Browsing Tag

UK Indie Pop

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

TALK IN CODE injected modernism into the euphonic aura of the 80s with their indie synthpop hit, Something of Nothing

Posted on 2 March 2024

TALK IN CODE’s latest single, Something of Nothing, is effortless to translate. The Swindon-based fourpiece injected modernism into the euphonic aura of the 80s to deliver a perennial pop earworm that will hook you into its core as it laments on people who can’t fight the compulsion to clamour over drama.

As the nostalgically retro synths cascade around the angular indie jangle-pop guitars, the vocals that flow with the new wave of pop pull you deeper into the anthemics of the rhythmically bolstered track that moves beyond stylistic influence.

If you’re sick of wading through the landfill of contemporary indie pop that now monolithically towers over what we had to contend with in the 90s, the cultivation of Something of Nothing will allow you to remember how it feels to get truly excited by a new outfit – you won’t be alone. TALK IN CODE has garnered swathes of critical acclaim from BBC Introducing, Q Music and Amazing Radio to supplement the fervour from their loyal fanbase.

After gracing over 500 playlists and racking up 300k streams across streaming platforms, indie ensembles don’t come much more promising than TALK IN CODE. If you got caught up in The 1975 hype, find a new obsession by hitting play on Something of Nothing.

Something of Nothing will be available to stream on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify, from March 1st.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Lemonade Sin tore away fakery with their 1970s glam atom bomb of nostalgia, Glad Game

Posted on 2 October 2023
Glad Game by Lemonade Sin

The UK indie-pop duo Lemonade Sin dropped a nostalgic 1970s glam atom bomb with their latest single, Glad Game. With jangled guitars and retro synth lines that are equally as sticky-sweet in their exuberantly euphonic energy, the duo, comprising Lee Friese Greene and Simon Aldous, surpassed their influences to orchestrate an infectiously enlivening feat of pure ingenuity which echoes the inexorable legacies of Belle and Sebastian, Pulp and Stereolab.

The layering of the harmonically honed boy/girl vocals draws you right into the centre of the protest on the people standing at the vanguard of the toxic positivity movement, who repress real emotions with fake plastic smile facades and shame those who are authentic in their candour.

The single was recorded and mixed at Penquit Mill Studio with Lucy and Matt Board (Pale Blue Eyes), who also contributed the keys to the release, which also features Jennifer Denitto on drums and Charlotte Beale on bass.

Glad Game was officially released on September 22; it is now available to stream and purchase on Bandcamp.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mayshe-Mayshe sung an ethereal art-pop lullaby in her latest bedroom pop single, Indigo

Posted on 2 November 2022

Ahead of the launch of her sophomore album, the Yorkshire bedroom pop artist and producer, Mayshe-Mayshe (Alice Rowan), has painted the airwaves in ‘Indigo’.

With a sense of spirituality in her artfully hushed choral vocals as they meet the dreamy art-pop melodies weaved on vintage synths and the skittish yet absorbingly organic percussion, the ethereal allure of Indigo shouldn’t be underestimated. Lyrically, Indigo inspires the listener into embracing the uncertainties of life and reminds them that there is always another side to exhaustion and ennui.

Indigo may be technically lo-fi, but Mayshe-Mayshe created a feat of indie dream pop that could easily rival Warpaint, Beach House and Deer Hunter. It comes as no surprise that many of her fans return to her anxiety-quashing sound time after time.

Mayshe-Mayshe’s album, Indigo, will release across all major streaming platforms on November the 11th. Indigo, the single, is now available to stream on Spotify and YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

 

Love persists in Matilda Pratt’s tender indie pop love letter, Dear You

Posted on 14 October 2022

Swift fans will want to flock around the latest single, Dear You, to come from the 20-year-old indie pop songstress, Matilda Pratt, who studies law at Oxford University by day and lights up the airwaves by night with her classic yet quirky pop vocal dynamism. The vocal layering is nothing but a work of art in Dear You, which act as an open love letter to a departed and distant lover.

While the lyrics are straight-up bubble gum pop, Pratt’s husky harmonics bring them alive with a sense of old soul over the simple sporadically rugged folk-pop acoustic guitar progressions. How Pratt is still an unknown artist is utterly beyond me. Her vocal talent is as matchless as her capacity to draw you into a compelling narrative.

Dear You will officially release on September 30th. Check it out on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Soup and Cigarettes sweetened the sound of summer in their single, ‘Flower Dress’.

Posted on 19 August 2022

Here to make sure that 80s indie pop retains modernity is the Bristol, UK four-piece, Soup and Cigarettes, with their new album, UK DUTY PAID. The standout single, Flower Dress, makes a melodic indie ode to summer with its jangly kaleidoscopically colourful guitars, dreamy vocals, and sticky-sweet synths.

1987 had Sally Cinnamon; in 2022, we have Flower Dress, which effervesces around the lust for amorous life that magnifies in the heat of the summer. Fans of the 1975, PEACE and Jaws will also want to consider Soup and Cigarettes as a playlist staple band.

Check out UK DUTY PAID, which was officially released on August 19th here.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Partisan Way deliver polyphonic indie-pop bliss in ‘Borrow Me’.

Posted on 15 October 2021

Partisan Way started as a remote indie-pop lockdown project in 2020; on the basis of their debut album, Show Don’t Tell, we hope the UK-based outfit set its sights on plenty more than conquering more than just the digital realm.

The sweetest earworm on the album is the first single, Borrow Me. If you poured some sugar on The Vaccines, the sticky-sweet result wouldn’t be all too far away from the uplifting piano-led melodies and the even more vibrant synth lines.

While they call it like it is in the kind of toxic relationship dynamics that you can’t get enough of through the scathingly sharp-witted lyrics, the vibrant progressions successfully capture the haze that affection can leave you in.

I don’t make Mansun comparisons lightly, but Borrow Me hit the evocative spot just as well as I Can Only Disappoint You.

Borrow Me is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

AMOSA has released her ethereally dark electronic pop debut, ‘WALKAWAY’.

Posted on 19 June 2021

Oxford, UK-based singer-songwriter AMOSA has released her debut indie-pop single, WALKAWAY, which runs in the same moody vein as Billie Eilish and King Princess.

The stylishly arranged single flows through downtempo, reflective synth-led grooves in the captivating soundscape that delivers an ethereal atmosphere, direct lyricism, and swathes of emotion that captures the vulnerability in the admission that you want someone to stay who has already started to walk away.

It’s a stunning extension of compassion to anyone who has ever experienced holding onto toxic people, knowing that they’re bad, but feeling the physical addiction all the same.

At the age of 21, AMOSA is already proving that she’s got the contemporary sound and the matured talent to climb the indie-pop charts. We’re stoked to watch her ascent.

WALKAWAY is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast