Browsing Tag

Art Rock

Stone Branches reached the pinnacle of intimately introspective indie rock with The Way Out

Posted on 4 August 2023

With angular indie guitars that will sucker punch the soul as viscerally as the ones crafted by Interpol and The Toxic Airborne Event, mixed with a Mogwai-esque ethereal atmosphere, the up-and-coming indie outfit, Stone Branches, is undeniable in their latest single, The Way Out.

The intricacies of the artfully intimate lead guitar work will speak volumes to anyone on the introspective side of the spectrum as the lyrics portray the value of hindsight and coming to terms with the past. The sporadic touch of twee indie twang to the reverberantly rich vocals brings a sense of purity to the melancholy that is superlatively laid out by the art-rock outfit that is currently being hailed as one of the most original live acts on the South Coast.

After releasing their debut EP, Mantra, in December 2022, the emotionally intelligent Southampton-hailing outfit has proven to be an unreckonable force in the local scene and far beyond after receiving airplay on BBC Introducing and reaching the Grand Finals of the Isle of Wight New Blood Competition against 5000 other artists.

The Way Out will officially drop on August 4th; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The devil is in the art-rock detail in Outerrings’ latest single, Titan

Posted on 22 July 2023

With a soundscape sweet enough to appease fans of Mogwai, Radiohead, and Sigur Ros, the latest single, Titan, from the Durham-based alt-rock trio, Outerrings, is an ethereal lesson in melodicism.

By using the consistent presence of the gentle yet rhythmically compelling guitar chords as an anchoring point in the release in place of percussion, Titan is as antithetical as alt-rock singles come, but it is all the more mesmerising for it in its reverb-drenched gravitas.

By underpinning the release with the vulnerable fragility of the vocal lines that cry out to those laden with ennui and burden, it is an evocatively artful ride everyone alienated by modern culture will want to strap themselves in for.

Titan was officially released on July 2nd. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tony Coppola filled the entropy void with his debut alt-rock track, Empty Shell

Posted on 16 June 2023

The Adelaide-haling independent singer-songwriter Tony Coppola called out into the vacuous atmosphere which is leaving its mark on increasing numbers of us with his artfully progressive alt-rock debut single, Empty Shell.

Ironically if you want to remember what it feels like to feel viscerally alive, sink your teeth into the sonics of the crescendos, powerful enough to make your rhythmic pulses fasten to the builds in momentum before the breaks give you a cathartic cortisol release.

With his devilishly diaphanous vocal lines in the intro that will render your heart just as raw as the vox that features on Porcupine Tree’s Fear of a Blank Planet paired with the assured ring of the acoustic guitar against the cinematic strings, Tony Coppola set the standard for evocatively strong debut singles.

After sharpening his instrumental chops in prominent bands in the Adelaide live circuit, Coppola clearly had no more teeth left to cut before he stood alone and orchestrated this monolithically mesmerising feat of alt-rock

Empty Shell will fill an ingenuity void on the airwaves on June 16th; stream it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

dollhaus debuted their dream-goth potion of hell-hath-no-fury vindication, The Devil Makes a Sale

Posted on 12 April 2023

Two superlative staples of the London alt-scene, Katie Green & Rob Alexander, joined reverent post-punk forces to forge the new two-piece outfit dollhaus; the debut single, The Devil Makes a Sale, will leave you questioning, Siouxsie who?

Rhythmic hypnotism constructs the whirling dervish of a prelude before the guitars contort into angular prisms of kaleidoscopic colour as the basslines add dark depth around the harbingering percussion that punctuates the dreamy layers Katie Green’s glassy vocals filter into.

Chewing up and spitting out the archetypes attached to the dream-pop, post-punk, goth, and art-rock genres enabled dollhaus to effortlessly establish themselves as one to watch in a saturated scene. If anyone can appetise an apathetic alternative audience, it is dollhaus with this inordinately magnetic manifestation of pure songwriting talent that drinks like a potion of hell-hath-no-fury vindication.

Stream the Devil Makes a Sale on Spotify & Bandcamp.

Follow dollhaus on Facebook and Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

London Graffiti put the writing on the wall in their art-rock tour de force, These Words

Posted on 2 April 2023

Keeping the soul of grunge but stripping back the sludge, the Oxford, UK-based alt-indie rock outfit London Graffiti unleashed the ultimate aural eye-prickler with their latest single, These Words.

If you melded the pensive folky panache of Frightened Rabbit with the art-rock arrangements of Radiohead and the progressively dark atmosphere of Porcupine Tree, you’d get close to the evocative mark made on the indie rock landscape by the band that has already won the favour of plenty of mainstream radio stations, including BBC Introducing.

It is impossible not to be choked by the emotion-fuelled energy in the single, which also pays tribute to the National, Joy Division, and the Doves. Originality oozes from every effortlessly cool pore of These Words, yet never to the detriment of the projection of frantically inhibited dejection.

These Words was officially released on March 16th; hear it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Empty Page delivered us dejection-guilt with the art rock indolence in ‘Level Sedentary’

Posted on 5 March 2023

Sloth may be the seventh deadly sin in the eyes fixated on the demonisation of the human condition, but here to absolve us of our indolent transgressions is the ever-relatable Manchester outfit, The Empty Page, with their latest single, Level Sedentary. The second single from the forthcoming sophomore LP, released on March 3rd, is an art rock masterpiece for its mid-way descent into maniacal obscurity.

Breaking from the melodic destigmatisation of idle introversion, the ties that bind dejection to depression conceptually sprawl through the middle eight, pulling you into the murky depths of discord before your cognitions collide with the reminder that some of the greatest creative minds maintained a proclivity towards inertia.

The producer, Morton Kong, evidently knew just how to pull The Empty Page into their elevated experimental own with Level Sedentary. In a time when it is impossible to fully disconnect from the chaos of the external world, the ability to revel in it under the duress of a compassionately candid duo is worth more than words could ever convey.

Check out Level Sedentary on Spotify, Bandcamp & YouTube.

Follow The Empty Page on Facebook & Instagram.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Whitefeathers are an ethereal dream (pop) come true in their debut, As Always ft Mike Watt

Posted on 25 February 2023

For their debut single, As Always, the up-and-coming alt-rock UK/Czech artist, Whitefeathers, collaborated with bassist Mike Watt (Minutemen, Firehouse, Stooges) to orchestrate an artfully atmospheric feat of ardent indie melancholia.

Filtering pensive art pop panache into the eloquently composed release created a superlatively reflective soundscape for the lyrics that traverse the theme of losing love and finding yourself. The dreamy melodicism abstracts the ennui that accordantly rings from the scorned stabs of minor piano keys as the aloofly harmonised male and female vocals sigh from the soul.

It’s an impeccably strong offering from Whitefeathers, who undoubtedly have a luminary career ahead of them if they continue to create in the same vein as As Always.

As Always will drift onto the airwaves on February 24th – you won’t want to miss it. Catch it on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Glimpse Behind the Scenes of Gated Estates’ Agitated Art-Rock Debut Single, A Letter, with the Live Studio Music Video

Posted on 11 December 2022

Breaking out of the Brecon Beacons, Gated Estates released our favourite debut single of the year with their agitated art-rock release, A Letter. Now, there is a glimpse of how the single was orchestrated; no magic was lost in the live studio version.

The video filmed in their home studio within rural wales provides a voyeuristic view of the gently tensile keys artfully pushing against the angular notes spilling from a Fender Jazz Master while the synths and loops in the background complexify the soundscape to create an alchemic exemplification of music that is greater than the sum of all parts. Christmas came early for the Neil Halstead fan in me as each guitar note transfused choral reverb into the single while the lyrics and vocals resounded with amplified ephemeral grace.

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Gated Estates more, they gave a bird’s eye view as they pulled the rabbit out of the proverbial hat in the compassion-encompassing single that navigates the bitter-sweet relationship between our present selves and our inner child.

Usually, music can only resonate with a subset of people that have experienced certain dynamics. As we have all grown from innocent vessels with naïve views of the world and optimism for the paths we will walk, A Letter speaks to everyone.

We can’t wait for the intellectualism bound to ensue from their sophomore release.

Watch the live studio video for A Letter, which premiered on December 9th on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

UK Art-Rock Agitators, Gated Estates Have Made Their Diaphanous Debut with ‘A Letter’

Posted on 16 November 2022

‘A Letter’ is the first single from Gated Estates, and it’s a diaphanous masterpiece. After static and strobe-y synths and harsh electro beats lead into the gentle melodicism, artfully intersected with nuanced waves of synthesised discord, the evocative grip takes hold and refuses to loosen throughout the experimentally awakening release.

With slight echoes of Don’t Fear the Reaper between the artfully contorted crescendos built from appreciated synths and detached guitar notes, the soon-to-be icons of ‘agitated art-rock’ from the Brecon Beacons are easily one of the hottest acts I’ve heard this year.

A Letter hit in ways JJ72 and Julian Plenti usually only know how to strike an intrinsically emotional chord. The first single from their eponymous debut album explores the relationship we all have, whether we know it and acknowledge it or not, with our inner child and how they are one of the biggest influencers on our future.

Under the duress of Dan Linn-Pearl’s vocal lines which weave through the climactic progressions, carved by Shane Dixon (Nick Parker, Ginger Wildheart & The Sinners), Rose Linn-Pearl (Peiriant), Jonathan Morgan (OCTO-PI) and Darren Beale (The Caves, The Boomtown Rats), it is impossible not to fall in to A Letter hook, poetic line and sinker.

Watch the official music video, created by Martin Whittaker & TCLD, for A Letter on YouTube.

Follow Gated Estates via Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Koyama gave classic art rock a modern psychedelic twist in ‘Desolation of America’

Posted on 24 October 2022

The Desolation of America is the second album from the multi-instrumentalist and singer-songwriter Koyama, who fuses classic art rock tones with modernist sound designs. The Radiohead influence is tangible through the complexity of the percussion and the ebbing and flowing vocals that drift in and out of focus around the psychedelic synthetics, especially in the politically melancholic single, Desolation of America.

If Koyama is this talented at 18, he has an exceptionally bright future ahead of him. Especially with his gift of lyrically gnawing away at socio-political themes while psychedelically stripping the dismay from the equation with his artful vocal pitches that complement the colourfully kaleidoscopic chords and droning keys. It’s almost impossible to believe that Koyama only started to write and produce songs in his bedroom during the pandemic. He is definitely one to watch.

Desolation of America is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast