Browsing Tag

Indie Art Folk

R U A I R I Delivered a Diaphanous Vignette of Mourning in His Indie Art Folk Single, ‘I Hold Your Ghost’

Posted on 31 August 2025

Tender is the metaphysical touch of I Hold Your Ghost, the title single from R U A I R I’s recently unveiled debut album. The melancholic indie art folk melodicism lingers like breath on glass, haunting the psyche as the lyrics drift like spectres through the chill of reverb that envelopes the ambiently cinematic progressions. It is poetry transposed into sound, a diaphanous vignette of what it means to mourn with soul, and a statement of intent from one of Dublin’s most lyrically profound new voices in 2025.

What makes I Hold Your Ghost so affecting is not only the lyrical fragility but the way the sonic architecture wraps itself around grief until it becomes strangely beautiful. It is a hymn for anyone who has felt absence turn tangible, for those who find solace in letting sorrow breathe rather than burying it.

Written during the isolation of the 2020 lockdown, the album that carries this single was brought to life in a characteristically unconventional way. After sketching demos in the famed Windmill Lane studios, R U A I R I retreated home to record the final cuts himself, shaping a record that thrives on intimacy. With I Hold Your Ghost, he confirmed his place as an artist capable of turning confinement and loss into timeless resonance.

I Hold Your Ghost is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Freya Magee Channels the Ache of Unlived Lives Through Ethereal Indie in Duplicity

Posted on 4 July 2025

Shoegazey indie dream pop meets cinematic art folk etherealism in the debut single from Freya Magee. Duplicity is a triple threat of intimacy, vulnerability and candour; there’s no hiding behind the cloak of assimilation, no posturing in the vocals, no censorship of idiosyncrasy in the lyrics. Perhaps most affectingly, every instrumental lends itself to the thematic presence of the track, which unravels like a melancholic spiral from someone who knows beauty as much as she knows pain, and she pushes through both as a sonic embodiment of how thorned pleasure and fulfilment can be.

Even with the more spectral tonal palette, there’s something effortlessly consoling about Magee; in the same way Mitski carries your pain for the duration of a single, Freya refuses to let you fold under the weight of your own pensive mind. With lyrics like “dark on the left, blonde on the right”, her personal imagery transfigures into universal emotion without surrendering its specificity.

Originally from Melbourne, rooted in Northern Ireland and now based in London, Magee began writing in lockdown-era isolation. A chance performance at a dinner party led to local shows and, eventually, to Laurel Sound Studios with Phil Taylor. The result is Duplicity, the first confessional chapter of a growing body of work that drapes vulnerability in cinematic textures and lingers long after the track ends.

Duplicity is now available on all major streaming platforms. Find your preferred way to listen via this link.


Review by Amelia Vandergast

Organic Art Folk Serenity Unravels through Matt John Henderson’s ‘Gethsemane’

Posted on 9 November 2024

With his latest single, Gethsemane, the Ambient Avant-Gardist Matt John Henderson nestled into the niche of sonic expressionists with the ability to render catharsis into your rhythmic pulses while intellectually stimulating your mind.

The cinematically quiescent piece uses organic textures and tones to imbue the production in folksy seraphic warmth; his equally as honeyed and honed hushed vocal tones effortlessly complement the minimalist yet intricately eloquent instrumental stylings which pair jazz nuances with artfully delicate motifs that wouldn’t be out of place in Thom Yorke’s remit.

As a precursor to the critically acclaimed artist’s eagerly anticipated album, Lapse in Stillness, Gethsemane is an introspectively entrancing teaser of the serenity which is set to soon follow. The artist’s ability to invite his audience to lose themselves and live between the layers of his sound is second to none; it’s only a matter of time before his name becomes a staple on every editorial ambient playlist on Spotify.

Gethsemane was officially released on November 1st; stream the single on Spotify now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Tune into Matt Sayers’ latest tender indie-folk transmission, Radio

Posted on 19 September 2024

In the intricate weave of indie folk, Matt Sayers’ single, Radio, is a razor-sharp cut above the rest. With its artful flourishes and aching eloquence, you’ll feel your soul tremble with the vibrato of his vocals as they sink the teeth of melancholy into melodies that come alive through enmeshing mellifluous rhythms with syncopated layers. There is a palpable tension between the fluid musical movements and the sharp edges of a mind in turmoil, reminiscent of Frightened Rabbit’s ability to sculpt pain into sonic beauty.

Sayers, hailing from England, channels the spirit of 70s Laurel Canyon legends like Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell, while echoing modern folk influences such as Gregory Alan Isakov and Noah Gundersen. His lyrical journeys vignette life’s profound themes—from the ephemeral dance of existence in Dancing Girl to the quest for belonging in Jericho.

Radio itself is an affecting display of Sayers’ talent to distil torment into art. Needless to say, it’s as radio-ready as the songs that haunted him and inspired this masterpiece which marries lush reverie with the primal pain of a hopeless romantic cascading into despair.

Radio was officially released on September 5th; stream the single on SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

BREGN inspired cognizance in the ethereal art-rock world of his latest single, Dopamine Mind

Posted on 24 December 2022
https://soundcloud.com/bregn_music/dopamine-mind/s-VJrPW59ENvK?si=e90c506cf6bf46f380f79abde4059b10&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

The Danish 100% DIY artist, BREGN, explored neurobiology within his ethereal indie art-folk single, Dopamine Mind, to inspire mindfulness around one of the most toxically prolific habits imparted by the 21st century.

Anyone with a smartphone will know the subconscious compulsion to gaze into its black mirror. What is less understood is the key driver behind the habit that is tearing away at our ability to connect with the real world, as opposed to the divisive world depicted across social media.

While the euphonious melodies work to quell you into a state of quiescent meditative calm through the angular guitars against the quasi-jazzy keys, the lyrics allude to the entrapment of our dopamine reward system. With each new notification bringing a validation-soaked dopamine rush, breaking the habit is hard. But it’s a necessary step towards a more enlightened existence, unblighted by the platforms that profit from and exploit our mindlessness.

“It is so easy to get distracted and addicted to those distractions, which are now more instantly accessible than ever. The protagonist in Dopamine Mind thinks it is the phone’s fault, but he reveals that the root of the addiction is elsewhere.

He sets out to reset his mind and restart life, focused on things of meaningful deep value, away from artificial dialogue and small talk.”

Stream DOPAMINE MIND on Spotify and SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast