Browsing Tag

indie-pop

Spotlight Feature: Slip into the indie synth-pop sanctum of Aquarium Drinker’s reflectively melodic single, By Design

Posted on 24 February 2023
https://.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf0WRBEbE94&feature=youtu.be

Finding the synthesised middle ground between Alan Vega and Beach House, the up and coming Seattle-based alt-pop artist Aquarium Drinker created a sentimental synth pop haven with their latest single, By Design, which is due for release on February 24th.

After the strobing synths in the prelude feed the euphonic energy, the indie singer-songwriter introduces his quiescently deadpan vocals. Despite their laidback attitude, it is all too easy to connect with the soul of the reflectively poignant release, which ponders how much control we have over our lives and how much was brandished on a blueprint from our first breath.

By Design is beyond anything we have ever heard before. Yet, through the resonant intimacy, few soundscapes we have heard this year are satisfyingly sweeter.

Here’s what Aquarium Drinker had to say about his latest single:

“Many of my songs, like this one, are about being disappointed in others. The sole theme of By Design is on the points of contention in a relationship with one of my exes. We had differing opinions about a political issue; I couldn’t bring him into my frame of mind because that is how he was raised to think… By Design.”

Stream the official music video for By Design by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rae Larz drifted into the 5th dimension in her spacey synth-pop debut, Tea in the Stratosphere

Posted on 23 February 2023

Here to warn us that reality isn’t what we think it is, is the up-and-coming experimental artist Rae Larz, who could give Bjork a run for her Avant-Garde money with her introspectively spacey hit, Tea in the Stratosphere.

Stirring her artfully psychedelic single with a heavy dose of futurism ensured that she established herself as an orchestrator of soul-emancipating sonic remedies, which take us far beyond the maladies of the 21st century.

The decadently soft synth lines lustfully collide with the trip-hop-y percussive fills and the nuanced slithers of jazz timbres and other world music elements that heighten this elevated hit to the nth degree.

Every aural inch of Tea in the Stratosphere was written, performed, produced, and engineered by Rae Larz herself. Evidently, the Brooklyn-based originator will become an unreckonable force in the industry.

Tea in the Stratosphere was officially released on February 3rd via Jupiter’s Luck Records. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Surrender to the divinity of Zanny Xy’s ukulele anthem, Hungry Ghost

Posted on 23 February 2023

After being gifted a ukulele and penning a song under a full moon, the debut 3-track EP, Chartreuse Phoenix, was composed, and the rest is far from history for the spiritually compelling singer-songwriter, Zanny Xy.

The standout single on the EP, Hungry Ghost, pairs the strikingly soul-stirring vocal timbre of Xy with the zealously plucked nylon strings that spill serotonin in exactly the same way as when Amanda Palmer picked up a Ukulele and recorded In My Mind.

After heading to Maui solo in 2021 to heal and rise from the ashes, Xy came out as trans, left a career in tech, and continues to travel and make music-full time through the belief that art is integral to the sanctity of the human condition. We wholeheartedly agree. If anyone has what it takes to lead the soul-seeking revolution, it is Zanny Xy.

Chartreuse Phoenix was officially released at the end of 2022; you can check it out by heading to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Noah Tuesday melodised moving on paralysis in his pop-rock single, ‘Leave a Light On’

Posted on 19 February 2023

If candour and inclination to expose their souls got artists to the top of the charts, there would be few sitting above the Michigan-born, New York-residing alternative artist, Noah Tuesday.

His seminal pop-rock single, Leave a Light On, puts his training as a concert and church pianist to melodically immersive use as he allows the lyrics to outpour of all the guilt that amasses around inaction, introversion and moving on paralysis. Everyone has been there, leaving lashes on their own backs for their need to take time; Noah Tuesday universalised those alienating sensations.

Even if Leave a Light On was an instrumental piece, the piano-led sonic piece of panache would have been as upliftingly luminary. Between the evocative magnetism in his vocal lines, his songwriting chops and his lyrics that transcend most artists’ expressive capacities, he’s one to watch.

Leave a Light On is available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Versonic twisted the melons of 90s Britpop with Come On (Up for Air)

Posted on 19 February 2023
Come On (Up for Air) by VERSONIC

The acclaimed indie rock act, Versonic, has twisted the melons of early 90s Britpop yet again with the anthemic angular melodicism in their bitter-sweet latest single, Come On (Up for Air).

With a bassline that will make any Pixies fans palpitate over and the opening lyric, “how does it feel to be suffocating on your own again”, which grabs your attention by the throat, it’s safe to say Stephen Connor’s award-winning writing skills are as sharp as ever.

How he managed to pull the euphoria from “cos no one’s gonna save you, no one’s looking for you and no one’s gonna make it alright (for you)” was nothing short of genius. The painfully honest yet lyrically liberating nature of Come On is just one of the reasons to delve into the artful reinvention of the 90s Britpop wheel.

Come On (Up for Air) was officially released on February 17th. Hear it on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Ninali reached the pinnacle of ‘Smooth’ in her latest feat of jazzy soul pop nostalgia

Posted on 17 February 2023
Ninali

There was no forgetting Ninali after hearing her affectionately wanderlust track, Tokyo, which hit the airwaves at the end of 2022. To start 2023 with a sultry bang, she’s amalgamated a sentimentally demure cocktail of pop, jazz and RnB.

The mid-tempo piece, Smooth, was co-produced by the legendary producer M. Shanks, who also applied their deft touch to the tantalising timbres in Tokyo, which marked the first release for Ninali in over a decade.

With Smooth, sensuously 80s-nostalgia-soaked instrumentals swell and tropically groove around the aphoristically harmonised vocal lines, which simultaneously put you in the mood while facilitating the purer purpose of reminding you how sweet it is to meet someone that defines serendipity. It is worth falling in love just to fully appreciate this delicious track.

Smooth will officially release on February 17th. Hear it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

V3x reclaimed the power of her vulnerability in the future-embracing alt-pop hit, D34D

Posted on 13 February 2023

NYC alt-pop originator V3x puts the experimentalism of Grimes and FKA Twigs to shame in her standout future-embracing trip-hop-y single, D34D. Making no bones about attacking mistreatment through ferocious innocence, the luminary independent artist came into her vindicating own through this 8-bit-adjacent earworm.

With “sometimes I think I might be dead, given the way you treat me” as an opening lyric, the instrumentally sunny single, which spills the tropic heat through the scorching synth timbres and brings in the indie intimacy via the guitars, empathy is non-optional.

We’ve all been there, handing our vulnerability over to people that were always going to manipulate it. In 2:30 minutes, V3x proves how sweet it can be to reclaim that susceptibility instead of stripping it from our psyche.

Check out the seminal single, D34D, from V3x via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jimmy Nebula has unleashed his indie psych pop serenade, Take It All

Posted on 11 February 2023

If the Stone Roses hailed from LA instead of weathering the grim up North UK weather, their indie hits would have been as euphonic on the ear as the Cali-residing artist, songwriter and producer Jimmy Nebula’s latest single, Take It All.

Just one of the singles to feature on the forthcoming LP due for release this Spring, Take It All is tinged with psychedelically sunny heat to warm the blisters of melancholy that pop in the same vein as Joy Division’s in the soul stirringly pure release, which also carries a touch of the Pixies and R.E.M.

Beyond any reminiscences, Take It All is a triumph in its own melodic right; through Nebula’s ability to meld light and dark, soul-stirring and heart-tearing feels. If emotion doesn’t flood to the surface while you’re listening to Take It All, you may want to check if you still have a pulse.

Take It All is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Go ‘Downtown’ and Grab Some Sonic Serotonin with Blunt Objects’ Latest Kitschy Indie Pop Release

Posted on 8 February 2023

‘Downtown’ is the latest zanily artsy indie pop release from the authentic-by-design artist Blunt Objects. As society becomes increasingly more insular and reliant on digital connection, the mastermind behind the alternative project, Bill Owens, reminds us of the beauty in community.

With a similar lyrical theme to Petula Clark’s Downtown, Blunt Object ensured he made his instrumental mark with the kitschy amalgam of eccentric electro motifs and real instruments to create his classic-form pop track, which comes with a touch of Michael Stipe magic to the vocal lines. Thick with 70s nostalgia and touched with disco fever, Downtempo is an undeniable opportunity to grab some sonic serotonin.

Downtown is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Romanticism picks up in the airy American breeze in Ewan Jackson’s debut single, Counting Houses

Posted on 29 January 2023

Using real estate as a parable for the sanctity of emotional warmth was an ingeniously affectionate move on behalf of the singer-songwriter, Ewan Jackson, in his debut single, Counting Houses.

As sentimentally pure and rhythmically compelling as Elliott Smith’s iconic work, the single is a sweet ticket to a higher plateau, where love transcends the physical realm and becomes a meta phenomenon with few constraints.

Romance isn’t dead, it is picked up in the airy Americana breeze of this quiescent indie lullaby, which will rhythmically rock you into contentment while the vocals find the enamouring balance between playfulness and cupidity.

Counting Houses officially released on December 16th; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast