Browsing Tag

indie-pop

Tom Fleur has made his debut with the indie jangle pop gem, Paranoia Song

Posted on 5 December 2022

Any indie artist that kicks off their career with a track as bold as Paranoia Song is one that we will always champion. The up-and-coming artist, Tom Fleur, opened his debut single with the lyric, “I’m on edge on the edge of the bed”, sung in a This Charming Man-esque vocal melody and sealed a place on our radar forever.

To freshen up the iconic new wave indie jangle pop sound, Fleur threw in the influence of 60s girl group melancholia and Ray Davies characters, but he’s every bit as self-aware as Morrissey was back in the day before he couldn’t figure out why his career tanked around his rampant racism.

After promising that his lyrics also explore the themes of hedonism, anxiety, and love, we can’t wait to revel in more of his intellectual introspection wrapped around his colourfully distinctive guitar lines. Finding a new artist that compels you to drink in every swoonsome syllable so as not to miss any of the disconcerted resonance doesn’t happen every day. I haven’t felt this lyrically seen since I first slipped into the solidarity of The Fear by Pulp.

Paranoia Song is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Meg Chandler finds herself on the visceral side of ethereal in her intimately nostalgic indie alt-pop single, Woodland

Posted on 25 November 2022
Meg Chandler

Given that it has been a fair while since we weren’t living through a historical event of some devastating global nature, it’s all too easy to crave the uncompromised simplicity of youthful nostalgia. Meg Chandler brought it by the smorgasbord in her single, Woodland, which precedes her debut EP, due for release in 2023.

The 21-year-old singer-songwriter divides her time between a remote village in Shropshire, where she finessed her authentically out-of-the-smoke alt-pop style that will be a hit with any fans of Daughter, Adrianne Lenker and Phoebe Bridgers, and in Manchester where she enlists the help of the production/writing duo SOAP.

Never a truer line has been delivered than “now everything just seems to hurt” in Woodland, which flicks through the sepia-tinged memories of a childhood “chasing shadows by the lake”. Projected through intimately vulnerable indie pop vocals that resound on the more visceral side of ethereal, Meg Chandler, with her proclivity to hold nothing back in her lyrics, is set to make major waves with the profound consolation in her music.

Woodland will officially release on November 18th. Stream it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Captain Lo-Fi reached the serotonin-spilling pinnacle of feel-good music with his genre-fluid hit, ‘Joker’

Posted on 24 November 2022

With eccentrically sweet vocals that will instantaneously steal the hearts of any Modest Mouse and Grandaddy fans over some of the most genre-fluid instrumentals that you have ever heard, Captain Lo-Fi’s seminal single, Joker, is almost tear-jerkingly sweet.

The Germany-hailing musician and producer has been fine-tuning his sound in his own studio since 2013, working with artists from various genres and producing beats for artists and companies, including Loopmasters.

This goes a fair way in explaining the organic ease of the experimentalism in Joker, which throws all sense of pretence to the wayside to deliver funky, indie hip-hop-meets-pop instrumentals that his sunny-side-up vocals drift above. Creating authentically ‘feel-good’ music is no easy feat, but Captain Lo-Fi’s willingness to let his endearingly pure soul spill across his productions allowed him to reach the serotonin-spilling pinnacle.

Stream Joker on Spotify and follow Captain Lo-Fi on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ninali took us to Tokyo in her synaesthesia-inducing hyper-pop comeback 

Posted on 23 November 2022
Feel the neon glow of Tokyo in Ninali’s synaesthesia-inducing slice of hyper pop, which lit up the airwaves on November 11th. After squeezing inspiration from her trips across the world, Ninali has made a comeback after her wanderlust hiatus. Now residing in Spain to focus on her music career and to study music production, she’s projecting her sultry vocal timbre into her jazzy feats of RnB pop to share the exotic flavours she sampled.
Ninali made her first venture into the music industry aged 18 when she took Belgium by storm with her single, Lovedrunk, which scored her an indie record deal, national airplay and a spot on a compilation album curated by one of the biggest Belgian radio stations. With her sophomore single, she reached number 34 in the Belgian Ultratip charts and secured plenty of live dates. We’re stoked to have her demure soul and uplifting sound vivifying the UK music industry for the first time. She’s certainly not one to sleep on, especially if you are partial to serotonin spilling across your synapses.
Head to Tokyo on Spotify. 
Review by Amelia Vandergast

Magnus Ferrell put us on the same high with the hazy alt indie RnB pop vibes in ‘Love Drunk”

Posted on 21 November 2022

LA singer-songwriter, Magnus Ferrell, shared the intoxication with his latest single, Love Drunk. As it dropped, a new niche in alt indie-RnB-pop was carved. With Daft Punk-style galvanising highs written into the funky organic grooves, the pink, hazy euphoria comes at you in waves.

Part of Ferrell’s salaciously scintillating authenticity is owed to his jazz piano background. Partly due to his uninhibited boldness when harmonising his uplifting pop harmonies and his determination to make a serious impression on the industry. Given that he’s opening for The Psychedelic Furs in San Diego despite the drastic genre difference, it’s safe to say that he’s well on his way. We couldn’t be more stoked for him.

With the consistently infatuated themes of his singles in his short and sweet discography, you can’t help but get invested in what drops next, like it’s your brand-new binge-worthy Netflix series that you’d happily lose sleep for.

Love Drunk is now available to stream on Spotify. Stay tuned for fresh serenades by following Ferrell on Instagram & TikTok.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lia J sips bitter memories in her ground-breaking indie-RnB-pop single, Chardonnay

Posted on 19 November 2022

Indie RnB pop sensation, Lia J, oozed sophistication in the jazz-tinged melodies of her latest single, Chardonnay, which melancholically reflects on how a shift in dynamic can sour the sweetest of memories.

The soft bluesy instrumental layers cushion the blow of the bruisingly honest accounts of her new-found loneliness in the wake of heartbreak. We’ve all been there, bravely attempting to figure out how to find new meaning in our surrounds when all we can feel is the ghost of our former selves.

There’s a beautiful idea that we don’t really miss people; we miss the person we were with that person. Chardonnay reflects that sentiment with overwhelming soul. But even if Lia J was singing her shopping list, the effortless class in her semi-vibrato vocals would awaken your senses with the invigorating stir of her vocal timbre.

Chardonnay is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Spheres packed their alt indie synth-pop debut, The City of Lights, with evocative kryptonite

Posted on 16 November 2022

If it’s been a while since a debut single has left you utterly obsessed, delve into The Spheres’ alternatively inclined amalgam of 80s synth pop, indie-rock, and dance, The City of Lights. From the suburbs of Toronto, the duo lit up the airwaves with their infectiously hook-rife account of the frontman’s complicated relationship with his city of birth, Karachi, Pakistan. “In the city of lights, you die just for dreaming”, is cuttingly efficacious in alluding to the toll it took on the singer-songwriter and producer Reza Habib.

With the vibrato in the vocals spilling evocative kryptonite across the catchy synth-pop melodies, The City of Lights will blind you with its luminous soul before the solid riffs and punchier vocals conclude the track on a raucous high that will leave you itching for more. Thankfully, that itch will be scratched as more singles from the debut album will drop before its full release in Spring 2023.

Stick The City of Lights to your synapses by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Amber Jade Smith offers ethereal redemption in the celestial avant-garde grace of her single, Chains

Posted on 13 November 2022

Alluding to the shackling nature of toxic dynamics to the tune of lush reverb over Avant-Garde pop synths, Amber Jade Smith’s single, Chains, painted her as the PJ Harvey of her generation.

The South Wales-born Devon-based artist takes influence from Stevie Nicks, Daughter and Radiohead, but evidently, her sonic signature has never been scribed before. Lyrically the artist that has garnered airplay from BBC Introducing, Remembering the 90s, XRP Radio, Riviera FM, and EatMusicFM finds inspiration from her early traumas and battles with mental health.

Based on Chains, Amber Jade Smith will undoubtedly help others process their own grief and trauma. Beyond the artistry and cleverly resonant wordplay, there’s ample opportunity to find redemption within the ethereal layers of Chains which practically operates within the realm of the sonically celestial. Her devilishly demure vocal presence is well and truly something to behold.

Chains officially released on October 28th; check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

NOODLE ARMS cling to autonomy on the surf rock waves in ‘Don’t Tell Me I Can’t Be Me’

Posted on 6 November 2022

If Pixies had spent more time in the Cali sun with the Beach Boys, Doolittle would have undoubtedly unfurled with the surfy grooves and psych-pop harmonies found in the latest single, Don’t Tell Me I Can’t Be Me from the Tel Aviv-based outfit, NOODLE ARMS.

The alt-indie pioneers founded in 2014, before morphing through a myriad of line-up changes and monikers before settling on this solid powerhouse of surf-rockers. On the basis of their latest release, it is safe to say that they’ve found the winning formula. Reminiscences aside, this sun-bleached call for respect over idiosyncratic autonomy wiggles right into the soul and sets up camp.

Don’t Tell Me I Can’t Be Me is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Gratitude envelopes platonic love in Lizzie Hosking’s latest alt-pop single, Skye

Posted on 29 October 2022

Platonic love may take a backseat on the airwaves for fawning declarations of lust; if anyone can push it to the forefront, it is Lizzie Hosking with her uplifting ballad, Skye which soulfully celebrates the lifelong friendship with the person who has lifted her from every downward trajectory.

After realising that she’d written songs about people that don’t deserve an ounce of her time, Hosking delivered this timeless feat of pop which starts with minimalist ambient production around her soulful vocal timbre before building into an epic outpour of gratitude, soaring electric guitar riffs and all.

Skye, titled after her best friend, is a taste of what is to come on Lizzie Hosking’s upcoming album, which will keep the focus on folky storytelling instead of the punchy upbeat sonic style that she’s become renowned for since making her promising debut in 2020. We wholeheartedly approve of this wholesome move.

Skye was officially released on October 21st. Check it out for yourselves on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast