Browsing Tag

Indie Jazz

Ikechi Onyenaka taught his sax the language of human emotion for his latest alt-jazz blues single, On My Own

Posted on 13 September 2025

With his latest release, Ikechi Onyenaka set fire to solitude and gave it rhythm in On My Own, a sax-driven exploration of self-sufficiency that drifts between melancholy and defiance. From the opening bars, the keys and synths pulse with funk, opening out into spacey textures that feel like the soundscape of isolation itself. Over that polished, strident, yet euphonically smooth backdrop, Onyenaka lets his sax glide and cry as though it has absorbed the entire spectrum of human emotion. Each phrase arrives as a proclamation, a reminder that resilience can still be coaxed from desolate silence.

After making history in Philadelphia and even catching a shoutout from Will Smith, the American jazz saxophonist, singer-songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist is cementing his place among the modern greats. With influences ranging from Kenny Garrett to Robert Glasper, his work has already earned praise from icons across genres. On My Own deepens his reputation, showing what happens when classical jazz lineage collides with neo-trap inflections and atmospheric production. It is a piece of music that invites listeners to linger in its tension, and in that tension, discover liberation.

On My Own is now available on all major streaming platforms, including SoundCloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

JAMMA Summoned Southern Gothic Spirits Through Vintage Jazz Blues in FAREWELL

Posted on 29 August 2025

JAMMA belied her LA residency and poured vintage jazz blues through a southern gothic lens in her debut single, FAREWELL, a track that dismantles nostalgia and rebuilds it in a darker, rawer form. The freeform fluidity of jazz collides with echoes of gospel that haunt through the organs, while raucous jolts of electricity fizz as her old-time chanteuse vocals command the infernal carnival of instrumentals. FAREWELL doesn’t just deliver a farewell, it resurrects the weight of parting, infusing it with a hell-hath-no-fury spirit, as though a vintage blues siren tore herself loose and started preaching on unhallowed ground.

Born Marianna Vitale in Naples in 1999, JAMMA’s musical roots run deep. From her grandparents’ folk and blues records to her early training on classical guitar, music became both inheritance and rebellion. After studying arts business in Milan and moving to Los Angeles to immerse herself in the city’s blues, funk, and jazz scenes, she honed her sound into one that thrives on duality: sensual yet unflinching, romantic yet punk, stylish yet decadent. The passing of her mother ignited a sharper clarity in her creative mission, propelling her towards this first official release. FAREWELL is not simply a curtain call; it is a beginning, marking the start of her three-track EP Presents, which will grapple with the eternal trinity of life, love, and death.

FAREWELL is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 


Review by Amelia Vandergast

Shani Weiss swayed vulnerability into vintage jazz-pop triumph with Feel Alright

Posted on 20 August 2025

Swanky, vivacious, and luminous with vocal charisma, Shani Weiss has delivered a single that could quite easily sway the world into world peace if her proclamation were given a stage large enough. Feel Alright shimmers with upbeat piano progressions, care-free ecstasy, and a vocal timbre that carries both ease and conviction. The track is an articulation of resilience set to vintage jazz-tinted pop, reminding listeners that even when life feels tangled, connection has the power to restore equilibrium.

Written during a turbulent period of loneliness and uncertainty, Feel Alright was born out of chaos but radiates gratitude. Weiss’ ability to translate vulnerability into a celebration of being seen ensures the single resonates beyond surface level. It’s a thank you to the people who arrive when you’re at your lowest, the ones who remind you of your worth when the world feels out of tune. The musicality mirrors that phoenix-esque emotional renewal, allowing the sentiment to expand beyond the personal into the universal.

Melbourne-based Weiss is already a celebrated voice in Australia’s indie scene. With previous singles All About Life and What’s Left earning international airplay, sold-out shows, and multiple awards, her ascent has been steady and striking. Alongside her recording career, she continues to champion local talent through her radio show, Indie Spotlight Melbourne. With her debut EP due later this year, Weiss has set herself up to carry her expressive light to bigger stages, allowing wider audience to swim in the serotonin that ebbs and flows in sonic sync with her harmonies.

Feel Alright is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

horanVi Painted Romance in Sonic Sepia Tones with ‘Before It Lasted’

Posted on 2 March 2025

With a title that instantly wraps itself around poetically introspective thought, horanVi’s second single, Before It Lasted, is as evocative as it is luxuriantly cinematic. Packaged in a neatly consumable 3:30 runtime, it delivers indie pop hooks with a delicate dusting of jazz sophistication, cushioned by neo-soul grooves and a rich palette of harmonic textures. It’s the kind of track that seduces attention from your serotonin-firing synapses.

