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Music Blog for Indie Pop Fans

Vanna Pacella Haunts with Her Soul-Steeped Indie Pop Single, ‘Wolf’

Posted on 31 March 2025

With Wolf, Vanna Pacella doesn’t just revisit the time-old tale of naivety and misplaced trust—she reconstructs it through the raw magnetism of her voice and the expressive precision of her songwriting. At 18, the Cape Cod-based singer-songwriter, pianist, and self-taught producer proves that age has no bearing on the depth of emotional insight. Wolf is a soul-stirring excavation of entrapment, emotional dependency, and the slow corrosion of identity in toxic connections that confuse devotion for destruction.

Written and produced by Pacella and her Power Trio bandmates, Tom Davis and Nick Simpson, Wolf holds its weight in every detail. The swanky piano keys drop a moody noir atmosphere over the track, while Tom’s guitar injects bold, bluesy punctuation into the heartbreak. Meanwhile, Nick’s percussive pulse carries the emotional tide with stoic force. Pacella’s voice, equal parts timeless chanteuse and conduit of contemporary soul, weaves between jazz-tinted verses and gut-wrenching admissions, wielded like the most expressive instrument known to man.

The hook, penned on Halloween and later brought to life through obsessive refinement, carves out space for layered interpretations. Lines like “I built you into home” and “I can feel the bleed of time” reflect how easily love becomes confinement, while “Oh, but I am growing cold” closes the curtain with numb finality. The song’s melodic depth is only rivalled by its lyrical scope—Wolf exists as a sobering reminder of how easily we lose ourselves while chasing comfort in chaos.

Wolf is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Hayden Royal explores the pain of knowing no decision is a remedy in his Indietronic RnB release, ‘Side by Side’

Posted on 30 March 2025

Hit play on Hayden Royal’s latest single, ‘Side by Side’, and brace yourself as emotion makes a full-on collision. Like every accomplished songwriter, Royal understands that affecting expression requires moving beyond thinking in black and white; here, he skilfully navigates the grey areas of duality. The lyrical protagonist faces a familiar yet brutal paradox—the pain of leaving someone can often match the agony of staying. Decisions become unbearable when love persists despite toxic dynamics, creating a tension that Royal vividly portrays.

Instrumentally, ‘Side by Side’ is an authentic amalgamation of indietronica, pop, and RnB—delivering something you genuinely haven’t encountered elsewhere. It’s a raw yet harmoniously layered exploration of indecision and grief, anchored by moody melodies, introspective lyricism, and soul-infused harmonies. Royal boldly traverses the chaotic push and pull between vulnerability and bravado, embodying a voice which will resonate with anyone caught between resilience and emotional collapse.

With darkly atmospheric production underscoring introspective verses and haunting hooks, Royal channels both tenderness and emotional exhaustion. There’s no bitterness here—just an honest reflection from a narrator clinging desperately to fleeting moments of warmth, knowing they’re scarcely enough to hold onto. With fearless candour, ‘Side by Side’ captures the universal struggle of letting go when holding on feels equally destructive.

‘Side by Side’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Embrace Emotional Suspension with Daniel Liam Glyn’s Downtempo Dream ‘in this moment for days’

Posted on 29 March 2025

‘in this moment for days’, from Daniel Liam Glyn’s latest LP ‘WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVES’, is a slice of indie dream pop reverie that lifts the tones of retro-futurism to a plateau of pure euphonic bliss. Downtempo electronica, trip-hop, and synth-pop coalesce in distinctive flux, offering tranquillity as you’ve never experienced, yet a dreamy palette you’ll compel yourself to acquaint yourself with, time and time again.

Ethereal dream-pop vocals echo tenderness into the release, wrapping delicately around the beauty of preserving perfect moments. The single grasps these ephemeral instants tightly, praying the romance found within small details stays clear from memory’s obscurity. It’s a soundtrack to bliss in every true sense, gentle yet unshakably memorable.

Daniel Liam Glyn, a Manchester-born composer renowned for sinking synaesthesia into his compositions, channels his unique visual perception of colour and sound directly into ‘in this moment for days’. Influenced by the contemporary minimalist styles of composers like Erik Satie and Steve Reich, Glyn transforms abstract mental hues into tangible sonic landscapes. His latest album navigates themes of mental health, hazy recollections, and fleeting serenity, and nowhere is this balance clearer than in this dreamy soundscape—an invitation to pause, reflect, and remain in emotional suspension.

‘in this moment for days’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

White Picket Fences Are a Lie: Pillowprince Rewire Queer Disillusionment in ‘R the Straights OK’

Posted on 29 March 2025

With ‘R the Straights OK’, the Oakland indie gaze trio Pillowprince crack open heteronormativity with a switchblade grin and the simmering scorn of lived queer reality. What starts in alt-indie quiescence, all ethereal lilt and slowburn restraint, fractures with a scuzzy interlude that proves distortion isn’t just a sonic texture—it’s the emotional static that fuzzes over every moment spent being bent into someone else’s blueprint.

Crafted from the leather-creased, glitter-smeared spaces Pillowprince call home, the track flickers between fragility and defiant force. Olivia Lee’s vocals, feather-light but sharpened with conviction, echo through the mix like the ghost of a version of yourself you tried to edit out. As the instrumentation teases the hook with near-ritualistic patience, you’re pulled into a queer coming-of-age narrative where conformity is the real villain. The melodic breaks are more than sonic punctuation—they’re the spaces where all the unspoken things pool.

Lyrically, it’s a spicy satirical stab at the expectation to fall in line—white picket fences, 2.5 kids, dead-eyed suburbia—before it swerves back into the shadows of a different kind of fulfilment. This is queer unity under pressure. A noise-drenched consolation for anyone crushed under the weight of pretending that “normal” ever meant safe. With Sea Snyder on drums and Liza Stegall on bass locking in a rhythm section that holds its shape even as everything else implodes, the band embodies queer rebellion.

‘R the Straights OK’ is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link. 


Review by Amelia Vandergast.

OCEANS OF TEARS Delivered a Neon-Lit Lifeline with ‘LOSING MY WILL TO LIVE’

Posted on 27 March 2025

After starting with the iconic ‘snap out of it’ line by Cher in Moonstruck, which proves OCEANS OF TEARS has their finger on the pulse of the cultural zeitgeist, ‘LOSING MY WILL TO LIVE’ slides into a high-energy synthesis of 80s-spiked pop rock which serves an infectious chorus as the main sonic dish in this existential utopia.

With synth lines streaming neon lights into the production in place of a cliché rock riff, the track remains a seamless ride through synth-pop nostalgia while OCEANS OF TEARS maintains a firm grip on what brings distinctive panache to his sound.

Drawn from Steve W. Boily’s rock musical, Bullet in a Gun, ‘LOSING MY WILL TO LIVE’ confronts despair at its most unfiltered, capturing the raw agony of losing everything—love, work, pride. In a global climate weighed down by economic uncertainty, looming tariffs, and widespread job insecurity, the soul-stirring lyrics feel heartbreakingly real and strike harder than ever. Ian Hardwick’s guest vocals amplify the emotional intensity, channelling betrayal, failure, and isolation into a powerful anthem of desperation.

This is pop-rock sharpened to a neon-lit edge; honest, relentless, and emotionally charged.

‘LOSING MY WILL TO LIVE’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Francesca Pichierri’s ‘Amen’ Strikes Alt-Pop Gold with a Groove-Soaked Rebuke

Posted on 25 March 2025

Francesca Pichierri never lets sentimentality get in the way of precision. With ‘Amen’, her fifth single and a pivotal chapter in her concept album Cellule Stronze, she lays a satirical yet razor-sharp lens on cancer ghosting—the social retreat of those who disappear when illness walks into the room. Rather than wallowing in the emotional wreckage, she chooses to let irony march straight to the dancefloor.

Musically, Amen firmly implants alt into pop. Retro-futurist synth lines and swathes of synthesised bass bring the funk, summoning a sound reminiscent of Depeche Mode warped through the lens of South American disco and gospel. But it’s Pichierri’s performance that overrides the energy of the release. Her vocal lines carry a seraphic sanctity, acting as a vocal exorcism of all the shallow well-wishers and their hollow “thoughts and prayers”.

You plug into Amen—not the other way around. It strips you of autonomy with its animatronic pull, transposing darkness into an earworm of euphoria. The lyrical sting doesn’t get lost in the groove. Instead, it’s accentuated by it. Her vocal delivery pivots from soulful sincerity to smirking irony with a deftness that makes every line land harder. It’s funk with bite. Gospel with gall. Dance music with a grudge.

With Amen, Pichierri soundtracks the uncomfortable silence left by those who recoil from pain—and she sets it to a beat they can’t ignore.

Amen is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Just Xris Painted a Sun-Soaked Memory With His Acoustic Folk Pop Debut, ‘Mother Leah’

Posted on 19 March 2025

With his debut single, Mother Leah, the up-and-coming singer-songwriter Just Xris turns nostalgia into melody, offering a vignette steeped in warmth and reverence. His folksy acoustic pop signature runs parallel to the introspective musings of Cat Stevens and Paul Simon, but the heart of his sound beats entirely in its own time. Every note lands softly, yet speaks volumes, unburdened by excessive amplification.

Rooted in childhood weekends spent on a farm called Leah near Ellisras (now Lephalale), Mother Leah is a sonic love letter to the people and places that shaped him. Those early days of exploring nature, working hard, and sharing unforgettable moments with family and friends fuel the song’s reverie-rich melodies. There’s nothing but love and adoration reverberating through the single, which allows you to imagine what Elliott Smith’s discography might sound like if it were soaked in serotonin, yet not drowning out the affecting quiescent vocal inflections.

Music has been a lifelong passion for Just Xris, first sparked at age 13 when his mother gifted him her old nylon-string guitar. After spending his teenage years playing in a band, he finally took the leap into music production, leading to the release of Mother Leah on January 21, 2025. Blending folk, country, and indie influences, his succinctly sweet melodies speak volumes without excessive embellishment. Whatever he delivers next, we will want to devour it.

Mother Leah is available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Fleeting Paris’ ‘Movie Star Quality’ Stages a Reality Without a Curtain Call

Posted on 13 March 2025

Fleeting Paris may take an unconventional approach to songwriting, but even with the sonic rulebook ripped up and its ashes scattered, Movie Star Quality doesn’t sacrifice accessibility or affectability. The sticky-sweet vocals, unfeigned in their emotion, drift through the sting of unflinching staccato guitar rhythms, revealing a mastery of tension-building. There’s little rhythmic release in the track, and that’s exactly where its ingenuity lies—it subverts expectation, bypassing the cliché of a soaring chorus to stay true to reality, where we wait for breaks that never come.

Lyrically, the track dissects the Hollywood-glamorised human experience, exposing the diminishment of those who don’t don the façade, even as we acknowledge that our idols have long shed their autonomy. This lyrical meditation becomes even more immersive through Fleeting Paris’ Paul Simon-esque vocal lines, which know exactly how to lock emotion into melody.

The rejection of conventional song structure only strengthens the track’s impact. Instead of offering the instant gratification of predictability, Movie Star Quality forces listeners to sit in the discomfort of unresolved tension. It’s a soundtrack to disillusionment, but one that never alienates—because beneath the abstraction, there’s a raw sincerity that makes every note resonate.

Movie Star Quality is available now on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

JNDJ Spun Reflections of Liberation into a Riff-Charged Pop Rock Anthem with ‘Mirrors’

Posted on 12 March 2025

JNDJ’s latest single Mirrors throws open the windows to let the light in while ripping through the airwaves with an unmistakable alt-90s edge. The track eases in with a dreamy jangle pop melody before slamming into full riff-charged momentum, intensifying the (literally and figuratively) reflective lyricism. The mix of heavy rock energy and Latin pop spirit adds an anthemic, emotionally raw quality, making every note hit with intention.

With its emancipating, bolstered with lyrical gold, Mirrors is the ultimate pick-me-up, freeing listeners from the toxic ties of negative perception. The bilingual vocals carve another layer into the liberating single, reinforcing its message of resilience and clarity.

For Julissa and Jesse Girardi, music has been a lifelong pursuit—one that led them through the highs of industry success before disillusionment pushed them to seek deeper meaning. After rediscovering their purpose, JNDJ returned with a sound that leans into their ability to create music that resonates far beyond surface-level appeal. Mirrors proves that when they step up to the mic, they ignite something transformative.

If JNDJ had risen alongside Garbage, Texas, and The Cranberries, they’d already be in the same breath of recognition. If you’re looking for a band that knows how to pull you from the depths and shake you back to life, this is the one to follow.

Stream the official video for Mirrors on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ginger Winn Drops the Temperature with ‘Freezing’—A Hypersonic Alt-Rock Storm

Posted on 11 March 2025

Feel the temperature drop with the arcane etherealism oscillating through Freezing, the latest single from Ginger Winn, which was officially released on March 7th. The cinematically shot music video exhibits the NY-residing alt-rock visionary as a creative powerhouse, and the track itself unfolds with superlative emotive tension around pop-pinched vocal lines that toy with pop-punk nuances while lending a sense of maturity to her harmonies rarely found within the genre.

As the single progresses, the momentum seamlessly shifts, pulling you into a tumultuous vignette of bittersweet longing, exposing how carelessly we can be left out in the cold by the connections we cherish most. The hypersonic intensity of the catharsis-laden crescendo compels you to dive back in and take the ride once more. As the first release from her upcoming album Freeze Frame, Freezing sets the stage for a darker, more expansive alt-rock sound, reinforcing why Winn is fast becoming one of New York’s most promising up-and-coming artists.

It isn’t every day you encounter an artist whose sonic signature is as unique as it is exhilarating; it’s only a matter of time before Ginger Winn is revered as the alt-rock supreme she definitively is.

Stream the official music video for Freezing on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast