Browsing Tag

Interpol

Interpol meets Editors in The All Clear’s achingly angular indie debut, Northern Soul

Posted on 31 July 2024

If you affix any emerging indie outfit to your radar in 2024, make it The All Clear. With guitars which prove how scintillating it would be if Interpol’s Daniel Kessler lent his intricately angular notes to Editors, their debut single, Northern Soul, tears its way into the soul with aching precision and volition.

Northern Soul exhibited the Belfast-based architects, fronted by Joe O’Sullivan, of indie euphonia as an unrivalled entity, capable of conjuring arcanely poised post-punk alchemy which may show its roots, but only before the sonics blossom into a branch of sheer innovation. The seraphic synth-driven middle eight unfurls as a divine aural intervention; the transcendent melodicism will take you higher than any substance known to man.

After releasing three solo albums between 2015 and 2020, Joe O’Sullivan formed The All Clear in 2023, and their debut album, Harbour Songs, is already on its way, penned for release on September 21.

After hearing Northern Soul, which testifies to the fortitude of the working classes through a tenderly candid narrative, Harbour Songs has all the potential to become the indie album of the year.

Add some ‘Northern Soul’ to your Spotify playlists, or stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chicago’s Sleeps While Walking made their kinetically affecting shoegaze debut with ‘One Trick Pony’

Posted on 14 July 2024

Sleeps While Walking, one of the most promising DIY alt/indie rock outfits to crawl from the underbelly of the Chicago scene has unleashed their kinetically affecting, obsession-worthy debut single, One Trick Pony.

Quite honestly, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Paul Banks has forged a new supergroup to sit alongside Muzz and Interpol for the way the achingly emotional vocal lines cut through the discordant atmosphere of shoegaze synthesised with the sludge of grunge.

As the rough rings of choppy acoustic guitar strings from the intro evolve into windingly hypnotic distorted guitars and start laying the foundation to build an insurmountable wall of sound that is constructed in the middle ground of Deftones and My Bloody Valentine, prepare for heart-in-throat immersion from the soundscape which is underpinned by forlorn grit and gyrating gravitas.

The deeply emotional inflections in the piano-decorated melodies are enough to render your heartstrings raw; with the vocals centrally placed in the chaos of the production pulsating further heartbreak into the debut, Sleeps While Walking became one of the strongest and the most original shoegaze outfits of 2024.

They cut straight through the static of indie landfill with intense precision and challenged my jaded-by-endless-assimilation view of the alt-indie scene. It may be cliché to declare they’re the real deal, but they’re unmistakenly authentic conduits of resonant revolution. Join them at the vanguard.

One Trick Pony was officially released on July 1; stream the single on Spotify and await the debut album which will drop on July 19.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Run The Enemy brought even more tragedy to the legacy of Sylvia Plath with their Post-Punk vignette, She Writes Poetry

Posted on 18 March 2024

Poetry may be becoming a dying art form, but it lives and breathes through the hauntingly melodic introspection in the standout single, She Writes Poetry, from Run the Enemy’s hotly anticipated debut album, Trail of Tears.

After the post-punk-tinged and angularly cavernous lead guitar work in the prelude, the timbre of the melancholic indie vocal lines spectrally appears in the achingly pensive release which finds the monochrome middle ground between Editors earlier work and Interpol’s most affecting expositions of ennui.

With the final crescendo, She Writes Poetry, which gives Richey Edwards and Morrissey a run for their lyrical vignette money, builds into a massive all-encompassing production with strings carving through the post-punk atmosphere.

Written to allude to the abusive relationship between Plath and Ted Hughes, the Cambridge-based outfit succeeded in bringing even more tragedy to the legacy of Plath, given that she stuck her head in an oven in her final moments and penned some of the most pensively affecting works to date, that is some feat of ingenuity.

Stream She Writes Poetry as part of Run The Enemy’s debut LP, Trail of Tears, on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Strange Cities bled a kaleidoscope of light and soul through the monochromatic prism of post-punk with ‘Where Stars Collide’

Posted on 26 February 2024

Just when I thought I’d seen every scene in the post-punk landscape, Strange Cities appeared on my radar and shattered my aurally jaded heart with Where Stars Collide from their debut album, Moments Stolen.

With the Interpol-esque angular guitar lines cutting through the warmth in the atmosphere that proves post-punk melancholy doesn’t always need to be monochromatic, the San Francisco-hailing visionaries amalgamated a soulful new trajectory of the genre, giving it a definitive place in the contemporary music industry.

As the palpitatingly sweet melodies in the dynamically sepia-tinged production evoke energy and give you kinetic rhythms to move to, the vocals make no bones about relaying the achingly raw lyricism and inciting bitter-sweet desolation in your soul. Versing about cheating death, watching your friends taking their final breath and seeing their faded faces framed in memories was always going to hit hard, but the impact in Where Stars Collide is a collision you’ll never forget.

Imagine if Editors in their An End Has a Start era hired Marin Hannett as a producer and radiated the hues of New Order’s Temptation, and you’ll get an idea of what Strange Cities constructed in Where Stars Collide. Or, you can get acquainted with the band renowned for their live performance, who have recently opened for Sisters of Mercy and Gene Loves Jezebel.

The Moments Stolen LP was officially released on February 2nd; stream the album on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Romantic Indie-Rock Raconteur Griffin Robillard is Electrifying in His Anthemically Rythmic Hit, Laws of Longing (LOL)

Posted on 10 February 2023
Griffin Robillard

For the exact same reasons I fell in love with Editors from the first hit, I felt my pulse quicken to the snappy electro-indie gravitas and vocal magnetism from the indie rock raconteur Griffin Robillard, in his single, Laws of Longing (LOL).

The production is as polished as it is colossal as it wraps around the die-hard romanticism in the lyrics and the dance-worthy rhythms evocatively heightened with every ardently pitch-perfect vocal stretch. With Grant Eppley (The National, Maggie Rogers, Spoon) in charge of production, it was never going to be lacklustre. Yet, clearly, the raw material already came with a scintillating sheen.

When most people endure a broken-off engagement, they fall into an insular vacuum of self-pity. Notably, it did little to quell Griffin Robillard’s intensely passionate drive, which puts a visceral amount of momentum into Laws of Longing. It is just one of the singles found on his upcoming debut album, Big Pieces Energy, penned-post-heartbreak and due for release on March 10th.

Laws of Longing will officially release on February 10th. Hear it on Griffin Robillard’s website.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Last Clouds take you to the sonic depths of dejection with their ethereal indie electronica track, Black Hole Lives.

Posted on 17 September 2021

With an intro that mashes The National-style tender piano keys with glitchy caustic electronica, the sense of duality starts resonating early in The Last Clouds’ latest single, Black Hole Lives.

There is an overarching sense of inescapable despair while the restive drum patterns epitomise our refusal to sit restless with ennui. Resonate with it, and you will find yourself consumed by the monochromatic tones, poetic lyrics and psychologically reflective rhythms as you’re taken to the sonic depths of dejection. I mean, do you really have anywhere better to go?

As the single progresses, the reverb that took the sting out of the naturally intimate, Paul Banks reminiscent vocals in the intro starts to slip away, allowing the emotion to ebb and flow with the crescendos, saving the most visceral for last.

I don’t make Paul Banks comparisons lightly, but if any new single is going to leave you an emotional wreck, it is Black Hole Lives and I can personally vouch for The Last Clouds when I say they pour plenty more into their live performances than Interpol.

Black Holes Lives is the second release from the Cheshire-based synth duo’s upcoming album, English Melancholy. The single was officially released on September 17th; you can check it out via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

WE ARE MONROE – BABY LOVE: euphorically dark indie post-punk. 

Posted on 2 June 2021
‘BABY LOVE’ is just one of the three tracks that feature on the latest EP, ‘MOVEMENTS’, from WE ARE MONROE, a Canadian-based alt-rock powerhouse making waves by showing the softer, more affable side to post-punk.
With Kessler-style cuttingly angular guitar notes over danceable beats and shimmering synths, BABY LOVE is an enliveningly authentic track that proves why WE ARE MONROE hasn’t failed to gain plenty of momentum with their euphorically dark indie sound. With Gus Van Go (Arkells) on production, it comes as no surprise that BABY LOVE boasts an anthemically absorbing feel that you’ll want to delve into time and time again. BABY LOVE will undoubtedly be a hit with any fans of Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, Spector, Bloc Party and Kasabian.
BABY LOVE is now available to stream via SoundCloud.
Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alt indie newcomers 20-LD have unleashed their foreboding dark earworm, ‘Feel It Now’.

Posted on 21 May 2021

Alt-indie newcomers 20-LD have released yet another transfixing track onto the airwaves with the release of their latest single, ‘Feel It Now’. It comes with the same atmospheric chill as Joy Division, Covenant-style darkwave beats and static choppy guitar progressions that cut through the reverb that bleeds from the synth notes.

With a few psychotropic tones laced into the dark earworm under forebodingly magnetic vocals that will be a hit with any fans of the Editors, it’s safe to say that 20-LD’s sound holds as much distinction as it does commercial potential.

The optimism that rings through in the higher notes feels like the ultimate feat of defiance in this timely melancholic release that pulls sheer ingenuity out of the dark. We can’t wait to see where this lockdown-born artist takes their sound next.

Feel It Now is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sonic Indie and Celestial Soul Collide in Nikola’s Transfixing Alt Indie Rock Single ‘Pink Lights’

Posted on 22 December 2020

After spending years successful touring bands, Minnesota-hailing artist, Nikola Hamilton, released their ground-breaking EP ‘Darling’ and established themselves as one of the most luminary singer-songwriters who have made their debut in 2020.

The standout track, Pink Lights, will allow you to imagine what would happen if Interpol chose to team up with Hozier. You get the cold, cutting sonic style with the almost celestial vocals which tear though the darkly atmospheric soundscape and speak directly to your soul.

If Nikola made a bigger impression with their sleek Darkwave debut, we’d have concussion.

You can check out Nikola’s EP for yourselves which was released on November 13th, 2020 via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

MICLEY has made a cuttingly catchy debut with their Dark Pop single “Inside My Head”

Posted on 6 October 2020

“Inside My Head” is the alluringly dark debut single from Alt Pop artist MICLEY who utilises the raw evocativeness of artists such as MCR and Muse and pours it into a Pop production which oozes with commercial appeal.

The tender vocals verse lyrics which convincingly tell you that change is inevitable, but despair doesn’t have to be. Embrace it, ride the waves of torrid emotions and appreciate that such melancholy, apathy and grief can inspire things as beautiful as Inside My Head.

It’s catchy and cutting at the same time. More pertinently, the piercing vulnerability in the soundscape has earned MICLEY more respect than we know what to do with. Naturally, we’re obsessed with their debut, and we’re all too eager to hear what follows.

You’ll be able to check out Inside My Head from October 15th. You can pre-save the single via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast