Browsing Tag

indie folk pop

Inside Starlight Fever, Isaiah Angel Hubbird Found Pop’s Softest Nerve and Made It Shine with the Starlight Fever LP

Posted on 3 June 2026

Starlight Fever, the debut album from the Chicago-hailing singer-songwriter Isaiah Angel Hubbird, teases indie folk pop into the framing of classical arrangements without altering the quintessential instrumentation or architecture. The diaphanous sweeps of choral chamber pop through the melodies and the way his voice harmonises on an octave that would send shivers down the spines of celestial beings bring rare arcane grace to 12 singles which refuse the parameters of contemporary pop.

The album aligns more with Y2K and 2010s stylings, from the era when intimate candour was celebrated and Plain White Ts reigned supreme in the footsteps of vulnerable singer-songwriters such as Elliott Smith and Jeff Buckley. Each release is profound with wonder, tenderness, and the wide-open soul of an artist who uses his innate ability to feel deeply to share his gift through sound. It is almost as if starlight refracts straight through his soul-salving scores of scintillation.

Born and raised in Chicago, Hubbird began writing music in 2014 under DreamsofYou before releasing projects including Boundless Rose, Finding Our Way, and I Am Dead (Without You). Since reclaiming his full name in 2020, his acoustic singer-songwriter world has become a vessel for expositions on anxiety, depression, love, hope, and emotional release.

Starlight Fever is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Indie Folk Pop Drift into Tender Rebirth in Jemerine Chan’s Pensive Lullaby, ‘Let Go’

Posted on 17 May 2026

Jemerine Chan is unrivalled in her ability to take raw reflections of pain and alchemise them into tenderly diaphanous indie folk pop lullabies which drift through the soul as semi-lucid pensive poetry. With her latest single, Let Go, the Malaysian-born, London-based singer-songwriter and producer reaches an affecting zenith, nestling into the arcane edges of indie dream pop with a release that feels weightlessly emotionally loaded.

Let Go demands you lean into the contours, embrace the accordantly caressive atmosphere, and feel the melodies rise like tendrils of smoke around you. Graceful candour has become the cornerstone of Chan’s song-stitching, and here, in a relinquishing of the demons that keep you chained to what you have outgrown, she visualises a tender, tentative rebirth, humanising the experience into one that reflects the anxious reality of renewal.

Her momentum has been steadily gathering force, with BBC Introducing in Kent supporting Adrenaline Rush, over 25K organic streams in 2025, seven Spotify editorial playlist placements, and performances across festivals and venues including O2 Academy Islington and Outernet London. Her award-winning single Black Rose also earned a Silver Medal at the Global Asian Creative Awards, further affirming the depth behind her ascent.

Let Go is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sophie Aston Lifted Celestially Dreamy Americana-tinged Indie Pop into Orbit with Stardust

Posted on 13 March 2026
Sophie Aston

Sophie Aston’s ‘Stardust’ is a celestially dreamy Americana-tinged indie pop triumph. For this seminal release, the UK-born, New Zealand-based singer-songwriter pulled together genres with an organically gentle ease, creating a stridently enrapturing single that swells within your chest with every folksy crescendo. The momentum within the arrangement is a phenomenon in itself as it pulls you through a kaliedoscope of  expansive textures and warm acoustic tones which give the track a natural lift, as though the chorus itself has found a pair of wings.

Aston’s voice instantly affirms that maturity is more than a matter of years. It lies in the ability to see the world vividly, intimately, fiercely, and translate those observations into wisdom. For Stardust, Aston mined intospective gold to forge lyricism to soar above the arrangement of contemporary indie folk pop intensity. The percussion stirs something primal beneath the surface of the song, grounding its celestial clarion call with an earthy heartbeat that keeps the track rooted in emotional truth.

There’s a rare self-possession in the way Aston presents her sound. The expansive production and folk-pop uplift may bring Mumford and Sons or the Lumineers to mind for some listeners, yet the spiritual old soul at the centre of the performance places her in a lane entirely her own.

Originally from the UK and now writing from Waiheke Island in Aotearoa, Aston spent years shaping songs privately before stepping forward with them publicly after gaining confidence fronting a covers band. Personal loss strengthened that decision and gave urgency to her songwriting. Since then, early releases have already caught the attention of New Zealand radio, and upcoming live shows alongside Tiki Taane signal a songwriter stepping firmly into her stride.

Stardust is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Bandcamp. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Burjuu Scored the Sound of Self-Discovery in ‘Be Myself’

Posted on 1 October 2025

Forge a soul-to-soul connection with Burjuu through her intimately sublime confessional debut single, Be Myself. Etched in lyrical gold, the track unfolds like an inner monologue laid bare, tracing the moment you realise there is no way forward except by stepping into your truth, carrying every ounce of your worth in the direction your spirit demands.

Burjuu’s vocal performance is a quiet revelation. It resonates as deeply in the hushed restraint of its folk-rooted intro and verses as it does through the sweeping cinematic crescendos. There is no need for strained theatrics or ostentatious peaks; her voice carries the weight of rapture on its own, pulling you into the orbit of her awakening.

Written during a personal transition from a career in law to music, Be Myself is a chronicle of rediscovering self-worth and finding the courage to express it without compromise. Initially conceived as an acoustic sketch with just voice and guitar, the single grew into a rich arrangement where strings, piano, violin, and subtle synth layers work in harmony to trace the rise from silence and fear into courage and acceptance. Burjuu’s production preserves a raw intimacy within the panoramic guide she offers to anyone navigating their own threshold moments.

Be Myself is now available on all major streaming platforms via this link.
<br>
Review by Amelia Vandergast

iRO Delivered the Full Cinema of Heartache in His Indie-Folk-Pop Ballad, ‘Lonely’

Posted on 28 August 2025

Some musicians create music videos to dress their singles, true artists capture the full cinema of their sound, and iRO proved himself firmly in the latter camp with Lonely. In this folk-leaning, orchestrally scored indie piano pop ballad, the weight of loss and isolation gnaws until the soul is as raw as the emotion swelling through the diaphanous crescendos. What begins with the quiet introspection of a track fit for a Joni Mitchell-centred playlist builds into a gospel-esque sermon, steeped in the seraphic intensity that brings to mind Hozier while carrying the absolving tenderness of Michael Kiwanuka.

Lonely triumphs not by grandiosity but by its fragility; its confessional lyricism bleeds into visceralism, while the melancholy of the melodies consumes the spaces words cannot reach. It is the kind of ballad that caresses as it devastates, holding its listeners in a state of stillness where loss becomes strangely redemptive.

Behind the moniker iRO is Ori Rakib, the NYC-based singer-songwriter and poet who has shared stages at Coachella and Tomorrowland with Macklemore and Alok, yet remains as comfortable in stripped-down subway station performances as in front of festival crowds. With his debut album White Roses, he now presents his art in its most unguarded form, with Lonely as one of its most affectingly cinematic centrepieces.

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

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Frances Ancheta Dissolved Neo-Pop Psychedelia into Acoustic Serenity in the Indie Folk Single ‘This Haze’

Posted on 5 August 2025

Sun and soul entwine into the sublime in Frances Ancheta’s transfixing indie folk-pop single, This Haze. Lifted from her latest LP, Saving Graces, exhibits her scintillating way of stripping back the decades and slipping into 60s-esque neo-pop.

With her organically evocative, authentically rich vocals, which are made for the airwaves, sync deals, and everything between, it’s beyond us how she’s still operating under the mainstream radar. While most singer-songwriters fumble when attempting to resurrect vintage tones, Ancheta doesn’t play dress-up with the past; she speaks its language fluently.

There’s a quietly radiant charm to the lo-fi textures and sun-baked rhythms, but it’s her gently lilted harmonies and stripped-back guitar timbre that stir with timeless soul. Every moment feels hand-spun, as if she stitched the sound straight from old reels and nostalgia-flecked daydreams. And when the mood shifts and she lets in the psychedelically exotic instrumental touches, it’s like she’s scoring a lost Tarantino scene shot somewhere in the tangled depths of the Andes.

Hailing from the San Francisco Bay Area, the Filipina-American singer-songwriter brings more than just melody to her music. As a cancer survivor, creative arts therapist, and advocate for mental health and inclusivity, there’s an intrinsic grace and empathy behind her sonic expressions. With This Haze, she’s not merely making music for the sake of sound, she’s crafting space for healing, presence, and poetic introspection.

This Haze is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube. 


– Review by Amelia Vandergast

Falc1 Transformed Romantic Reverence into a Desert-Born Swell of Emo-Folk in Desert Tears

Posted on 12 June 2025

Falc1 delivered a duskily dreamy indie folk serenade with Desert Tears, a reverie-wrapped love letter that lays it all on the line. With a clever and measured integration of 80s-esque reverb in a future-forward and genre-fluid arrangement, the track transcends style. It finds its definition in the resonance that reverberates between the acoustic and emotional architecture of the single.

The lyrics move like an impassioned swarm of poetry through the synchronicity of piano and acoustic guitars, amassing visceralism with every progression until the crescendo of amplified emotion. As that wave crests, it stings like a heartbreak vignette, but nothing is lost in the swell. The reprising admission of “I love that you’re mine” becomes a primal mid-western emo cry, soaking every syllable with soul and all the contradictions that come with love held tight through doubt and clarity.

Based in Toronto, Falc1 is no stranger to breaking moulds. With over 60 tracks to his name and a loyal audience built from the ground up through TikTok, he’s become a vital voice for the fans who live between genres and crave substance more than spectacle. Desert Tears proves he’s not trying to fit into a movement. He’s making his own. With new tracks landing monthly and momentum only building, Falc1 is an artist not just to keep on your radar, but to keep in your headphones on repeat.

Desert Tears is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Minko Translates Temporal Longing into Neo-Pop Mythos in ‘Circle of Fifths’

Posted on 29 May 2025
Minko

Minko tightened the thread between classical precision and future-pop romanticism in her new single, ‘Circle of Fifths’, a track that redraws the shape of pop itself. Slated to feature on her debut LP Lemon Psyche, which will flavour the airwaves from May 29th, this release is a neo-pop fever dream that glides through time as effortlessly as you flick through your Instagram feed.

Baroque textures ripple through the track as arcane folk nuances are woven into orchestral pop motifs that deliberately reject the tyranny of musical chronology. Minko delivers a lyrical panorama soaked in imagery, where nostalgia lives unanchored to any fixed point in history. Instead, it finds a surrealist stronghold—an aural utopia where freedom reigns and art exists as a sovereign state, ruled by intuition rather than industry.

Raised by the wilds of the Cornish landscape and shaped by a history of sonic exploration—including scoring the BFI-backed Dog Years, winning Cornwall’s national songwriting competition with the Cornish-language single Kan an Tewyn, and being plucked for airplay by BBC Radio 3 and 6 Music—Minko’s experimentalism is no accident. Her DIY ethos and her collaborations with Steven Havenhand (ex-Pulp) channel a rare artistic clarity. ‘Circle of Fifths’ proves she doesn’t flirt with genre—she reconfigures it through a kaleidoscope of melodic surrealism.

Circle of Fifths is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Bandcamp. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Luke the Hater Played Through the Flames of His Ennui in the Pessimist’s Lament, ‘Coming Round’

Posted on 15 May 2025

The sardonically magnetic singer-songwriter, Luke the Hater, sat down at a piano as it blazes in the official music video for ‘Coming Round‘, playing through the fire that smokes his way through his world and colours it into a grey haze. With Beatles-esque choral harmonies breaking the clouds in the choruses between the lamenting prose in the verses and hints of Noah and the Whale here and there—especially when the female harmonies weave their way into the folksy, indie vignette of pessimism—there’s no escaping the appeal of Luke the Hater, who, despite his moniker and his demeanour as the ennui guy of indie folk, has a heart of melancholic gold.

Coming Round takes on life’s absurdities, neuroses, and flatlining hope with an honest gaze and some of the most nonchalantly poetic phrasing you’ll hear in the indie circuit this year. The vocal arrangements swing from acerbic to angelic in a heartbeat, all the while, Luke’s ever-growing band of misfits, locals, and loyalists bring euphony to the chaos.

Formed from the sonic fallout of Ventnor—a chemical spill from Steephill that washed up and stayed weird—Luke the Hater has taken his former antics in Fat Earthers and transformed them into something laced with more brass, more bleakness, and far more brutal self-reflection. The debut may be raw, but it’s so keenly aware of its own dishevelment, it charms with the authenticity of a regret-soaked voicemail at 3am.

Coming Round is now available to stream on all major platforms. For the full experience, stream the official music video on YouTube.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.

Cinema Painted Dusk with Unconditional Indie Folk Pop Affection in ‘When the Sun Goes Down’

Posted on 26 April 2025

With a title that frames the dimming light as more than a shift in the sky, ‘When the Sun Goes Down’ by London-based indie pop artist Cinema sinks into dusk with the kind of melancholia that only surfaces when you’re caught between the tendrils of longing. Through emotive vocal inflections, Cinema transforms a quiescent lo-fi folk-adjacent soundscape into an affecting invitation to feel the claws of compassion as you listen to the diehard romantic candour.

There’s no sleight of hand behind the heart-stirring honesty—just the kind of stripped-back introspection that sharpens with every whispered syllable and picks its battles with silence. With the same evocative intimacy as Cultdreams tied in with more mainstream indie folk pop appeal, Cinema has scored the ultimate formula to break out of the mainstream. The production refuses to rush, giving space to each aching note to stretch and settle under your skin, proving that emotional weight doesn’t need orchestral theatrics to be devastatingly impactful.

In the same way Frightened Rabbit disarms you with the artful agony, Cinema, with When the Sun Goes Down, takes the sum of its parts and calculates it into a profoundly moving sensory experience. If you needed any proof that there’s beauty in vulnerability, it’s in black and white in the kaleidoscope of unflinching confession of unconditional love which veers away from cliché, hitting all the right chords to attest to the striking sincerity with which it was composed and performed.

When the Sun Goes Down is now available to stream on all major platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast.