Browsing Tag

Indie

Self-actualise with the debut single, Superhero from the alt-indie originator, The Black Holes Philosophy

Posted on 16 July 2024

For the standout single in their eponymous debut album, The Black Holes Philosophy filtered a folky 70s pop twang into the cosmically expansive production style of ELO while poetically narrating the internal conflict of grappling with personal desire and external expectation.

While the introspective protagonist cherishes authenticity and simplicity over grandiosity and superficiality in Superhero, the beauty and the solace in the little things in life profoundly resonate through the prism of kaleidoscopic colour that spills from the piano pop-rock progressions.

Superhero is enough to make you contemplate every aspect of idealism reverberating through your psyche to ensure it derives from within instead of the confluence of cultural demands. The softly and soulfully rendered release reaches the pinnacle of liberation as it guides through a journey of self-actualisation while establishing The Black Holes Philosophy as one of the most artistically unbound artists on the airwaves.

Superhero was officially released on June 14th; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

In Our Sea electrified the airwaves with their rhapsodically eclectic alt-indie single, When You Kissed Me I Went Numb

Posted on 15 July 2024

The third album, Flowers! Swallow Me!, from the inimitably rhapsodic and harmonically euphonic outfit, In Our Sea, has landed, introducing one of the most infectious singles to date from the architects of unpretentious alt-indie.

If you took the jangle pop guitars of Johnny Marr, the sticky-sweet synthy sensibilities of Yo La Tengo, the kaleidoscopic colour of the Beatles and the innovatively rhythmic flair of The Violent Femmes, you’d be left with a soundscape as electrifying as the standout single, When You Kissed Me I Went Numb. The lyrically avant-garde celebration of pure and innocent passion hits as hard as any of the tracks on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea LP. With the unbridled self-effacing energy that’s poured into the single by the smorgasbord, it is impossible not to fall for In Our Sea, melodic hook, line, and sinker.

When You Kissed Me I Went Numb was officially released on July 5th with the Flowers! Swallow Me! LP; stream it on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

London’s introspective indie pop icon, Gemma Felicity, struck again in ‘10 Million Dates’

Posted on 13 July 2024

Our adoration for Gemma Felicity remains unflinching after the release of her intimate indie pop single, 10 Million Dates. With her latest right-on-the-euphonic money release, the London-hailing singer-songwriter captured the collective frustration within the modern dating scene, detrimented by the illusion of endless choice.

The sense of disillusion in the lack of real, raw, and pure connection resounds throughout the artistically profound, poetically bitter-sweet lament which acts as the ultimate consolation to anyone who is losing the motivation to keep searching.

By delicately touching on themes of people pleasing, loneliness, fear of the future, emotional baggage, and the ennui which follows pinning hopes on a transient character in our lives before they disappear within the folky dream pop reverie of the polished production, Gemma Felicity delivered one of the most affecting singles of 2024.

As the introspectively candid icon gears towards the release of her 5-track EP, Baggage, there’s no doubt that she’s inching towards the zenith of her career.

10 Million Dates was officially released on July 5th; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergas

Isiah & The New People led a rhythmic indie-folk-rock revolution with their debut EP, Boxes

Posted on 8 July 2024

Rooted in roots rock tradition and daring in execution, the debut EP from Isiah & The New People proves that no sonic flavour can rival pure, raw creativity. With an unadulterated emotion as the kindling which ignites through the friction of rhythmic volition, the fourpiece tore down the barricades of the soul, one visceral lick at a time with their four-track EP, Boxes.

The Little Chute, Wisconsin collective of veteran artists amalgamated a genre-fluid compendium of songs that dig deep into the trenches of the human psyche while awakening the senses of anyone who stumbles on this encapsulation of sonic liberation, which was released on the symbolic day of July 4.

The opening track, 1000 Tears, smokes out rich organic indie folk-rock textures with the sax lines while bridging the poetic expressiveness of Bob Dylan and the visceral intensity of Eddie Vedder. Isiah Driessen’s vocal versatility resounds as he navigates effortlessly between the deep, soulful timbres of Johnny Cash and the piercing clarity of James Taylor’s emotive howls.

Cherry Tree, shifts gears towards a more intimate setting, weaving Paolo Nutini-esque vulnerability into the fabric of its melody with tender acoustic guitar plucks and heartfelt vocals.  The third offering, The Girl Downstairs, introduces a grittier, blues-infused sound that showcases the band’s ability to morph stylistically. The overdriven guitars and raw energy inject a robust dynamism into the EP, demonstrating their chameleonic adaptability and broad musical palette.

The EP concludes with Where’s Lake Waldo? a track that ventures into psychedelic territory with ennui-pained lyrics and expansively kaleidoscopic sonics. The tinged-with-existential-pondering is a fitting end to the EP’s narrative—questioning, exploring, and seeking.

With Boxes, Isiah & The New People articulated a philosophy of musical and personal exploration. It is the ultimate statement of artistic liberation which lays down a promising trajectory for the band which is sure to resonate with any music fans searching for an aural mode of genuine connectivity.

Isiah & The New People said:

“We put things in boxes; whether it’s people, ideas, or ourselves. However, every day we have the chance to be reborn, let things go, and take on new perspectives. I felt myself being put into a box. My pursuits in music have been about breaking out of it.”

Stream Boxes on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lose yourself in a labyrinth of arresting unconventionality with Christine Tarquinio’s indie pop single, New Year’s Day

Posted on 30 June 2024

The 21st of June may seem a strange time to release a single titled New Year’s Day, but the internet phenomenon singer-songwriter Christine Tarquinio knew exactly what she was doing with this quintessentially eccentric indie-pop release which brings to mind the futility of allowing the calendar to dictate the date of your transformations and resolutions.

The twee in all the right places installation of indie bedroom pop carries a touch of art pop expressionism in its quirky authenticity which allows the recording artist to emerge as an unrestrained icon of creative freedom and heartfelt individuality.

With dustings of 90s pop aesthetics in the release which wears Kate Bush influences on the vocal harmonies, there’s just enough nostalgia and familiarity within New Year’s Day for listeners to find their footing in the labyrinth of arresting unconventionality.

New Year’s Day is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kaciny – Happy Thoughts: A Soulfully Sardonic Anthem for the Melancholic Soul

Posted on 29 June 2024

Kaciny’s debut single, Happy Thoughts, immediately strikes the senses with its pop-punk-esque staccato guitar chops before erupting into an anthem impaled by indie jangle pop hooks. The euphoric production is affectingly juxtaposed with bittersweet lyricism, offering a protest against the trite rhetoric often directed towards those with a natural proclivity for melancholy.

Kaciny’s soulfully sardonic grace in addressing this phenomenon sets her apart from her contemporaries. Her ability to capture the essence of ennui while simultaneously critiquing societal pressures to remain perpetually upbeat delivers a potent shot of vindication for listeners who struggle with their own black dog. The earworm is a visceral ride through the rage-fuelled frustrations of wanting acceptance as you are, pensive tendencies and all.

Brooklyn-born and Mississippi-based, Kaciny grew up surrounded by a musically accomplished family, which heavily influenced her artistic journey. Her background, combined with influences from bands like Bloc Party and Paramore, and artists such as Santigold and Dionne Farris, shapes her unique sound. By the age of 20, Kaciny had already made her mark as a songwriter for notable artists like Jordin Sparks and Chris Brown.

Happy Thoughts is a testament to Kaciny’s stripes as a storyteller and musician. This flawlessly fierce alt-indie pop-rock release is so much more than the sum of its sonic parts. It’s an opportunity for listeners to reclaim their true identity and celebrate the beauty in feeling deeply as an involuntary rejection of superficiality.

Happy Thoughts will be officially released on June 28; stream the single on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Explore the cosmos with the indie folk-punk Starchild, Charlie Diamond, and his latest single, Magnetic Love Atomic Romance

Posted on 29 June 2024

Charlie Diamond, the self-professed alien on Earth, has shifted sonic form to transmit his latest single, Magnetic Love Atomic Romance.

The rugged and raw folk elements from his previous releases are enmeshed within the release which blends the anthemically augmented aura and massive vocal hooks of The Courteeners with the subversive folk-punk edge of The Violent Femmes. The spacey Bowie-esque middle-eight adds another dynamic to the expansive release. The juxtaposition of the ornate violin strings and cosmic textures allows you to get lost in transmission as you’re prised away from the grip of gravity.

Rather than diminishing the raucous high energy of the release, which signifies that Charlie Diamond is stridently coming into his own, the gritty DIY aesthetic of Magnetic Love Atomic Romance immerses you deeper into the expressively exhilarant release which sees the singer-songwriter stridently wearing his heart on his guitar strings.

If the unfiltered amorous candour of Neutral Milk Hotel never fails to evoke affectionate emotions, prepare to fill your soul with Magnetic Love Atomic Romance which attests to love’s ability to abstract monotony from our mortal coil and liberate us into a higher form of consciousness.

The official music video for Magnetic Love Atomic Romance will premiere on YouTube on June 29th.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Run The Enemy filtered indie post-punk poetry through a pensive Americana lens with their sophomore single, Barbara Gray

Posted on 28 June 2024

For their second single, the cerebrally poetic Indie/Americana ensemble, Run the Enemy, unearthed the sublime from the serendipitous, immortalising the fleeting yet eternal encounter between Elvis and Barbara Gray in 1956.

Infused with samples of fervent Elvis fans within an Editors-esque post-punk framework, the Cambridge, UK-based band magnifies the tenderness of transient intimacy in a pop culture moment of pure connection, inviting listeners to inhabit that ephemeral instant and luxuriate in its synchronicity.

With vocals reminiscent of Elbow, choked with emotion and deftly illuminating the lyrical depths, and an atmosphere of sepia-toned nostalgia enveloping the hauntingly angular guitars, iridescent keys, and throbbing rhythm section, Barbara Gray lodges itself in the soul, simultaneously imparting the transcendent nature of a moment never to be lost to history.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better entry into the UK indie scene in 2024. It’s only a matter of time before Run the Enemy tears its way into the mainstream.

Run the Enemy Said:

“The song is about randomly overlapping lives, inspired by the fleeting moments shared by Elvis and Barbara Gray, captured on film by Alfred Wertheimer in 1956 at the Jefferson Hotel in Virginia.

For over fifty years, the girl remained anonymous until she appeared on the Today Show to discuss the one day that her life crossed with Elvis’s, like a crossword clue; he was seven down, she was eight across. Despite the moment being so transient and their lives going in such different directions thereafter, their moment is preserved forever on film.”

Barbara Gray was officially released on June 28th; stream the single on Spotify.

Follow Run the Enemy on Instagram. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Riverman opened a doorway to 60s psychedelic pop summers with his alt-indie single, Somnambulism

Posted on 26 June 2024

Once you grab an oar with Riverman’s seminal single, Somnambulism, taken from his Summer Up / Summer Down LP, you’ll be reluctant to ever put it down. Riverman, the moniker of the Winston-Salem, NC-residing singer-songwriter Steve Hedrick, has earned his place in the pantheon of indie greats with this epoch-traversing genre-fluid installation of nostalgic euphony.

With sticky-sweet harmonies that pull at the heartstrings as fervently as Elliott Smith’s dreamy timbres juxtaposed with an exuberant indie-pop production which interweaves Johnny Marr-esque jangle-pop guitars and opens a doorway to 60s psychedelic pop summers all the while embracing brash, garage rock-infused licks, Somnambulism, which introduces Riverman as a ‘soporific spectre’ is a release that will send serotonin firing through your synapses.

The metaphorical exposition of sleepwalking is a masterclass in nostalgic synthesising. Riverman effortlessly infuses motifs from a broad sonic spectrum to pour a cocktail of aural summer haze that will quench your thirst for fresh indie sounds. It’s a lush escape that’s impossible to resist.

Stream Somnambulism on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Heatwavers – Today I’ll Mostly Be: A Sunlit Anthem for Modern Malaise

Posted on 25 June 2024

Heatwavers have made their debut with Today I’ll Mostly Be; an enrapturing anthem which effortlessly melds the vibrant sounds of the ‘60s with the spirited essence of 00s indie. The iridescent-with-soul indie pop production is bolstered by garage rock licks and dusted with the glitter of jangle pop to deliver an infectiously hooked earworm that you’ll want to lean on every time you need the reminder it’s okay to be fallible and dogged with fear of the future.

The unshackling sun-bleached tour de force of hedonically melodic bliss introduces an idiosyncratically awkward archetype with a soul of gold who leads the listener through the reverie designed to liberate from the aches of inadequacy.

The chorus reprise of “I’ve tried my best and I need a break from life, so today I’ll be mostly getting drunk and high” flips the narrative of the typical summer pop hit to deliver a resoundingly bitter-sweet sign of the times marked by the dangers of self-awareness and the traumatic influence of the current climate. The sunny-side-up sonics paired with the realism within the lyricism ensured that Today I’ll Mostly Be will be the seminal sound of the summer.

Formed during a serendipitous stroll in Mykonos, James (UK) and Nige (NZ) of Heatwavers embarked on their musical journey across continents. Their shared love for 60s pop and indie rock, influenced by bands like Best Coast, Surfer Blood, and The Shins, fuels their creative dualism. Despite the physical distance and the constraints of the pandemic, they triumphed with a zeitgeisty cocktail which juxtaposes an effervescent sonic palette with introspectively deep lyrics.

Today I’ll Mostly Be is now available to stream on SoundCloud, Spotify, and Bandcamp.

Connect with Heatwavers on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast