Browsing Tag

Alt Indie 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

Glitchy art rock meets alt urban pop in Jacobi.e’s latest single, Rcv

Since his 2020 debut, experimentalism has been at the forefront of Jacobi.e’s alt bedroom pop sound. With his aptly dark, melodically off-kilter and tumultuously glitchy first single of 2022, Rcv, the Jamaican American artist and producer, currently residing in LA, fused his rock background with contemporary flavours of the originators, Dominic Fike, Kanye and Yeek.

While some artists manage to make exploring alternative sounds a contrived act of pretension, Jacobi.e instantly affirms that the alchemy came organically through his affinity for a plethora of genres. Pulling all of the contrasting textures together, his vocals are a sticky-sweet vocal point in the wavy track that stands as a testament to his flair as a producer that continues to amass gravitas.

RCV is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Melancholy Goes Pop in Castle KYD’s Alt-Indie Single Melatonin

After leaving us infatuated with the brevity in “The Mess You Leave Behind”, the Rexburg, Idaho alt-indie artist, Castle KYD, has rekindled our penchant for his artfully affectionate sonic signature with his latest release, Melatonin.

Melatonin may have started as a proclamation against people who push you towards progress that you’re not ready for do more harm than good. But the jangly up-vibe single easily carries Castle KYD’s innocently defiant soul in the nuances of shoegaze and no-wave indie.

Castle KYD is by far one of the most promising artists on our radar. His artful inclination that reads in his sonic textures is one thing, his un-bittered sense of enlightened and reflective soul is another thing entirely. Melancholic indie-pop has scarcely been more infectious. Which goes a fair way in explaining how the independent artist has amassed over 54,000 streams since making his debut with ‘Menagerie’ in 2021.

Here’s what Castle KYD had to say on his latest release

“Most of the growth I’ve had happened when I just let the hurt flow through and let time do its healing.
I chose Melatonin for the title and overarching metaphor because it’s much like the hormone, or when you take melatonin pills. For me, I don’t want to move until it’s out of my system after I wake up, I usually wait, but it doesn’t help when I feel rushed, that’s how the concept for the song.”

Melatonin will officially release on April 8th, 2022. You can check it out for yourselves on SoundCloud or Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Pick up Burlington’s latest alt-indie-pop hit, Summer’s Calling

We convince ourselves that we are complex creatures, but really, we’re not that much more complicated than leaves for the way we thrive in the sun and when we’re sucked into sun-soaked hits, such as the latest single from Burlington, Summer’s Calling.

The alt-indie pop earworm exudes those hazy sweet summer feel-good vibes through the soulfully imploring vocals atop the jangly, angular indie-pop melodies that are just as sweet as the euphoric hooks Marr has crafted in his decorated career.

The sense of soul and the musicality is one thing. The massive production, which comes through Burlington’s experience as a house producer, is another thing entirely. Mumford & Sons, eat your heart out.

You can soak up the rays for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

OneNamedPeter explores the pleasure-pain connection in his artful cosmic pop single, Hurts

Ahead of the release of his fifth 100% DIY album, Hurts, the alt-indie British singer-songwriter, OneNamedPeter, has given us a teaser by letting us taste the cosmic pop textures in the bitter-sweet title single.

If you took Prince’s solos, Elliott Smith’s raw songwriting style, the dreamy chamber pop style of Daughter, the spacey gravity of Bowie and threw them into an aural cocktail with orchestral motifs to boot, it would pour just like the intoxicating soundscape, Hurts.

Nothing about the high-fidelity production feels less than professional. OneNamedPeter knows just how to conjure enough alchemy to wrap around his lyricism that explores the pleasure and pain connection.

Hurts is one of those tragically rare releases that you immediately know you’ll want to dive into time and time again. We’re stoked to hear how the LP ensues after the title-single set such a blissful and accordant tone.

Hurts will officially release on March 4th, 2022. You can check it out for yourselves by heading over to SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Zofia Alaya dropped the temperature in her latest alt-indie single, COLD

London’s ethereal alt-indie-rock songstress, Zofia Alaya, is set to drop the temperature with her latest single, COLD, which paints with chillier tonal textures to reflect the cold nature of the human experience.

It is one of the hardest life lessons to realise how cold, calculated, self-involved and downright narcissistic a significant proportion of humanity truly is. For anyone that is already schooled in that regard, COLD is a stunning reminder that, even if that behaviour is prolific, it’s still fundamentally wrong.

The deeply compassionate single has all the experimentalism of The Mars Volta paired with Zofia Alaya’s vulnerably moody vocal timbre. It is nothing short of arrestive – especially in the presence of the poppy hooks that make an addictive earworm out of COLD.

COLD will officially release across all major platforms from March 4th, 2022.

Check out Zofia Alaya via Facebook, Instagram and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Get your feel-good fix with BG Scott’s sticky-sweet alt-indie pop single, Don’t You Say.

US alt-indie artist, BG Scott, has deservedly garnered plenty of hype with his honeyed experimental music which pushes the envelope into unchartered aural territory. His debut EP, Leap of Faith, is a soul-soaked triumph – especially on the basis of the bright and wavy lead single, Don’t You Say. The lo-fi track is almost paradoxical for its radio-ready resonance; the sticky-sweet sensibility evokes emotion while the entrancing grooves feed the dopamine.

The 20-year-old Virginia-hailing artist has already racked up over 59,000 streams on Spotify alone with Don’t You Say which merges trap pop energy with lo-fi indie style. Considering that he is still at the outset of his career and his tracks are already this entrancing and evocatively appealing, his future is set to be as auspicious as his sound.

Don’t You Say is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

.Wav Rider shares affectional agitation with Step Away, featuring Nikki Silva

To make sure that the listener’s heartstrings are well and truly tugged, alt-indie rock artist .Wav Rider’s latest acoustic single, Step Away, unravels as a heart-wrenching duet featuring vocals from Nikki Silva.

Step Away captures that fraught moment when the realisation that a situation is no longer healthy hits. Despite his sweet and affable indie pop-rock vocals, you feel every ounce of affectional agitation.

When Nikki Silva’s come into the choral and sun-bleached soundscape, the narrative becomes multifaceted, serving as a stark reminder that no matter how much time you spend with someone, or how well you know someone, there are some things that you will never see eye to eye on, mostly because you stop looking and want to turn away completely.

Any fans of Frank Turner, AJJ, Neck Deep and All Time Low won’t want to sleep on this release.

Step Away is now available to stream on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Srujanika shines a light on the darkest nights with her indie single, ‘Rise’.

For her latest single, ‘Rise’, which has now been accompanied by a music video shot by Guillaume, up and coming singer-songwriter Srujanika teamed up with producer MILIAH to orchestrate an intricate, intimate feat of indie-pop that doesn’t just lyrically scratch at the surface. It cuts right down to the marrow.

Sometimes, all that is needed is the reminder that no matter how alone you feel on the darkest nights, you’re not alone in your dark transition periods before the light starts to breakthrough. The deeply spiritual release pulls in nuances of shoegaze and dream pop to give the single a sense of fragility; through Srujanika’s vocals, you’ll find comfort along with the inspiration to find the same resilient strength.

Even if you listened to the radio all day, you wouldn’t hear a more compassionate and consoling voice.

You can check out the official video to Rise that premiered on May 15th by heading over to YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Danny Ritz – Window: The Most Relatable Love Song You Will Ever Hear.

Alt indie artist Danny Ritz has followed on from his debut EP with his latest artfully lo-fi single, Window. If you’re irresistible to the charms of bedroom pop, you’ll quickly succumb to the enamouring tones of psych-pop, synthpop and art-rock.

While most lyricists do their best to maintain a pretence of sanity in their songs, Danny Ritz threw his sanity by the wayside to channel organically manic, relatable emotions into Window. Any fans of John Grant, Spector and the Lathums will want to experience it for themselves.

With the macabrely inventive lyrical lines such as ‘you left my heart circumcised’, you can’t help but engage with the single. The intrigue is all too intense as you listen to Window unfold through the playfully polyphonic, unapologetically authentic progressions.

Window is now available to stream via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast