Trying to predict Ami Leigh’s next move is as futile as mapping out a dreamscape; the County Durham-based singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist’s perpetually fluid sonic signature is always in flux. Her latest single, You Give Me Such a Feeling, captures the chameleonic songstress at her most unflinchingly amorous.
While her discography may already be an arsenal of hits that play with light and shade, with some tracks that linger in the darkness before locking into the warmth of heartfelt sentiment, You Give Me Such a Feeling swims in ethereal dream pop bliss, leaving you under no illusion of the sincerity of the release.
The Cure’s influence echoes in the opening guitar lines, before the lush with 80s synth-pop nostalgia melodies ebb and flow beneath Ami Leigh’s tender-to-the-heartstrings harmonies. As soon as you slip into the serene escapism of You Give Me Such a Feeling, it will be hard to know where your emotions end and Ami Leigh’s start.
Instead of relying on the British weather to bring sun-soaked serotonin, make this single a playlist staple and get your fill of iridescent euphoria.
You Give Me Such a Feeling was officially released on June 14; stream the single on Spotify and YouTube.
Brooklyn—based singer-songwriter, Fading Out (Evan Bieber) has launched the latest single, So Awkward, from his forthcoming debut EP, Maybe I Thought About You Once, and shared the ultimate indie anthem for the socially awkward.
With his upbeat approach to broaching cringeworthy moments, it is enough to instil you with a newfound sense of humility. The single, inspired by those everyday moments that compel you to run the second a micro faux pas slips out, is just a fraction of the introspective gold forged in his upcoming LP.
With a sonic palette that would complement any playlists featuring Peace, Swim Deep, Viola Beach and Jaws, So Embarrassing would be on the cusp of contemporary trends if it didn’t transcend them with the extra vigour in the angular jangle-pop guitars, which any indie rock fan will register as next level. Fading out even gives Marr & Robert Smith a run for their money with the intricately melodic gravitas in this colourful earworm that will stick to your synapses like superglue from the first hit.
So Embarrassing will officially release on October 17th. Check it out on SoundCloud.
Fusing the iconic guitars of Robert Smith with the signatory filthy production style of Trent Reznor, Strays of the World’s latest single, Hellois a stunningly dark convergence of alt-electronica, post-punk, and a little bit of soul-pop flavour through the Prince-esque vocals.
Once again, we definitively see that romanticism tinged with a touch of gothic inclination is a hypnotic sonic elixir, especially under the duress of Strays of the World with his affable vagabond soul. The LA-based artist easily conjured one of the most distinctive contortions of alt-electronica we’ve heard in recent years. It threw us right back to the collaboration between Bowie & Reznor while showing us the future of dark electro.
It is a bitter-sweet time for post-punk with most modern outfits becoming a parody of the pioneers by fixating on assimilating sonic texture over bringing the same substance that made us fall in love with the genre in the first place. Palais Ideal, consisting of John Edwards and Richard van Kruysdijk, who have previously collaborated with members of Wire, Bauhaus, Christian Death, Coil, Legendary Pink Dots and Swans, are the refreshingly existential antithesis.
The Netherlands-hailing duo’s seminal 2021 album, Negative Space, is an existential howl into the void where the façade of common sense, decency, and dignity existed. Every high-octane hook that draws you deeper into this manifesto of an LP resonates as an act of resistance.
With its Kessler-Esque guitars cutting through the caustic overflow of the vintage synths, the harbinger of an opening single, The Overseer, makes a meal out of your rhythmic pulses as the lyrics and vocals affirm that not every sane mind has been cowed into radio silence.
Results is a riotously electric post-punk indie earworm with enough anthemic power to minuscule the production on your dust scattered records paired with an intuitive mix of light and dark aural ephemera, the kind of balance that allowed the Smiths to reign indie supreme. Metaphorically, this maturation of the Sweet and Tender Hooligan has picked up plenty of vitriol since he declared that in the midst of life, we are in death, and rightly so. There is no abyss deep enough to absolve the sins committed through our collective lack of self-awareness.
With a Richey Edwards-style lyrical opener, “self-obsessed is so indulgent, why live in oblivion?”, Reject the Anaesthetic instantly became a paradoxically enlivening highlight. In contradiction to the demands of the title, the even-kilter guitars, melodic basslines and percussion that is tighter than the government’s welfare budget start to deliver the psych-tinged soporific aural medicine to prove just how easy it is to pacify people into suggestibility.
The Voice of Reason is so beautifully just that. Just when you think you have Palais Ideal pegged, the compassion starts to pour, coming from a well of unequivocal understanding for ultimate sucker-punching consolation.
Anything for a Thrill is a frenetic continuation of Reject the Anaesthetic, which strips the glamour right off the back of the libertine. It is gorgeously bold in its unapologeticness when holding people accountable for chasing highs after their dreams have disintegrated around their own self-destruction.
Concluding with the moody industrial post-punk Posthuman cry, Age of Intransigence, Negative Space fades to a final close and leaves you wondering how you are going to contribute to society beyond passivity, ego, insecurity and pedestrianism (on a good day). If Palais Ideal started a cult, I’d be the first in line with goat blood on my hands.
Staying true to their moniker, Dead Writers delivered poetry that scarcely feels of this century in their latest single, Among Spirits. If Oscar Wilde himself resurrected to write post-punk lyrics, they wouldn’t be as up to scratch as the arresting lexicon in this cutting track.
Right from the intro, the cavernous guitar notes hook you into the emotionally layered single that alchemically fuses melancholy with defiant bursts of energy that emulates the kind of euphoria that only those who have fought for it can truly understand.
When the chorus hits, Dead Writers prove that they have the rare ability to make morosity anthemic, and things get even sweeter in the instrumental interlude. Against the bitter-sweet piano melody, the guitars start to blazon the track with virtuosic rock n roll licks that feed Manic Street Preachers-Esque nuances into the mix.
Paradoxically, the vocals contain their suave indie-rock poise throughout the switch-ups between the evocative dark timbre that will be a hit with any fans of the Cure and the strident rock vocals that could easily fill a stadium. By all accounts, the London-based debonair powerhouse delivered an instant post-punk classic with Among Spirits.
The official video will premiere on October 29th; you can check it out for yourselves via YouTube.
Escape the 21st-century and slip into the sepia-tinged tones in Detroit-based alt-indie rock luminaries’, ATMIG’s, latest release ‘Ah Hah’ which chorally attacks the nature of consumerism and unfolds as the indie alt-folk equivalent of John Carpenter’s ‘They Live’.
Any fans of Amanda Palmer, Neutral Milk Hotel, The Smiths, The Cure and Echo and the Bunnymen will undoubtedly want to delve to cigarette smoke-stained indulgent single which spills alchemy through the infusion of shoegaze, rockabilly, indie rock and traditional folk.
If Ah Hah was any more absolving, I’m pretty sure I’d be antimatter right now.
Ah Hah was released on December 31st, you can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.
US singer-songwriter JimmyJimmy released their latest single ‘With You Soon’ on November 24th, hit play, and you’ll appreciate Marr-Esque jangly upraising Indie intricate guitar licks which will lift you just as high as This Charming Man used to before Morrissey decided to make himself public enemy no.1.
The 80s New Wave Indie sound may radiate in With You Soon, but there are also rhythmic hints of Americana which make choruses as infectious as the reason we’ve all been deflated during 2020.
It’s no stretch to say that With You Soon is easily one of the most enrapturing Pop Rock singles we’ve heard this year. For your sanity’s sake, get him on your radar.
You can check out With You Soon for yourselves by heading over to YouTube.
Any fans of The Cure won’t want to hang around with the latest release “Dreamed Bliss” by up and coming Alt Rock artist Pictura. They may be relatively fresh from their inception, but they’ve already achieved what many artists spend decades failing to do by coming up with an alluringly gripping sound that would be possible to find elsewhere.
Dreamed Bliss sweeps across the tonal palette, mixing light energetic effervescence with sludgy low tones to keep you grounded as you listen to the visceral vocals bleeding into the mix.
The complexity in the deftly orchestrated accordance practically makes Dreamed Bliss a dreamscape. Contemporary Shoegaze with kicks of Post-Punk doesn’t come much more mesmeric than this. They will have plenty more to drop throughout 2020. Get them on your radar.
You can check out the official video to Dreamed Bliss which dropped on August 25th for yourselves via YouTube.
“Better This Way” is the mesmerising debut single from Indie artist All in the Nothing. Hit play and prepare for a flood of synthy 80s nostalgia complete with a smorgasbord of contemporary appeal.
You’ll find nuances of The Cure, Bowie and The Midnight, but in its essence, Better This Way is an organically expressive single which is all too easy to slip into and appreciate the ingenuity alongside the visceral undiluted romanticism. It’s laden with lovelorn melancholy, but it won’t fail to hit the evocative spot and leave your soul suitably appeased.
We’re already stoked to hear what’s in the pipeline from All in the Nothing, We’d suggest you get them on your radar too.
Fans of 80s Post Punk will definitely want to greet the chilling atmospheric synths and analogue guitars featured in Mercury Teardrop’s debut album Apparitions of a Dying Moon.
While each of the soundscapes is a finely orchestrated intricately textured feat of escapism, the best introduction to Mercury Teardrop’s sound is undoubtedly the fourth single, “Everlight”.
With tones which tear through you and the absorbingly unpredictable progressions in the extended-length track, listening to Everlight is a full-body experience. After hearing the album at home, I now have a visceral need for Mercury Teardrops’ walls of deftly crafted noise to hit me live.
Mercury didn’t just pay homage to bands such as Joy Division, the Cure, Depeche Mode and Talk Talk with their debut. He reinvented perpetually cutting energy of Post Punk whilst also weaving their love for Ambient Electronica into the sonically blissful mix.
All songs written, performed and produced by Bradley Roger Baum.
You can stream Everlight along with the rest of Mercury Teardrop’s debut album which was released on June 6th via Spotify.
Connect with the artist and stay up to date with future releases via Instagram.
