Browsing Tag

Alt Indie

Have a very chamber pop Christmas with Beware of Trains’ melancholy score, Forever Home

Posted on 24 November 2023

Beware of Trains stepped out of an anachronistic music box and onto the airwaves to share the histrionically ornate single, Forever Home, which carries all the glamour of the West End and all the alternative allure of the Legendary Pink Dots and Jason Webley.

The chamber pop orchestration unravels as a snow-capped fairy tale of a festive single; the all-bells and no whistles production takes the ordinary Christmas single and enchants it to the nth degree.

The origin of the single stems back to 2019 when Beware of Trains performed ‘A Kitmas Concert’ at Bradford Cathedral with members of Opera North to raise funds for Allerton Cat Rescue. Inspired by the charity’s slogan, ‘Helping cats and kittens find their furever home’, songwriter, Leighton Jones wanted to explore the sense of longing and belonging conjured by the phrase. If there’s any time of the year when the need to belong reaches its wistful peak, it is the festive holidays. If you can relate, prepare for the scintillating resonance and grab a few tissues. It hits harder than the end of Raymond Brigg’s symphonic poem, the Snowman.

In their own words:

“Forever Home is a symphonic festive tale that transports us into a snow globe and whisks us away through snowy Yorkshire fields and skies, revelling in the nostalgic sense of homecoming the festive season brings. But the song is also tinged with bittersweet melancholy, reflecting on the passing years and sadness of saying goodbye to the people and places we love and hold dear.”

Forever Home was officially released on November 24th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

archie razed the airwaves with his latest augmented with attitude and style alt-indie hit, Mayalyn

Posted on 20 November 2023

With a voice which resonates with over 155k monthly listeners on Spotify and the confidence to create under the mononym archie, knowing that the name will become synonymous with his anthemic new wave indie aesthetic, it is no surprise to see that the 19-year-old singer-songwriter has hit razed the airwaves with his latest augmented with attitude and style single, Mayalyn.

With a vice-like grip which hits all the provocative and evocative marks, the track that starts with a saturated in delay jangly indie pop instrumental arrangement beneath his raspy croons, reminiscent of the 1975, evolves into a fiery feat of overdriven and modernised rock. With a seemingly infinite sequence of twists and turns, every progression is a revelation with Mayalyn. A revelation which paints its orchestrator as one of the most essential artists in 2023.

The classically trained Scottish singer-songwriter may only be getting started but he’s already giving every other up-and-coming act tips on how to raise the bar with lyrical ingenuity, which goes hand in virtuosic hand with his ear for a melody that will consume you when brought to life with his impassioned intensity.

Mayalyn was officially released on September 22; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Drift away with the fiercely dreamy ardour within Mums Favourite’s latest single, Loveboat

Posted on 18 November 2023
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1HRGRsjJ-PFGiLuYZlktjnxIQyKkcLNbm/view?usp=sharing

Carrying the atmosphere and attitude of Honeyblood, The Breeders and Throwing Muses, the indie rock nostalgists Mums Favourite gave vintage bluesy soul an injection of punk visceralism with their latest single, Loveboat.

After lulling you into a false sense of dreamy and lofty ambient security, rancour starts to rile in the riotously clever production, which lyricist and lead vocalist Sasha Theunissen always keeps command of with her dynamically captivating vocal range.

After taking their sound which stands at the vanguard of alt-indie ingenuity around the world since their 2017 inception, the Adelaide-hailing quintet has established itself as an outfit for anyone who harnesses a proclivity for aural curveballs. Executing an archetypal track to this superlative level would be an achievement, but with the experimentalism it contains, it is clear to see that the trailblazing outfit has a career which reaches the pinnacle of promising.

Loveboat was officially released on November 8th; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Speaker Cabinets unleashed euphonically augmented sci-fi escapism in their alt-indie sophomore LP, Tales from New Babel

Posted on 9 November 2023

For their sophomore LP, the Barcelona trio Speaker Cabinets spun ‘Tales from New Babel’ over an indie aesthetic that will ricochet you right back to the 00s alt-indie rock era with reminiscences of Kasabian, The Futureheads, and The Courteeners.

With an additional layer of Euro folk in the opening single, Ghost Town, there will be little deliberation as to whether Speaker Cabinets stamped down a distinctive sonic signature within the anthemics of their dance-worthy and constraintlessly daring concept EP. When you’re not ensnared in the hooks, you’ll be immersed in a sci-fi tale of retribution. The standout single, The Fall, is a straight-up space rock attest to the imaginative ingenuity of the powerhouse, who will seemingly go to any mind-altering length to deliver euphonically augmented escapism to their fans.

The band’s electro-heavy sophomore LP was released on October 20 along with a 6-episode podcast, which shares the story of their zany creation. Delve into the sonic sci-fi franchise, you’re unlikely to regret it.

Stream the Speaker Cabinets sophomore LP by heading to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Cayo Coco – Haunt: Hyper Dream Pop Meets Palpitatingly Paced New Wave and Post-Punk Indie

Posted on 7 November 2023

Hyper dream pop meets palpitatingly paced new wave indie and post-punk in the latest single, Haunt, from one of Indiana’s most prodigal sonic protagonists, Lumen Loraine, who has already garnered millions of streams to date, featured on several editorial Spotify playlists and appeared on Pharrell’s devoutly followed Apple Music Podcast, OTHERtone.

As jarring as it initially seems for those tones to blast past you at warp speed instead of being enveloped in the kaleidoscopic choral and reverb-swathed textures which spill from drawn-out progressions, once you grow accustomed to Cayo Coco’s electrifying frantic energy which efficaciously contextualises the need to outrun your demons, you’ll see that they have exactly what it takes to stand at the vanguard of the evolution of indie.

The official music video for Haunt, which premiered on October 18th is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Othenic borrowed from the Beastie Boys while tracking the warp speed of the human experience with ‘Last’

Posted on 7 November 2023

If you chiselled an indie pop edge into the legacy of a discography belonging to the Beastie Boys, you’d be left with a sonic sculpture bearing a striking reminiscence to Othenic’s latest single, Last.

With a touch of Crazy Town’s Butterfly written into the alternative mix of indie, pop, and hip-hop, the alt-90s nostalgia within Last is arrestingly potent. While the angular staccato guitars lend themselves to melodic mesmerism, Othenic reflects on how the human experience moves at a warp speed and leaves us questioning how the innocence of youth slips us by and catapults us into the monotony of corporate reality.

“Life’s too short, you might as well make it last” may seem like a simple lyric, but lean into it deeper within the context of the track and you’ll see a testament to the Kentucky-Cincinnati-based artist’s proficiency with wordplay.

Last was officially released on October 19; stream the single on Spotify and follow Othenic on Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

BLOCKED personified stoicism in her ethereal alt-indie single, I Don’t Mind

Posted on 3 November 2023
BLOCKED

The Melbourne-based Singaporean singer-songwriter BLOCKED reached the epitome of ethereal magnetism in her artfully quiescent self-produced single, I Don’t Mind.

After some of the most accordant and assured acoustic guitar chord progressions I have ever aurally bore witness to in the intro, the single intensifies in ornate beguile through the introduction of quiescent chamber strings which swell around the shoegaze-y vocal lines, which will captivate fans of Cigarettes After Sex and Elliott Smith.

I Don’t Mind is just one chapter in the four-part story of growth and resilience told through the artist’s forthcoming EP, which encapsulates mastering the art of letting go. Socrates couldn’t have said it better himself.

I Don’t Mind will be released ahead of the highly-anticipated 4-track EP, no worries, which is due for release on November 17th. Stream I Don’t Mind on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Therum etherealised existentialism in his psychedelic darkwave score,  Mirror of Stars

Posted on 3 November 2023

Therum searched for identity in the cosmos in the standout single, Mirror of Stars, from his psychedelic darkwave album, Darklines Within Us; in the process, he added a new ethereal trajectory to the evolution of existentialism.

Through croons, which call out into the void of the alien soundscape that would be on a plateau beyond our perception if it weren’t for the huge bass adding weight to the release, are resolvingly efficacious in their interstellar mission of drawing you right into the melancholic soul of the art rock Tour De Force.

If you have ever struggled to make sense of the material and social reality we’re confined to and feel an even greater sense of alienation when you try and situate yourself in the context of the twisted tapestry of existence, Mirror of Stars is proliferated with apt consolation.

VNV Nation once declared that this world is just an illusion trying to change you. Therum’s more astute observation of disillusion, duality, and the mind being as unchartered as the galaxy feels far more nuanced.

Mirror of Stars will be released as part of Therum’s LP, Darklines Within Us, on November 3rd. Stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Mike and Mandy – Caught the Bug: PJ Who?

Posted on 1 November 2023

He was a (ska) punk (singer), she didn’t do ballet but came damn close with her time spent singing with an Opera Children’s Chorus and featuring in musicals before the duo, Mike and Mandy, met professionally in LA while working in Shakespeare play and married three years later.

Notably, the duo didn’t let their time spent in the theatrical trenches go to waste, going by their latest poetically magnetic leftfield trip-hop track, Caught the Bug, which takes the iconic styles of PJ Harvey and Massive Attack and the edge of She Drew the Gun and Black Honey and entwines the two sonically delicious facets to deliver a cinematically immersive hit that will entice you with the force of a tornado.

With both sides of the power couple bringing swathes of influence to the table, their genre-bending tracks don’t discriminate where they pull motifs from. Between them, Mike and Mandy have an affinity in everything from acid-jazz to funk to alt-country to rock n roll to art rock; listen closely when you tune into Caught the Bug and you’ll hear signatures in all that and more around the hypnotically demure vocals which will give you a lesson in demure vindication.

Catch the fever by streaming Caught the Bug via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Angel Sinclair came of ‘Strange Age’ in her ethereal alt-indie pop sophomore release

Posted on 27 October 2023

After coming in all melodic guns blazing in her debut release, Soldier, the Canadian alt-indie-pop singer-songwriter Angel Sinclair invited us into an ethereal realm with her sophomore single, Strange Age.

Capturing the disorientating surrealism of coming of age and feeling alien within your own skin better than Brett Easton Ellis’ novel Less Than Zero within a soundscape which carries reminiscences to the artfully quiescent air within singles from Lucy Dacus, Soccer Mommy and Torres, Angel Sinclair effortlessly succeeded in her mission to envelop you in an intimately raw atmosphere where confessionalism spills around the accordance.

She may not have reinvented the wheel with Strange Age, but she asserted her mainstream appeal in the contextually tumultuous release all the same. Angel Olsen may want to watch out, there’s another Angel reigning supreme.

Strange Age was officially released on October 13: stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast