Browsing Tag

US Pop

Fair Verona roll their cigarettes with ‘Starlight’ in their latest evocative alt indie pop single.

‘Starlight’ is the latest sorrowfully ornate single from the Charlottesville, Virginia-hailing up-and-coming alt-pop duo, Fair Verona. In a sea of Phoebe Bridgers, Angel Olsen, Daughter and Lorde assimilators, Fair Verona gracefully went against the tide in their raw candour led soundscape.

While the lyrics bite into your sense of empathy, delicate piano keys and the twilight textures envelop you in their efficacious ethereal catharsis. It is impossible not to take on the emotional weight of the single. Unless you are a complete sociopath, in which case, I pity your immunity to the lush spacey blows hammered home by Mickey Vaughan’s evocatively glistening vocal timbre.

Check out the alternative mix of Starlight by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Gemïny delivered a vindicating high in his soul-pop debut Too Close

Don’t look to your icons for the hottest soul-pop drop of the year. Find a new one by hitting play on the debut single, Too Close, from the artist and mental health advocate, Gemïny.

I don’t know what I love more, the juicy efficacious hooks up against the stridently raucous energy of rock or the Columbia-based artist’s lyrical vulnerability and intellect. Too Close isn’t just one hell of a debut. It’s a public service announcement to those confined in toxic dynamics wrapped up in an earworm that demands repeat attention.

After experiencing the crazy-making fallout of a toxic relationship that had an appetite for boundless destruction, Gemïny stepped up to the plate to speak for everyone carrying trauma from past relationships and those still confined within the malevolent grips of one. It’s enough to change your perception of Crazy in Love for life.

The inspiration for the track may be heavy; with the poetic wordplay, the nuance in Gemïny’s narrative, the Usher-Esque vocals and the seductively lush production, few singles will leave you on a better vindicating high.

In his own words,

“Too Close is a song that places you in a climactic chapter of a toxic love story, where limits are pushed past desperately failing actions, and everything spins out of control. It is a reflection on my role, a separation from the damage done, and an acceptance of how my actions played into the traumas placed on me.

My biggest goal is to resonate with those in a darker place and show them that there is life beyond that darkness. Not saying you have to put on a smile like Batman, but there is still light out there, and I’m trying to bring that out, despite everything.”

After garnering over 20k streams on Spotify alone with his debut, the humbly prodigal artist is definitively one to watch. Especially with the release of his sophomore single, Avalanche, in the pipeline.

Too Close is now available to stream on Spotify & SoundCloud.

Follow Gemïny via Facebook and Instagram

Shayla Hamady – LMWYC V2 featuring KnovaT27: horror trap pop has never been hotter

With a music video that could rival American Horror Story and the way that Shayla Hamady entwines horror with moody trap melody, her latest release, LMWYC V2, featuring KnovaT27, is a work of scintillating multi-media art.

The sultry timbre of her dark pop vocals brings a transfixing edge to the track that gets even sharper when KnovaT27 brings his cutting rap bars to break up the accordance that lingers after Shayla Hamady’s ultra-vivid lyricism, which plays with dark themes and romanticism. We didn’t need the Detroit born and raised artist’s bio to tell us that she’s inspired by Eilish. Yet, Hamady still came into her authentic own in LMWYC which stands as a testament to her commitment to expressive art.

The official music video for LMWYC is available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Demure dream-pop royalty, speakeazie has released her debut album, Prohibition Hippie

The Minneapolis-based alt dream-pop artist that is never short of mesmeric material, speakeazie, has released her highly anticipated debut album, Prohibition Hippie, featuring the standout single, Disintegrate, which spins an engrossing narrative tale of a young girl losing control. Anyone that has ever felt their mask of sanity slip will undoubtedly want to delve into this compassionately orchestrated single.

Disintegrate shares a tonal palette with Echo and the Bunnymen’s earlier material. But with the instrumentals distorted via the wobbly tape delay effect, the bedroom pop single takes an authentically demure form.

speakeazie’s vocals parallel the evocative power of Florence Welch while keeping in line with the contemporary moody indie-pop vocal trend. By that we mean they are alchemic leagues ahead. Also written into Disintegrate’s mix is speakeazie’s influence of dreamy retro aesthetics and the 1920s. It is inarguably one of the most distinctive releases that we have heard so far this year.

speakeazie’s debut album is now available to stream on Spotify. Or you can check out the video on YouTube. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Alternative singer-songwriter Laura Lang shares artful introspection in her debut single, Lithium

Tennessee-based independent singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, Laura Lang is fresh from the release of her debut single, Lithium. With a voice as arresting as Angel Olsen and Phoebe Bridgers and the artful baroque nuances, you can’t help getting caught up in the captivating chord structures paired with the pop-inspired melodies.

After a melancholy bleeding intro, Lithium shifts into a testament of Lang’s introspective intellect, creative imagination and ability to create an ethereally captivating soundscape from the unravelling of her emotions.

With her debut album, All Downhill from There, which promises to echo suffering, beauty and nature due for release in January 2022, saving space on your radar for Laura Lang will undoubtedly pay off. Her debut single, Lithium, is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sandra Grace has dropped her latest hyper-pop hit, Got 2B Famous.

Sandra Grace

‘Got 2B Famous’ is the latest flawless hyper pop track by the breaking artist Sandra Grace; the low growling bass guitar rumbles against the light, euphoria-instilled beats create the perfect platform for Grace’s effortlessly emotive vocals that pull you in from the very first vocal note.

With her arrestingly unique style, any and all pop icon reminiscence is fleeting. The Ukrainian-born, US-based singer-songwriter has been writing songs for a form of catharsis since the age of 13; discernibly, she had perfected the pop formula by the time she made her debut with her single, Hotel, in 2019.

Got 2B Famous will be available on all major platforms from November 5th. Check out Sandra Grace on her official website, Instagram and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zeke Smyth – Secrets, featuring Lando Strand; tropic urban pop perfection.

Cleveland, Ohio aural experimentalist, Zeke Smyth, pulls his inspiration from a diverse pool of pop, rock, hip hop and soul; he doesn’t break boundaries; he refuses to acknowledge their existence when orchestrating his pop-rap hits.

His latest single, Secrets, featuring Lando Strand, is tropic pop perfection. The catchy vocal melodies never allow your attention to falter while the sticky with soul track unfolds. Vibes don’t get much higher than Secrets which explores verbal intimacy through sentimental lyrics and up-vibe tranquil 808s that will leave you hooked on Zeke’s sound.

Secrets is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Queer RnB pop trailblazer CovNasty has released his most candid single to date with ‘Indecisive’.

The active-duty LGBT US Marine and trailblazing RnB pop artist and producer, CovNasty, has dropped his latest feat of brazenly honest soul, Indecisive, which explores the indecision that plagues us before inevitable endings.

CovNasty finds an affectionate and impassioned way to prove that doubt can hurt just as much as the separation that follows in the up-vibe sleek track that puts emotion at the forefront. Around the harsh snares, the intricate guitar notes bring an intoxicating accordance amount of soul to the mix that delivers emboldening urban poetry.

It comes as no surprise that so many pop fans have found infatuation with his songwriting style that constantly pushes past the superficial to deliver real talk.

Indecisive is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Stef Amadeus – Can’t Stop: Bitter-Sweet Dark Soul-Pop

Moody soul-pop may sound like a paradox, but that is exactly what up and coming artist Stef Amadeus served in her latest single, Can’t Stop, which blends contemporary dark electro-pop stylings with her imploringly powerful vocal timbre.

When she effortlessly stretches to the high notes, her harmonies carry the arresting appeal of Kate Bush; through the verses, she’ll treat you to a far more vocally vulnerable performance that breathes life into the all too relatable vocals. Can’t Stop is sure to resonate with anyone who finds themselves harbouring an avoidant personality through lines such as ‘you will never break my heart if I never even let you through, I can’t stop avoiding you’.

Amadeus’ talent is only matched by her emotional intellect that raised the airwaves’ collective IQ with the release of Can’t Stop.

The official music for Can’t Stop is now available to stream via YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cheery takes us to school with her vulnerable ‘bummer pop’ debut single, ‘Concept of Love’

Any fans of Anna Calvi, Nadine Shah and St Vincent will want to delve into the evocatively avant-garde debut single, Concept of Love, from ‘bummer pop’ artist, Cheery.

The Kansas-based artist mixed spiritual earthy tones with chilling noir pop electronica for her imploringly dynamic vocal timbre to fall into. You’d seriously be hard-pressed to find more gravitas in another 2021 indie debut. The vulnerability in the vocals and the alchemy in the instrumentals prove to be a potent cocktail that resulted in mainstream potential.

Concept of Love is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast