Browsing Tag

dark pop

Jennifer Jess conjured reclamation in her dark-pop hit, Dark of Night

Posted on 19 October 2023

For her latest single, Dark of Night, the Atlanta, Georgia singer-songwriter Jennifer Jess artfully darkened her pop signature to deliver the ultimate aural reclamation of power. Anyone who has experienced losing themselves in a relationship, which proves that no monster can match the insidiousness of a narcissist, will find fistfuls of resonance within Dark of Night.

The cinematic synthesis of hammering ballad-esque piano keys and the turbulence of the electronic aesthetics, which push Jess’ sound far beyond the contemporary curve, created an arresting platform for her vocals that switch between sultry allure to gravely to strident and back again to deliver an authentically well-rounded hit.

After racking up over 1 million streams on Spotify alone and amassing an engaged audience of 18,000 on Twitch TV with her live pop performances, Jennifer Jess is rightly reigning supreme with her captivating song crafting and vocal range that lingers within the angel-devil dichotomy.

Dark of Night was officially released on October 13; stream it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jessamine Barham exhumed a ‘Shallow Grave’ to speak on the violent oppression of women in her latest single.

Posted on 12 October 2023

Jessamine Barham released her most striking single to date when she read the harrowing tale in her latest single, Shallow Grave. The haunting vocal harmonies atop the staccato acoustic guitar strings and as the centrefold within the quiescent orchestral swells of chamber pop strings brought the solemnity within Shallow Grave to spectral life in a way that assures us that even though Jessamine Barham’s dark pop stylings are niche, her talents of a sonic narrator of feminine tragedy should never be underestimated.

The days of the Salem witch trials and being sectioned with hysteria may be behind us, but the violent oppression of women will always be a tale as old as time. It was no feat of hyperbole to lyrically infer that feminine acts of rebellion can incur the death penalty. Some may say hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, but life hath no tyranny like the men determined to keep us chastised.

Shallow Grave was officially released on September 24; stream it on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Jessamine Barham melodised marionette melancholy in her compelling vignette, Puppet Girl

Posted on 21 September 2023

Every time the dark indie folk singer-songwriter Jessamine Barham turns her creativity to the composition of a new baroquely imaginative piano score, complete immersion in her archaic vignettes is non-optional.

In her seminal avant-garde single, Puppet Girl, the San Diego-hailing artist melodied marionette melancholy by inviting you into a world of powerlessness, subjugation, and betrayal.

Taking the single at face value, you will enjoy a jaunty Evelyn Evelyn-esque cabaret tune; look a little deeper at what is written between the lines, and you will lock into an exposition on the limitations life can find a way of imposing on us. No matter how free we think we are, we all come with strings attached, making Puppet Girl a resonantly dark reflection of reality.

Puppet Girl is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

All isn’t fair in love and war in millar’s indie alt-electro-pop single, hunting ground

Posted on 12 September 2023

By drawing parallels between blood sports and romanticism in her indie alt-electro-pop single, hunting ground, the up-and-coming London-based singer-songwriter, millar, delivered a striking exposition of how nothing is fair in love and war when unsuspecting diehard romantics are forced to play by the rules of mind games.

As the atmospheric space progressively shifts from light to dark in the same vein as The Neighbourhood, Cigarettes After Sex and Perfume Genius around the strikingly angular indie guitar work which bears reminiscences to Slowdive and the driving backbeat that gives the single a punchily vindicating energy, hunting ground, is one of the most stunning UK indie tracks to spill up from the underground in 2023.

We can’t wait to hear where millar’s candour and inexplicable talents in euphonically visualising melancholy take her next.

hunting ground was officially released on September 1st; stream it now on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Spotlight Feature: Emilio Lanza embraced the moody future of pop while looking back in ‘Rearview Mirror’

Posted on 25 August 2023

For his latest single, Rearview Mirror, the Naples-born singer-songwriter Emilio Lanza darkened the doorstep of 90s boyband pop and weathered the torrid storm of heartbroken introspection.

With acoustic percussive fingerpicked guitar motifs scattered amongst the dark and reverberant moody pop sensibilities, Rearview Mirror is a triumph of evocative ingenuity for the way the light melodicism juxtaposes the harsher elements to sonically allude to the rollercoaster you’re forced onto when distance becomes definitive disconnection.

Careful to balance light and shade, Lanza, also instilled resilience into the release that will efficaciously embolden any hopeless romantics searching for hope; it is in Rearview Mirror by the visceral smorgasbord.

With over 2 million streams on Spotify and after receiving plaudits from the likes of Ed Sheeran and James Bay, Emilio Lanza has already conquered the world of pop; be a part of his legacy and delve into his latest elevated production.

Emilio Lanza Said:

“My song, Rearview Mirror, is a metaphor representing our past, nightmares, breakups or scary thoughts; it can be anything, but the message is positive, as reflected by the cover art depicting a sunset ahead and struggles in the rearview mirror. I wrote the song following the end of a six-year love story and other life hardships.”

Rearview Mirror will hit the airwaves on the 25th of August. Stream it on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Kid of the Star System is in orbit again with her darkwave pop-rock-trap amalgam, Sleepwalking

Posted on 12 August 2023
Kid of the Star System

Kid of the Star System is back in orbit once again with her latest single, Sleepwalking, and we couldn’t be more stoked about the interstellar return of the London-based visionary who switches between dimensions and genres to deliver atmospherically electrifying sci-fi enhanced vignettes of our grittily dystopic times.

The trap beat in the intro quickly evolves into a hook-rife platform of darkwave electro-pop that Kid of the Star System uses to implant her domineeringly smooth vocal lines that carry the exhilarating seduction of the entire Deftones discography. You won’t be short on emotions to feel when listening to the gospel of Kid of the Star System’s ethereal space odyssey, which could rival a black hole in the darkness it contains.

With the sole aim of bringing as much fun and chaos to her music as possible, the genre-melding artist is one for the radar if you always look to music for inspiration and empowerment. Especially as her sophomore LP, Luminous, which promises to challenge her listeners and push them past their limitations, is on the periphery.

Check out Sleepwalking on Spotify when it drops.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ghost Nation advocated idiosyncratic autonomy in their dark pop/rock amalgam, Insane

Posted on 20 July 2023

Ghost Nation advocated idiosyncratic individuality in their latest addictive anthem, Insane. With a Shinedown-esque rock backbeat and razor-sharp pop hooks that pull you into the emboldening future-ready synthetics of the down-the-rabbit-hole single, it’s a feel-good anthem for every outlier who knows how hard fought for sanctity can be.

Uniqueness may now be celebrated to a certain degree in society but there are still boundaries to keep quirks inside of, Ghost Nation broke every boundary in their liberating anthem, which also borrows a few industrial rock tones. It may be darker and infinitely more twisted with the carnivalesque propensities of the melodies, but insane is the epitome of a radio-ready earworm. If Muse and Imagine Dragons managed to mainstream their sonic signatures, Ghost Nation is easily capable of doing the same.

Ghost Nation has already had its fair share of successes since forming in Stockholm in 2016. Their debut release was a hit worldwide, and their seminal single, Unforgiven, reached No.1 in over 20 singles. To date, the single has clocked up 1.4 million streams on Spotify and 3.6 million on YouTube.

Insane was officially released on July 14th; stream it on SoundCloud and Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ava Elay – Spell of the Heart: Poetry in Theatrical Pop Motion.

Posted on 13 July 2023

At 15 years old, Ava Elay is already proving to be an unreckonable talented force; her latest single, Spell of the Heart, arrestingly exhibits her unconventionally poetic composition style and the deft touches she puts on her histrionically melodic progressions, undoubtedly influenced by her time studying the dramatic arts in LA.

With vocal lines which carry the same mainstream pop appeal as Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus and swathes of darkly infectious ingenuity within the instrumentals to give her sound an irresistible mutant pop touch, Spell of the Heart is poetry in theatrical pop motion.

Ava Elay has been exploring themes of passion and love since 2019, with her official debut single, Eternity, arriving in 2021. She may be young, but clearly, the singer-songwriter and pianist has exactly what it takes to be as influential as Mitski and Lucy Dacus with the romantic depth within her sonorously beguiling hits.

Through Spell of the Heart, Elay paid homage to the all-consuming nature of obsession, and how impossible it is to escape it once you have embraced it. As many poets have observed, falling in love is the only socially acceptable form of madness; few wordsmiths allude to the visceral sensation as succinctly and viscerally as Elay.

Spell of the Heart debuted on June 30; hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Hell hath no fury like YME scorned in her moody alt-electro pop hit, ENEMY

Posted on 8 May 2023

If you like your electro-pop dark, moody, and Avant-Garde, YME’s latest vindicating artful earworm, ENEMY, is a viciously hooked hit that will reel you in hook, line and scintillating sinker.

Never one to mince her lyrics, the Netherlands-based songstress who exudes the experimental spirituality of Bjork and a sense of conviction that leaves her in a hell hath no fury league of her own, is in the habit of cutting right to the core of vulnerable emotion and proving just how much power resides within the protagonists who wear their hearts on their sleeves. All too often, abusers mistake their ability to beat people down as a sign of strength; YME dispels that insipid myth with her highly originated demure style and candour.

ENEMY is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Chelsea Silva delivered the ultimate exposition on tentative anxiety with her canderous alt-indie-pop single, frontline

Posted on 31 January 2023
Chelsea Silva

After the Australian alt-pop singer-songwriter, Chelsea Silva ensnared us with her devilishly quirky 2022 single, Hades Has a Daughter, she’s shown us an equally disarming new side to her cogent talent with ‘frontline’.

With 70s folk pop tones behind her soft indie pop vocals in the intro which build into scintillating reminiscences to the likes of Lorde while sharing the same command of dark and gothic vocal ranges as Evanescent and Nightwish while never losing the stylish pop edges, frontline is definitively a triumph.

Silva set the lyrical bar high with her former releases. She transcended it with elevated grace in frontline. Exuding a tentative sense of disquiet uncertainty that grips us all while we attempt to work around anxiety and the landmines that our disparate society leaves us, only a sociopath would fail to get on the same page as Silva and resonate with every soul-shivering line.

Frontline will officially release on January 31st. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast