Browsing Tag

Americana Indie

Spotlight Feature: Run The Enemy filtered indie post-punk poetry through a pensive Americana lens with their sophomore single, Barbara Gray

Posted on 28 June 2024

For their second single, the cerebrally poetic Indie/Americana ensemble, Run the Enemy, unearthed the sublime from the serendipitous, immortalising the fleeting yet eternal encounter between Elvis and Barbara Gray in 1956.

Infused with samples of fervent Elvis fans within an Editors-esque post-punk framework, the Cambridge, UK-based band magnifies the tenderness of transient intimacy in a pop culture moment of pure connection, inviting listeners to inhabit that ephemeral instant and luxuriate in its synchronicity.

With vocals reminiscent of Elbow, choked with emotion and deftly illuminating the lyrical depths, and an atmosphere of sepia-toned nostalgia enveloping the hauntingly angular guitars, iridescent keys, and throbbing rhythm section, Barbara Gray lodges itself in the soul, simultaneously imparting the transcendent nature of a moment never to be lost to history.

You’d be hard-pressed to find a better entry into the UK indie scene in 2024. It’s only a matter of time before Run the Enemy tears its way into the mainstream.

Run the Enemy Said:

“The song is about randomly overlapping lives, inspired by the fleeting moments shared by Elvis and Barbara Gray, captured on film by Alfred Wertheimer in 1956 at the Jefferson Hotel in Virginia.

For over fifty years, the girl remained anonymous until she appeared on the Today Show to discuss the one day that her life crossed with Elvis’s, like a crossword clue; he was seven down, she was eight across. Despite the moment being so transient and their lives going in such different directions thereafter, their moment is preserved forever on film.”

Barbara Gray was officially released on June 28th; stream the single on Spotify.

Follow Run the Enemy on Instagram. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

As Was sold indie alt-country sanctuary in his latest single, Borrowed, featuring Joshua McBride

Posted on 24 March 2024

Off the back of his successful sophomore LP, Open Container, the LA native singer-songwriter As Was (AKA Kosta Stanisavljevic) collaborated with Joshua McBride on his latest single, Borrowed, and exhibited his freshly honed alt-country meets indie sonic signature.

Following the gentle finger-picked notes of the guitar strings, ethereal with melancholy vocals drift into the simple yet stirringly profound production as the lyrics unravel as a narrative of ennui from someone who only finds comfort in isolation.

Haunting enough to rival Tom Odell and Elliott Smith, arcane enough in its alt-country atmosphere to stir in the same vein as Kurt Vile and San Ilios, As Was effortlessly succeeded in sonically visualising the aching emotions which inspired Borrowed, which explores the anxiety-fraught sensation of feeling like you’re living on borrowed time, relentlessly seeking reasons to keep hanging on.

Part of the affecting intimacy of As Was can be attributed to his stint away from listening to other artists as he was cutting his teeth as a singer-songwriter. He felt the influence of other artists diminished his own ability to achieve sincerity at a time when he truly tried to find himself. Now he’s a well-established artist, he continues to ground himself deeper in his distinction, and his discography is all the more deeply felt for it.

Borrowed was officially released on February 29th; stream the single on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Marygolds transcended space and time with the blues in their indie Americana single, Time Machine

Posted on 19 September 2023

The Louisville, Kentucky-hailing indie Americana outfit, Marygolds, made light melodic work of stripping away the past few decades and bringing a bygone era back to life in the standout single, Time Machine, from their eponymous 2023 EP.

Everything rests mellifluously easy on the timbre of the vintage bluesy guitar chords, which shimmer with early ’60s nostalgia as they drive the evocative instrumental arrangement under the gospel-esque vocals which reach the epitome of old-school soul. With the intimacy infused into the massive roots-wrapped production that could rival Father John Misty’s masterful work, Time Machine is so much more than an ode to the past; it’s a ticket back to soulfully sepia-tinged sanctity of it.

Perhaps even more remarkably, even though Marygolds left no clues to their 21st-century habitation behind in the cinematic gravitas of their work, their reverence for roots music didn’t come close to resounding as archaic. The outfit comprised of progenitors of modern blues is definitely one to watch.

Time Machine is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rory Ian – Gambling Stil: Mesmerically Choral Indie Americana Folk

Posted on 14 December 2020

‘Gamnling Stil’ is just one of the dreamy Americana-tinged Indie Rock tracks found on Rory Ian’s debut album ‘From Son with Love’. Mesmerically choral Indie instrumentals coalesce with despondency-laden vocals allowing Rory Ian’s standout track to hit bruisingly hard emotionally, but tonally, the semi-orchestral soundscape is bordering on the celestial.

Any fans of Frightened Rabbit, The National and Bon Ivor will undoubtedly appreciate the familiar yet intimately intriguing offering of sweetly sobering Indie.

You can check out Rory Ian via Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast