundscape, there’s an interlude of silence before the melody picks up under Pinwheel Valley’ vocals, which are fervid in their urgency to culminate a sense of hope in a disparate world. Closing on a turbulently psychedelic outro, you’re only human if you delve in for a repeat experience of the awakeningly affirming release.

Listen to Willow on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chloe Southern painted the portrait of a morally grey romantic in her immersive folk single, Oil & Water

Posted on 4 December 2022

The 22-year-old neo-folk singer-songwriter and producer, Chloe Southern, goes beyond making honesty her brand through the motto, “the more alone I feel in an experience, the more I know I need to write about it”.

The Boulder, CO-born, Brooklyn-residing artist is fresh from the release of her debut EP, Last Man on Earth, which contains five singles, all orchestrated to give a confidant to anyone drifting along the same wavelength. One of the standout singles, Oil & Water, is a quiescent aching lullaby. Atop gentle acoustic guitar strings that weave rich Elliott Smith-Esque melodies, Southern finds her resounding voice as she heightens the emotions to the nth degree through the climactically gentle vocal progressions.

All too often, singer-songwriters paint themselves as flawless protagonists in their own stories. Southern switched the narrative by creating a morally grey character of herself in the single that traverses how she stole someone from the arms of another. But she pulls the romanticism back around by alluding to her ability to love him like no other. We’re officially rooting for her in the romantic saga.

Oil & Water is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Yunger – Let There Be Hope: A Compassionately Impassioned Folk Playlist Staple

Posted on 1 December 2022

Folk singer-songwriter Yunger refused to let all hope be lost in his achingly impassioned single, Let There Be Hope. The single surpassed the gravitas and sincerity in folk hits from Mumford & Sons and the Lumineers as he went all-in with compassion as he acknowledged the darkness that we can all succumb to when it feels like the silver linings are always out of sight.

After laying out unconditional understanding, he offers an olive branch out of entropy which has become increasingly more prevalent in the wake of tragedies that seem to be dragging innocent lives back to the dark ages. If more souls were as pure as Yunger’s and we all had his eloquently poetic way with words, our existence would be so much brighter. Notably, he’s Australia’s answer to Frank Turner.

If you love Let There Be Hope, be sure to check out his latest album, Of Hope and Dreams, which was released on vinyl on October 1st.

The official music video for Let There Be Hope is available on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Succumb to the cinematic nostalgia in Molly Murphy’s folk-pop single, I Miss When We Drove Shitty Cars

Posted on 30 November 2022

Taken from her phenomenal EP, Were You Digging for Some Deeper Meaning? Molly Murphy’s nostalgia-soaked folk serenade, I Miss When We Drove Shitty Cars, will drive you right back to the days when it was okay if everything wasn’t Instagram-worthy.

With all the grace and beguile of Joni Mitchell, this sepia-tinged stripped-back single allows Murphy’s celestial vocal timbre to float atop the quiescently cinematic melodies that lull you into a state of calm before the orchestral chamber strings chorally caress the non-lexical harmonies that will make you Dream Baby Dream.

The NYC indie-folk singer-songwriter is a soulful force to be reckoned with. Watch this space. Or better yet, succumb to the choral mesmerism.

I Miss When We Drove Shitty Cars is now available to stream on Spotify and purchase on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast