Browsing Tag

Indie Pop Rock

Welsh Singer-Songwriter, Samuel Evanson, changed the indie anthem game with ‘She Was Blind’

Posted on 5 March 2024

Samuel Evanson’s sophomore single, ‘She Was Blind’, is an intricate weave of sharp instrumental hooks and indie rock melodies that echo the infectious energy of The Vaccines. Yet, Evanson carves his own niche with a vocal performance that is both evocatively charged and endlessly affecting. His voice, rich in vibrato, effortlessly traverses a wide range, carrying the weight of heavy emotion with a finesse that is as haunting as it is exhilarating.

The track is more than just a wounded love song; it’s a raw, emotional outpouring that rages with a fervour akin to Sam Fender’s passionate narratives. His ability to convey deep-seated emotion while maintaining a distinct sonic signature is a clear sign Samuel Evanson has everything it takes to cut through the noise and climb the charts.

As a prelude to his upcoming debut LP, We Are Meant to Break the Rules, which is due for release in June 2024, ‘She Was Blind’ is a tantalising glimpse into Evanson’s artistic soul which was born in the heart of Denbighshire and honed in the vibrant music scene of Liverpool. Evanson’s journey resonates through every note of this emotionally charged anthem.

Watch the official music video for She Was Blind via YouTube or add the single to your Spotify playlists.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Teles electrified the indie rock scene with their power pop-hooked hit, Olivia

Posted on 30 January 2024

By fusing Manics-esque 90s Britpop with the high voltage energy of power pop and throwing some magnetic rock-licked indietronica synthetics into the electrifying mix which embodies Yorkshire’s indie rock spirit, Teles didn’t just hit the ground running with their latest single, Olivia, they blazed their dynamism right across it and scorched the earth with their exhilarated sonic signature.

You just can’t help getting swept up in the momentum as Olivia depicts the torment of seeing someone short-selling themselves in relationships, especially when the knife is twisted even deeper through a connection to the person who can’t see their value while looking past you. It’s a paragon of an indie rock anthem that is set to seal the outfit’s fate as trailblazers in the UK indie rock scene. It’s only a matter of time before they are as big as their sound. Your time is running out to see them in intimate venues; get on it.

Olivia will be available to stream from January 29th; stream the single on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

AFTERDRIVE augmented introspection in their curve-transcending indie pop-rock hit, Stick Around

Posted on 6 January 2024

If you’re a sucker for catchy indie pop-rock hooks, evocatively sonorous vocal versatility, and complex layered arrangements, you’re going to want to save a space for the UK’s hottest breakthrough artist, AFTERDRIVE, on your radar. Their standout single, Stick Around, which augments melancholic introspection to anthemic stadium-filling levels, is a testament to the outfit’s ability to craft music with swathes of cross-over appeal.

Opening with choral, reverb-drenched guitar lines that hark back to the dreamy soundscapes of Slowdive, Stick Around immediately sets a tone of profound contemplation. This serene beginning soon gives way to a burst of energy as the song transitions into an electrifying chorus.

With the vocal performance bearing resemblance to the impassioned earnestness of Matty Healy, the single comes charged with emotional depth, which gives even more power to the uplifting and poignant melodies. Even though their music is perfect for live performances where their energy and charisma shine the brightest, Stick Around has all the makings of a playlist staple.

With over 30 gigs in 2023 and a growing presence in the festival circuit, AFTERDRIVE is clearly on an upward trajectory. Their music, as Connor Bennett of BBC aptly put it, is the start of something big. For those who yearn for music that combines the best of indie pop and rock, look no further than AFTERDRIVE’s latest offering.

Stick Around is available to stream on Spotify and all major streaming platforms.

Keep up to date with the latest releases from AFTERDRIVE via Facebook & Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Leah Nawy has unleashed her iconic indie pop rock playlist staple, Friend of Mine

Posted on 3 January 2024

We’ve been obsessed with the NYC pop rock pioneer Leah Nawy ever since sinking into her lusciously groove-pocketed debut single, NUISANCE, which has racked up over 46k streams on Spotify alone since its release in 2023. In the opening verses of her sophomore single, Friend of Mine, the singer-songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist exhibited a softer and more vulnerable side in her confessional release which alludes to how opening yourself up to people is only priming for the scars that will be left when you inevitably part ways.

When there’s little to separate realism and pessimism after life experiences have taught you that optimism is the outlook of the naïve, sentiments which unravel with the same pensive sting as the lyrics in Friend of Mine are inevitable. Yet, by the time the track reaches the midway mark, it transcends into a soulful power ballad before metamorphosising into an indie rock anthem for the disenfranchised but tenacious despite the bruises masses.

By bursting the bubblegum pop bubble with spikes of cultivated indie rock, the melancholy within Friend of Mine adopted a brand-new ferocity as an attestation to how you can reflect on your shortcomings without falling into a trap of self-pity. With a voice as indomitable as Lady Gaga fused with a cutting-edge indie pop rock signature sound, she’s a rare artist whose work merits her being referred to as an icon. We can’t wait to hear what follows.

Friend of Mine was officially released on December 22. Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Get your teenage kicks from Sweetboy’s latest indie power-pop installation of nostalgia, Day in the Park

Posted on 14 October 2023

If you are looking for a new indie-pop outfit to get your teenage kicks from, or reminisce from kicks from yesteryear, get ready for the impact of Sweetboy’s latest single, Day in the Park.

After finding each other on Craigslist in 2018, the founding members, Anna Barnett and Jon Flores, put momentum into their dream of pursuing a music career; armed with classical piano training and a background in English Literature respectively, Sweetboy took the NYC scene by storm when they started to tour the live circuit and amass more members.

With the demureness of Debbie Harry, the vocal lines will draw you right into the nostalgic gravity of the release, which bolsters itself with soaring riffs between the cutting angular guitars and a solid backbeat that feeds you all the power pop furore you could ask for.

A Day in the Park is the first single to be released from the debut LP of the same title; if you like your vibrato vocals to be affecting and instrumentals infectious in their sticky-sweet retro glamour, save a space on your radar.

Day in the Park was officially released on September 22; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lost Foxes opened the mundanity trap in their installation of indie pop nostalgia, Petrichor

Posted on 7 October 2023

Lost Foxes elevated South Carolina’s indie scene with their poetically plaintive latest single, Petrichor. Hearing it, you’d be forgiven for thinking the past two decades have been erased by the echoes of the early 00s in the melodies that haven’t lost their ability to wrap a noose-like grip around the rhythmic pulses and pluck the heartstrings in time with the angular guitar notes.

The intimate lo-fi touches to the chamber string-accentuated release make it effortless to lock into the resonance that is strewn across the verses which reminisces on darkly mundane days as the instrumental effervescence lets the sun shine through the salvation of escapism.

The four-piece has come an illustriously long way since their early days of playing with loops on Logic Pro and singing about beans in 2020. Following the inspiration of Twenty One Pilots, AJR and COIN, they got to work on their debut album, Welcome to Kiff, which debuted in 2022 to tell the tale of three protagonists escaping totalitarianism. Petrichor is the latest chapter in the outfit’s legacy, and it is one you’re going to want to read time and time again.

Petrichor was officially released on September 29: Stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Matt Wescott orchestrated a nirvana of honky pop rock euphoria with ‘Run Away with Me’

Posted on 5 October 2023

Matt Wescott’s latest single, Run Away with Me is a proposition no retro pop rock fan could refuse. If Elton John’s Honky Chateau was a little more cosmic, the honky tones would be as interstellar as the chord progressions in this piano-led ode to nostalgia that blasts into the stratosphere of futurism.

The rugged odyssey of an earworm stands as a testament to Wescott’s lifelong immersion in the music industry. Before establishing himself in the digital era of music as a solo artist, Wescott performed in multiple bands that were laudable enough to headline Bristol’s Carling Academy, be lavished in equipment by Wharfdale, receive director’s awards from Paramount, and support Newton Faulkner, Razorlight and Alabama 3.

After reminiscing on the glory days with his father shortly before he passed away, Wescott had the epiphany that life is too short not to do what makes you happy, which has seen him release a string of phenomenal singles that defy indie pop rock expectations and lead listeners into 3-minute nirvanas of honky pop rock euphoria.

Run Away with Me officially released on September 27; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The masters of funked indie rock melodicism Kinda Joke questioned ‘Where Is Home’ in the shimmering nostalgia of their latest single.

Posted on 18 September 2023

Kinda Joke brought a touch of playful panache and lashings of shimmering 80s nostalgia to their standout indie funk pop single, Where Is Home, taken from their debut LP, Cat Alarm.

If you can envisage the middle ground between Reverend and the Makers and the Midnight, you’ll get an idea of what awaits from the masters of indie rock melodicism and funky rhythms. With an atmosphere that enraptures from the first groove pocket-carving bassline and enough hooks to necessitate the hook, line and sinker metaphor, Kinda Joke’s ear candy couldn’t be more radio-ready.

Where Is Home is the sixth single to be released by the international trio; the German, Italian and Spanish flags all fly under the banner of the outfit which originally formed in Munich, where they discovered after jamming with each other that their sessions were somewhat reminiscent of an intoxicated Phil Collins-Coldplay-Dave Grohl amalgam.

Where Is Home is due for official release on September 15; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Matt’s Keys borrowed from Fleet Foxes in his trip around the human condition, I Won’t Forget

Posted on 8 September 2023
https://soundcloud.com/mattskeys-396096472/i-wont-forget-1?si=40faf228b7da4f4ea30de1086103897b&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Whether we like to admit it or not, one of our most pervasive fears is being forgotten and our impact on people’s worlds being ephemeral, if you can relate, you will resonate with the latest star-roving pop hit from Matt’s Keys.

With a featuring vocal artist adding her beguiling harmonies over the pop rock keyboardist’s perpetually poignant keyboard melodies, I Won’t Forget is an uninhibitedly sweet score, orchestrated to lead your emotions to extremes as the lyrics gravitate around the highs and lows of the human condition. From our hopes and fears to our naïve dreams and bitter-sweet regrets, it is all encompassed in the stunning single which reminisces with the sonic style of Fleet Foxes, while delivering panoramically filmic gravitas. It is tracks like I Won’t Forget that prove how interconnected we all are by the commonality in our experiences, despite the rise in individualism. If that isn’t the definition of aural gold, it damn well should be.

I Won’t Forget was officially released on August 31; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chloe Chadwick confronted short-fused ghosts in her captivatingly all-consuming alt-rock hit, Temper Gene

Posted on 29 August 2023

Cheshire’s most promising singer-songwriter, Chloe Chadwick, has stepped off her international touring circuit to strike sonic gold once more with her latest single, Temper Gene.

The impassioned pop-rock soundscape that delivers a captivatingly all-consuming indie-country twang digs deep into the phenomenon of falling head over heels for someone who will only inevitably keep you under the thumb with their short-fused psychopathic tendencies. How she managed to stay true to her brand of unadulteratedly passionate song crafting while exploring such a dark theme is a mystery that only lends itself to magnetism.

Her ability to spin such arrestive melodies around the maladies of the contemporary trappings of sociopathy transcends talent to paint Chadwick as one of the most seminal artists of our era. Just one hit of Temper Gene will leave you with the compulsion to lose yourself in her diverse back catalogue, which was created with a little help from world-class producers, including Chris Garcia and Kevin Dippold.

Temper Gene was officially released on August 11th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast