Browsing Tag

indie-pop

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

Lemonade Sin tore away fakery with their 1970s glam atom bomb of nostalgia, Glad Game

Posted on 2 October 2023
Glad Game by Lemonade Sin

The UK indie-pop duo Lemonade Sin dropped a nostalgic 1970s glam atom bomb with their latest single, Glad Game. With jangled guitars and retro synth lines that are equally as sticky-sweet in their exuberantly euphonic energy, the duo, comprising Lee Friese Greene and Simon Aldous, surpassed their influences to orchestrate an infectiously enlivening feat of pure ingenuity which echoes the inexorable legacies of Belle and Sebastian, Pulp and Stereolab.

The layering of the harmonically honed boy/girl vocals draws you right into the centre of the protest on the people standing at the vanguard of the toxic positivity movement, who repress real emotions with fake plastic smile facades and shame those who are authentic in their candour.

The single was recorded and mixed at Penquit Mill Studio with Lucy and Matt Board (Pale Blue Eyes), who also contributed the keys to the release, which also features Jennifer Denitto on drums and Charlotte Beale on bass.

Glad Game was officially released on September 22; it is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Reality is fiction in Rooftop Screamers cosmic pop odyssey, Another Life, featuring Tim Smith

Posted on 27 September 2023

After celebrating critical acclaim in his power-pop band, Throwback Suburbia, the Portland-based drummer and songwriter Mike Collins created his studio project, Rooftop Screamers to showcase his original tracks and create an opportunity to work with local and world-renowned vocalists, musicians, and producers.

Swapping guitar solos for the far more euphonic timbres of synth lines, he orchestrated an interstellar sonic fantasy in his latest single, Another Life, featuring Tim Smith, but those power pop proclivities still worked their way into the sticky-sweet synthesis that will enamour any fans of Butch Walker and Father John Misty.

It is all too easy to affix an ELO reference onto any track that could be branded as a cosmic pop odyssey, but the fusion of Beatle-esque pop, classical arrangements, and futuristic iconography necessitated the reminiscence reference regardless.

Something tells me that Another Life will be an earworm that doesn’t quit until you have pandered to it repeatedly.

Stream Another Life on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Angel Quintas – Feel at Home: Cosmically Cosy Indie Pop Worth Staying In For

Posted on 25 September 2023

If the Beatles entered their kitchen sink era while picking up a few Ziggy Stardust proclivities, their kaleidoscopically soul-affirming singles would be as cosmically cosy as the latest single, Feel at Home, by the Floridian adult contemporary singer-songwriter, Angel Quintas.

Rather than assimilating 60s and 70s icons, the self-taught musician and producer abstracted influence from their tonal palettes and weaved them into a tapestry stitched with more contemporary alt-indie production techniques to deliver a nostalgic sanctuary with modernist décor.

While it is all too easy to bemoan the lazy days that put few demands on your time, especially with the age of the influencer making you feel guilty for not living the lifestyle of the rich and famous every day despite being neither, Feel at Home, colourfully illustrates that few things can match home comforts while delivering musical theatre akin to the sonic performances of Father John Misty who always goes the extra euphonic mile to leave you fully consumed.

Feel At Home hit the airwaves just in time for Autumn on September 15th stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Roo Elizabeth – Ready to Die: A Dream Pop Redemption Story

Posted on 25 September 2023

Etherealism drifts through the latest avant-garde dream-pop installation, Ready to Die, from the Irish artist, songwriter, and fledging producer, Roo Elizabeth who has been taking the live circuit by storm after opening for Wyvern Lingo and Mary Coughlan and appearing on the bill at Electric Picnic and Forest Fest.

With a soundscape that bridges the gap between the melancholic intimacy of Bill Ryder-Jones, the hazy production techniques of Cigarettes After Sex, and the artful expression of Kate Bush in her The Kick Inside era, Roo Elizabeth gave her sophomore single a timelessly beguiling nocturnal quality, perfect for slipping into when you want to relish in introverted introspection.

The track title may appear macabre but the sonic experience itself couldn’t be more tender in its advocation for sanctity, acceptance, and authenticity. By illustrating the beauty of tragedy, in the same vein as Cultdreams, Roo Elizabeth rendered one of the most affirmingly inspirational singles of 2023.

In her own words:

‘READY TO DIE’ is about radical love. It’s about fighting for your own joy. Like a lot of others, I have grown up surrounded by addiction. It buries the spark in the people we love. This song is about cutting the ties of self-sabotage and rising to meet yourself in your own authenticity.

Ready to Die is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kayla Friend quelled the melancholy in her breakup track, Over, with enchanting ethearealism

Posted on 22 September 2023

Before putting down roots in Texas, the California-born, NY-raised singer-songwriter Kayla Friend forged a successful career in theatre before branching out as an independent artist following the pandemic; her experience as a music theatre composer lent itself effortlessly well to her sound. Her enchanting melodies and vivacious vocal harmonies create an otherworldly cinematic atmosphere you can easily lose yourself in before you find yourself in the all too resonant lyricism.

Her latest single, Over, follows the plaintively painful experience of separation; with the blossoming orchestral swells in the indie-pop score, the single is underpinned by a sense of rebirth to quell the melancholy in the perfectly emotionally rounded single. With the guitars that seem to pirouette around her celestial soprano vocal lines, Kayla Friend created one of the most stunning singles we’ve heard in 2023. It’s only a matter of time before she’s snapped up by a major label.

Over will be released on September 22nd; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

All isn’t fair in love and war in millar’s indie alt-electro-pop single, hunting ground

Posted on 12 September 2023

By drawing parallels between blood sports and romanticism in her indie alt-electro-pop single, hunting ground, the up-and-coming London-based singer-songwriter, millar, delivered a striking exposition of how nothing is fair in love and war when unsuspecting diehard romantics are forced to play by the rules of mind games.

As the atmospheric space progressively shifts from light to dark in the same vein as The Neighbourhood, Cigarettes After Sex and Perfume Genius around the strikingly angular indie guitar work which bears reminiscences to Slowdive and the driving backbeat that gives the single a punchily vindicating energy, hunting ground, is one of the most stunning UK indie tracks to spill up from the underground in 2023.

We can’t wait to hear where millar’s candour and inexplicable talents in euphonically visualising melancholy take her next.

hunting ground was officially released on September 1st; stream it now on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Bask in the indie pop ‘Afterglow’ of EMA’s growing pains

Posted on 5 September 2023

To prove that it isn’t just Taylor Swift who can weave romantic daydreams into her pop melodies, the breakthrough indie pop artist EMA allowed her latest intimate vignette, Afterglow, to deliver dreamy yet panoramically visceral emotion. Getting caught up in the earwormy tides of the single that captures the bitter-sweet sensation of growing pains and leaving everything behind to come into your own is absolutely non-optional.

The synth-rock melodies towards the outro spike the sticky-sweet hit with emboldening energy while bursting the bubblegum pop bubble and establishing EMA as a trailblazer who didn’t have to completely rip up the indie pop rulebook to assert her originality.

The Toronto-residing singer-songwriter has been honing her talents by performing at open mics and festivals since she was eight years old. After she released her debut single, Get It, in February this year, it wasn’t long before she reached the one million fans mark. Staggeringly, when she covered Heather by Conan Gray, she graced Spotify’s Top Viral 50 playlist and surpassed the streaming count of the original, which tells you all you need to know about her ability to breathe life into explorations of emotion.

Afterglow lit up the airwaves on August 11th; bask in it yourself by joining EMA’s 30k monthly listeners and heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Dictator stood at the vanguard of social action in their psychedelically funked indie-rock single, Enough is Enough

Posted on 1 September 2023

The latest single, Enough is Enough, from the Scottish four-piece, Dictator, is a grooving odyssey of indie synth-rock socialist rancour. Socialism may have become a dirty word as of late; Dictator wore it as a badge of honour in their track that pushes back against the political elite and supports strike action, knowing it’s better than having late-stage capitalist blood on your hands.

They may have taken a different approach to the Manics to prise eyes and ears open to the hypocrisy that could easily be obliterated if there was enough momentum for a Masses Against the Classes movement. But by opting for a synthy and sugared with shimmering pop hooks arrangement and pouring as much soul into the indie croons as humanly possible, they efficaciously got the message across their rhythm section that reminisces with the Happy Mondays and their brand of psychedelia that was delivered with as much colour as hits from the Zombies.

Enough is Enough was officially released on August 30th, and we’re officially obsessed. Get hooked by heading over to SoundCloud or 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