Some artists perform; others create sonic alchemy. horanVi firmly belongs in the latter camp, rolling out the welcome mat to listeners who crave jazzy revelations of soulful scintillation that leave an inexplicable mark

Every note in Before It Lasted feels instinctively fluid, as the gilded tones become a tonic for the soul. The interplay of jazz chords and a soaring guitar solo ensures the composition doesn’t sit still, while the time signatures shift just enough to make the heart skip in time with the notes left unplayed. But the pièce de résistance? That belongs to Violet’s vocals—honeyed yet untamed, delivering a liberated performance that turns the track into an effortless catharsis.

With their forthcoming 10-track album on the horizon, horanVi continues to resist easy categorisation, pulling from jazz, rock, blues, and neo-soul without bowing to convention. All too often jazz musicians solely serve to flex their technical chops, but when horanVi cut close to the bone, they do it in a way that affirms the mind, body and soul.

After launching on Valentine’s Day, Before It Lasted is out now on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Leah Jean delivered an indie-jazz meditation in vulnerability and cathartic melody with her single, Stalker

Posted on 28 October 2022

Nashville-residing Indie-folk experimentalist, Leah Jean, laid down lo-fi jazz-infused blues in her latest dreamy trip-hop-y single, Stalker, taken from her upcoming debut album, Creatures in the Room.

Muses find us in the strangest places, but Leah Jean’s crept up behind her in this vocally soulful feat of indie Avant Garde, which uses playful subversion to turn her stalker into an almost affable entity that plays into her melancholy-tainted world in intimately fine detail.

With a lyrical narrative that sucks you in as much as the wavy saturated in delay instrumentals that swoonsomely envelop you in their kaleidoscopic colour, Stalker is a meditation in vulnerability and cathartic melody.

Stalker will officially release on October 28th. Hear it on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Canadian originator, Ethan Mark opened his jazzy neo-soul in his album ‘The Concept of You’

Posted on 23 June 2022

After teasing us title single from his 2022 album, The Concept of You, we eagerly awaited the full length of Ethan Mark’s sophisticated psychedelic-soul experimentalism.

With the opening single, The Unravelling of Every Day, equally as sublime as the openers on your favourite 90s Shoegaze albums (surely, everyone has some of those!), it is instantly affirmed what kind of production the Canadian artist constructed. One that is defined by its quiescence and the ability to hold your attention through the jazzy indie-soul juxtapositions.

Track 3, Gunslinger, is a trippy ethereal masterpiece, colourful enough to rival the fantasy-like escapism in tracks from Cosmo Sheldrake. Reminiscences fall by the wayside in the boundlessly experimental world music title single which breaks the monocultural mould with the percussion and throws in some flamenco guitars around the RnB grooves.

Not that The Concept of You has any skippable tracks, but special attention should be paid to Weight of it All. The lofty intricate work is a sublime pool of lyrical vulnerability, Avant-Garde ambience, and quintessential folk escapism. It is gravitas sonically personified.

Here is what Ethan Mark had to say on his album

“The Concept of You, and the upcoming album, came about from a challenge from my partner. She, a listener of neo-soul and jazz, challenged me to pare my usually elaborate and busy musical style down to something more organic, soulful, and pretty.

The result was a series of love songs encompassing many facets of love. The title single refers to her, the sepia-toned memories of summers, the roots we have put down together, and the love for home.

These themes felt especially important after a long period punctuated by isolation, introversion, and cabin fever. It’s accentuated by nylon guitar strings, cascading violins, gentle pianos, and the frailties of harmonised vocals.”

Concept of You is now available to stream on Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

A Special Night: The Confederation skillfully soak away our worries with ‘Coat In The Hallway’

Posted on 24 July 2021

Featuring the excellent talents of Jill Mccracken and Lynz Crichton on vocals, The Confederation return with their fifth released track on the elegantly delivered single ‘Coat In The Hallway‘.

The Confederation is a old school-sounding indie jazz/soul/pop-fused collective who bring through a sumptuously toasted music sandwich of tasty fillings – all packed into one delicious blend of deliciously memorable soundscapes –  to wet our ravenous appetites.

”We are interested in the concept of bringing a ‘feeling’ to our music in the way the golden age artists did.” ~ The Confederation

The lyrics are superbly honest, as the glorious vocals mixed with a lovely ambiance all intertwines together to make sure that this is a proper listen. You feel the dashing love floating in the air around you, as your face starts to blush and remember being with a kind soul, who had the rare power to make your heart beat so much faster than before.

”The Confederation is a melting pot of musical dna fusing styles from the golden past, vibrant present and exciting future of music.” ~ The Confederation

‘Coat In The Hallway‘ from the elegantly soulful The Confederation, is a stunning single which is full of that warmly-lit romantic wonder. This is that late-night track to play loud when you have found someone special to spend your valuable time with, as you gaze sweetly into each others eyes and imagine where things will lead to next.

Stream this fine new single on Soundcloud.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Simply genuine meals: heyJ is so ‘Hungry For Your Love’ on sensational new single

Posted on 20 March 2021

With a voice so crisply toasted into that ultimate affection for our cold souls, heyJ warms up the anxious heart on her stunning new single called ‘Hungry For Your Love‘.

heyJ is an outstanding Nashville, Tennessee-based, Belmont University Music Business student, New Orleans-born and raised indie jazz-pop singer-songwriter. She breathlessly creates music about unfortunate past heartbreaks, future love and learning about herself, in this often-confusing world around us.

Her love for music is so easily apparent and after starting her journey when she was merely a young pup at aged six, her powerful voice shines through the darkness of present times, to illuminate the sky above.

This is the true story of a wise-beyond-her-years young singer, who passionately craves those simple moments away from the common moments from reality TV and what you are supposed to do when in love. She is clearly after that deep passion which fills her body with joy, as true companionship and learning together, is what makes her feel alive. Being together with someone genuine heart-to-heart, is all she wants really, as she looks for that special soul that only has pure intentions.

‘Hungry For Your Love‘ from the dazzling talent of the beautifully enchanting heyJ, is that sweetly-coated memorable delicious soundscape, that makes your heart beat a bit faster, as the juices lather your senses to love again, no matter what happened before.

Life is all about taking a chance sometimes to find your special soul, who is out there if you look in the right places.

Hear this wonderful single on Spotify and watch her rise to the top on IG.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen

Gully has brought optimism with him into the new year with their single ‘Carpe Diem’

Posted on 23 January 2021

Seizing the moment may be harder than usual in 2021, unless that means grabbing the fanciest biscuits in Tesco, but it’s still possible to indulge in unforgettable experiences, such as hitting play on ‘Carpe Diem’, the latest single  released by UK Indie Jazz artist, Gully.

After gaining plenty of traction on the radio waves, thanks to Radio Bristol and BBC introducing, with his debut EP,  ‘Student Blues’, Gully, and his 6-piece band, teamed up with producer Jax Beats to create a mix as timeless as it is fresh. The contemporary Indie inclinations weave amongst the roots-deep flowing Jazz licks with such natural ease, it becomes impossible not to melt into the cathartic grooves of the shimmering soundscape.

If your soul melted at The Arctic Monkeys’ cover of Amy Winehouse’s ‘You Know I’m No Good’, Carpe Diem will undoubtedly have the same evocative impact.

You can check out Carpe Diem for yourselves by heading over to Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Debut song ‘Revolutionary Days’ from Poole singer Aaron James is a strong effort about real change

Posted on 30 October 2020

‘Revolutionary Days‘ from Poole singer Aaron James is a strong effort about real change that is of real meaning.

Aaron James is a singer-songwriter and musician from Poole in Dorset. He trained at the Royal Northern College of Music and this is a young musician who is putting all his efforts into music. There are Jazz, Soul and Pop influences all over this marvel of a track, you can feel the skill on each note which is glorious to hear.

This song is inspired by a deep inner longing for change on a revolutionary scale, and a feeling that change is coming, and can happen if we want it. The song is about a ‘spiritual revolution’, a changing of hearts and minds, and an awakening to the truth and standing up for what is right and just. It can relate to a revolution for human rights and freedom, against racism and sexism, for the preservation of the planet and the environment, for peace, against war, and for love and care for our fellow neighbor. It comes from a feeling that words are no longer enough, we need revolutionary action and now is the time for revolutionary days.

‘Revolutionary Days‘ from Aaron James is his debut and this is a top effort for his first released track. This song is made with a fierce attitude, his mindset is strong and he wants change. This is a feeling that millions of us are having currently, so many things have changed but not in the way that we want them to. A top song with real meaning is always welcome and you can feel the passion. This is music that means something and should be celebrated.

Click here for the Soundcloud page.

Reviewed by Llewelyn Screen