Browsing Tag

Indie Blues

Ilaria Argento Cast a Smoky Slow-Blues Spell over the Airwaves with ‘Last Train Blues’

Posted on 29 March 2026

Ilaria Argento put a sensual spell on blues with Last Train Blues, a smoky, hypnotic ticket to unadulterated sonic pleasure. Based in Italy, Argento has steadily built an audience through the strength of connection rather than industry machinery, gathering a serious following around her catalogue while keeping the focus where it belongs, on the heart and soul of the songs.

Set against the image of a cold platform, an empty track, and a heart stranded in the aftermath, Last Train Blues leans into the slow-burning longing after a series of missed chances and unspoken farewells. Drifting through the small hours like cigarette smoke curling under dim station lights, carrying a worn soulfulness that feels steeped in old-school blues melancholy, Last Train Blues carries blues fans to a dream destination of evocative, rhythmic euphony.

The slow tempo acts as a stunning visualisation of how regret may only take a second to arrive, but it sticks with you, hauntingly occupying every atom of you, just like this release, which may rub some the wrong way for being AI-assisted, but there’s no denying that the single carries a sonic force which is sublime to submit yourself to. You can feel the distance, the regret, the sting of what never made it onto the train.

Argento began releasing music in 2024, moving through pop and hard rock before settling into the late-night ache of blues, and the fit is spot on. Last Train Blues proves exactly why people have stayed tuned in.

Last Train Blues is now available on all major streaming platforms. For the full experience, watch the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ennis Hawkins – The Art of Being Alone: A Bruising Barfly Confessional Relayed Through the Canderous Twang of Indie Americana Folk 

Posted on 23 February 2026

The first impression when you hear Ennis Hawkins’ debut single, The Art of Being Alone, is WHERE HAS HE BEEN HIDING THAT VOICE?! After a strum of unassuming chords and the steady tick of metronomic percussion, the evocateur shows how he’s yet to find any form of sanctuary in isolation, but he has mastered the art of using vibrato to tear your heartstrings into splinters.

Once that rush of pensively powerful candour sets in, the soaring electric-guitar notes take their bluesy mark, adding a mournfully lush texture to a single that refuses to reduce anything to be comfortably palatable. When he confesses, “at the end of the day I go to the bar and destroy my liver and lungs just for fun”, Hawkins turns what so many glamourise into an existential cry hurled straight into the void of isolation. Through The Art of Being Alone, he may pull pain from lived experience, but he also exposes the wider malaise so many of us feel if we have even a shred of self-awareness.

If this is the first taste, my god, I’m ravenous for what comes next from the DMV region-based singer-songwriter who has spent decades developing his talent and dexterity that now shape his songwriting. After balancing elite-level athletics with a developing creative identity,  he’s found his definitive home with his debut.

The Art of Being Alone is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Aaron Pollock – Call the Coroner Blues: A Sanctuary of Soul-Soaked Sublimity

Posted on 14 December 2025

There are 11 albums and a myriad of prestigious accolades behind Aaron Pollock, with him more than primed to become the blues guitar virtuoso of his generation. His recent seminal single, Call the Coroner Blues, asks you to forget tired expectations of blues and step onto his metaphorical front porch for a moment. The guitar mastery is only a fraction of the alchemy; his seraphically warm sense of soul draws you into a front porch-esque vignette that shrugs off the usual restraint of the genre, turning into an easy-listening earworm that invites you into the reverie of escapism.

The lyrics flirt with the quasi-macabre while refusing to chill the bones; instead, Pollock sings as though he is reaching into the sanctuary of sublimity, refracting that bliss into a piece that keeps the blues scales subtle, a nuanced nod to his talents that never need to overreach to make you recognise his intuitive relationship with his fretboard and his way of making each note the conduit of his soul.

Based in Australia, Pollock cut his teeth as a street performer before fast-tracking to international stages; by 22, he was already a finalist at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis, and now, at 28, he has 11 self-produced albums under his belt and a reputation for packing out rooms across the States.

Across releases that move from psychedelic soundscapes to raw country blues and tender acoustic ballads, his entrancing fingerpicking turns one guitar into a conversation of many voices while his dynamic vocal delivery keeps conviction and control at the forefront. Call the Coroner Blues distils that evolution into one of his most transportive releases to date, proof that his catalogue and hunger for connection have pushed him to the brink of the wider recognition his music quietly demands.

Call the Coroner Blues is now available on all major streaming platforms, including 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

Roots revivalist, David Place, paid warming ode to his ‘Honky Tonk Woman’

Posted on 16 June 2022

Femme fatale tracks always seem to veer into a soullessly predictable direction, but David Place steered Honky Tonk Woman into a far sweeter territory, armed with no more than a Taylor acoustic, Americana-roots-emanating vocal cords and a sense of romanticism that could turn any cynic.

Five albums down and international touring stripes gained, the Melbourne-born, Italy-based artist knew just how to capture his audience through Honky Tonk Woman; the ingeniously metaphorical lyrics resound just as much as the bluesy finger-picked notes.

The official music video for Honky Tonk Woman is now available to stream on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Indie-soul singer Evan Meulemans mainlines optimism into his latest single, Morning Fades.

Posted on 11 December 2021

US singer-songwriter Evan Meulemans’ fresh fusion sound is a cocktail of indie, reggae, Americana, blues, and his authentic brand of soul. If his sound has evaded you so far, his single, Morning Fades, is the most affable introduction to his meaningful approach to music.

With his effortless out-reaching bluesy indie vocals falling into a Grammy-worthy instrumental score that will instantly melt fans of Jack Johnson, Brett Dennen and Cas Hayley, Morning Fades leaves you questioning how Meulemans isn’t already a household name.

Like all his music, Morning Fades compels the listener to find the beauty in what can often feel like a loveless world. His advocation for harnessing love, creating balance and seeking contentment and connection is exactly what we need on the airwaves. Especially given the timeless resound of his optimistically-rendered sound.

Morning Fades is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vanedergast

We Danced To The Music: David Goundry remembers those incredible days on ‘Fire and Water’

Posted on 6 August 2021

Taken off his sterling six-track debut EP named ‘Time and Place‘ which was produced by the legendary Nick Sykes, David Goundry sounds so inspired as he sings with such meaningful gusto and love on ‘Fire and Water‘.

David Goundry is a former semi-retired UK-based indie blues singer-songwriter. After almost putting his guitar away for good, a chance meeting with Nick helped him get over his unfortunate divorce in 2017. From there, making music again and working with such a positive force, has really helped him find a new lease of life and the results are quite astounding.

”Reminiscent and inspired by the singer songwriters of the 70’s, Fire and Water encapsulates folksy finger picking , blues rock riffs aligned to melodic singing which evoke the feel of the analogue era.” ~ David Goundry

As he sings with such a distinct tone that washes peacefully all over your awaiting body – you feel that he is such a wonderful talent – who is now getting the chance to show the world his incredible artistry. This is the ultimate underdog, a man lost for a while as he struggled to locate his inner compass after such a devastating heartbreak – but came back strongly and is has now found redemption in the best possible way.

‘Fire and Water‘ by the highly inspired UK indie blues artist David Goundry, is that that warm analogue sound reminder from those classic days back in the 60’s and 70’s. He reminisces about those memorable best days that he ever had, as their love was so strong and he recalls every second so vividly. These sweet moments together may have past by like a train in the wind, but they shall be cherished fondly forever.

Hear this new single on Spotify and see his journey to finding that happiness again on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Takar Nabam mixes up East and West with his poetic new single ‘Ashes’

Posted on 30 March 2021

The tribal region of Arunchal Pradesh in India might not be the first place you think of when looking for guitar’s ‘next-big-thing’, but Takar Nabam – already named in Guitar Player Magazine’s ‘Top Five Guitar Players in India’ in 2020 – is absolutely at the forefront of innovative, convention-defying guitarists with his deep, instinctual understanding of both his instrument and his voice. Nabam demonstrates a deep respect and foundation in the musical traditions of his own culture whilst mixing in elements of contemporary blues and roots greats such as John Mayer, Tom Minsch, and slide supremo Derek Trucks.

Nabam’s 2018 album, ‘This Home, That Home’, garnered rave reviews, including featuring on Apple Music’s ‘Top Ten Indian Releases’ and Rolling Stone’s ‘Top Ten Summer Songs’; Nabam now returns with his new single ‘Ashes’. Born from Nabam’s collected life experiences, and mixing up all of those guitar-playing influences, ‘Ashes’ is a deep, meaningful, and mellow track that never lacks in power, authority, or lyrical poetry. Betraying Nabam’s deep understanding of blues and rock, but with a clear jazz and eastern tinge too. It’s a beautiful, gentle track which is at the same time expressive, calming, and uplifting. We’re looking forward to hearing more of Nabam’s new work later this year.

Check out the video for ‘Ashes’ on YouTube, and look Takar Nabam up on Apple Music or Spotify.

Review by Alex Holmes

Leifer brought the James Dean appeal to indie blues pop with their latest single ‘Say You’re Mine’

Posted on 17 February 2021

Leifer may be just one of the artists bringing blues into the mainstream by packaging it into sweet accessible alt-indie soundscapes, but the amorously archaic kick behind the grooves in his latest single, ‘Say You’re Mine’ hit like no other.

I’m not even sure if James Dean himself could have proclaimed to be as smooth as this melodically-crafted, funk-layered feat of deeply sensual neo-soul. The sense of intimacy seems to breathe through the polished production which finds the perfect balance between modernity and aural nostalgia. If you can imagine what the male equivalent to Amy Winehouse would sound like, you can get an idea of what is in store once you hit play.

Say You’re Mine is available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Melbourne band The Ugly Kings offer us a gritty blues journey on ‘Last Night Stand Of Sins Deluxe’

Posted on 1 November 2020

The Ugly Kings offer us a gritty blues journey on ‘Last Night Stand Of Sins Deluxe‘ and this is a top new track that has that real edge to it.

Sunny Melbourne in Australia is the home of the fantastic 4 piece band and they are a energy and emotional roller coaster ride. They hit all the heights and are such a terrific listen. There are such dazzling bass lines here that make this is a song to jam to. This is best experienced with the crew in the house, rocking out to the epic new tune.

This is all about being in your town for the last time, this time. You want to get out of there and meet a special friend for that last night. Or is it? You might return but for now you are here and making the best of the moment.

Australia’s The Ugly Kings bring us a marvelous track called ‘Last Night Stand Of Sins Deluxe‘. With a pure power blues feel, you get the injection of glorious music in your body the whole way through. This is an absolute winner and one of the best blues tracks of 2020.

Click here for the Spotify link.

Here is the Bandcamp page.

Head through to the Facebook page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen