Browsing Tag

Indie Pop Rock

Vemalo Painted the Sepia-Tinted Ache of Soul Separation in Their Genre-Fluid Single, Outside of Me

With Outside of Me, Vemalo refused to sidestep emotional devastation in favour of commercial palatability. They held it in their hands, inspected every facet, and layered it into a track that never shies away from rawness or restraint. The single bleeds from the starting line with dusty, distorted, diaphanous guitars that shape a middle ground between shoegaze haze and desert rock’s parched tone. As the instrumental moodboard unfurls, Vedantha Kumar’s vocals become the spiritual tether in the sonic expanse, offering the same slow-release burn as Jim Morrison’s lucidity laced with the melodic ache of Chris Isaak, without once losing his own voice to reverence.

The haunting sense of soul estrangement is matched by production choices that lean into cinematic melodicism without indulgence. After the midpoint, a jazz-licked interlude momentarily stills the chaos before the returning vocal refrain hits harder with each repetition. Vemalo used this section as a calculated lull; exhibiting their precision with dynamic emotional pacing.

Written by Matthew Davis and Vedantha Kumar, the single isn’t just autobiographical, it’s anthropological in the way it dissects the universal experience of watching someone disappear from your shared world, leaving you suspended, untethered, watching your own life move outside of yourself. Matthew, formerly signed to EMI and known for working with Daisy Chute and Stuart Moxham, brings his narrative precision, while Vedantha, drawing from his time in August and After and his Indian heritage, lends the soul. Paris-based producer Jonathan Le Fevre created the perfect environment to honour that intention.

Outside of Me is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Agnesz Anna Spun Dreamy Indie Jangle Pop into a Sonic Secret in No One Will Ever Know

If anything fits the bill to the penny while describing the latest single from Agnesz Anna, it’s her track tagline, “Rock n roll for the modern hearts with an old soul”. With No One Will Ever Know, she echoes vintage indie pop energy, giving the timbres. a second skin painted with raw, poetic confession. The reverb-drenched jangle pop guitars pirouette around her vocals, which glide and command in equal measure, all while cradling that rare, unvarnished romanticism that belongs more to cracked vinyl than algorithmic playlists.

In a world that treats intimacy like spectacle, No One Will Ever Know flickers like a candlelit secret in a blackout. Agnesz never overstates; she lets the layers of lush harmonies carry the swell. Every melodic curve is steeped in a warmth that evokes the golden-era psychedelia of the Beach Boys, the Psychedelic Furs, and the B-52s, without stealing a single shadow from their legacies.

The Dutch-Polish artist’s road to this release was paved with stage lights, flamenco rhythms, Shakespearean monologues, and transatlantic theatre runs. After studying at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York and appearing on Dutch television, she returned to her roots to forge a sound that’s fiercely her own. With this single marking the first taste of her 12-track debut indie pop album due later in 2025, Agnesz Anna has proven she’s more than ready to lace nostalgia with present-tense soul.

No One Will Ever Know is now available on all major streaming platforms, including YouTube.

– Review by Amelia Vandergast

Ben Withers Poured Lyrical Grace into the Pressure Cooker of Modern Life with ‘Take It Easy’

The latest lyrical outpouring from Ben Withers takes the 00s indie pop rock aesthetic and translates it into an emotionally augmented ballad for the contemporary airwaves. With endless depth and weight, Take It Easy is literally and figuratively a force to be reckoned with. Beneath the euphonic arrangement of diaphanous orchestral notes and a grounding rhythm section lies a plea for softness; for the grace of pacing. This isn’t about nostalgia or superficial sentimentality. It’s about hitting the wall and needing the world to pause.

The lyrical underpinnings tear into the pain of being pushed by your limit, and honestly, that speaks to the collective emotional bandwidth of just about everyone right now. Brighton-based Ben Withers knew exactly where to strike. With a sound sculpted by influences that stretch from Celtic mysticism to cinematic folk to alternative rock’s rawer roots, he builds a space where escapism meets confrontation. His atmospheric touches bring levity without glossing over the emotional wreckage beneath.

Originally from Witney, Oxfordshire, Withers channels the introspective edge of folk with the expansive energy of pop rock and the intimacy of acoustic storytelling. He has crafted a sonic signature that isn’t interested in fleeting hooks. Take It Easy is built to linger, to pull you back in long after the final chord has faded.

Ben Withers may not be the most popular Withers the industry has seen… yet… but he has all the potential to be.

Take It Easy is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Conner Eko’s Indie Pop-Rock Panache Swaggers Through Protest and Funk in ‘A Farewell to Arms’

Conner Eko’s latest single, A Farewell to Arms, strides into indie pop with a funk-wrapped arrangement that lands like a gauntlet. The earworm will swagger its way right into your psyche, bringing with it an exuberance that almost defies aural science, attesting to the Cali pop artist’s alchemic approach to bringing his art to life, and in the process of doing so, giving his listeners a lust for their own lives.

This is a protest track that doesn’t flinch as it pushes the limits of what pop can be. Eko’s production turns sharp observation into music that compels action. Serpentine guitar riffs inject rock’s intensity as the track progresses, and his chameleonic vocals drive home the defiance that pulses through every line. The jaunty piano pop opening gives way to a full-scale protestive rock opera, confronting the fucked up state of America and the twisted priorities that have shaped it. Amidst the blistering commentary, Eko allows a sliver of hope to cut through for anyone searching for a semblence of sanity in the chaos.

With two decades behind him as a songwriter, educator, and astrophysicist in Vallejo, California, Eko channels lived experience and hard-won perspective into his sound. After fronting Falling Andes and pursuing science, he returns with music that’s both immediate and urgent. International collaborations with musicians from Japan, Brazil, and Portugal bring added force, but the message remains Eko’s: unfiltered, unwavering, and impossible to ignore.

A Farewell to Arms is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

LA’s Skittish Cracked the Whip of Existential Backlash with the Sardonic Alt-Indie Hit ‘Kicking In’

Skittish nestled into a niche between indie rock urgency and alt-pop accessibility with the release of Kicking In, a track that flirts and orders drinks at the bar for garage punk and nostalgic neo-pop to entice them into the stylings of this scorned yet superlative anthem that writhes through collective frustration.

They may be outliers on the airwaves through their refusal to fall into lines of monotony, but anyone searching for visceral authenticity and the opportunity to connect with an artist unafraid to wear their authenticity on their guitar strings will find their own form of reverie within Kicking In. The ennui resounds at a palpable level in spite of the high-octane energy of the earworm, which is battle-ready with euphoric choruses, razor-sharp angular indie guitar licks, and crooning vocal lines pinched with sardonic wit.

Jeff Noller’s DIY defiance has always been the pulse of Skittish, but with this new Los Angeles-based incarnation, he’s enlisted sonic arsonists including guitarist Chris Lahn, who carved searing licks into the heart of Kicking In, and drummer Ian Prince, who kept the rhythmic volatility simmering beneath the pop polish. It’s just one example of the genre-fluid chaos that defines the new EP Ugly Makes Pretty—a record that dances through its existential crises and punches back with hooks.

Kicking In is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Darcy Thomas’ ‘It’s You’: Aussie Pop’s Anthemic Heartbreak in Full Bloom

Darcy Thomas’ latest single, ‘It’s You’, carries 00s pop nostalgia in acoustic guitar chops that lend immediate intimacy before the track swells into an anthemic radio-ready proclamation. Raw rock riffs spike through the chorus, fuelling a heart-in-throat crescendo as the lyrical protagonist lays it all unapologetically on the line.

The emotional intensity strikes hard enough to bruise, providing a bittersweet reminder that fairytale love stories rarely survive off the page, screen, or airwaves. Thomas deliberately avoids neat resolutions, leaving listeners tangled in ambiguity as they root for a protagonist faced with losing the one person who makes them feel whole.

At just eighteen, Darcy Thomas has transitioned from writing his first song at six to crafting his vocal identity under the watchful eye of renowned vocal coach ‘Mama Jan’ Smith, whose clientele famously includes Justin Bieber and Usher. Alongside producer Greg Stace, whose guidance at Ignite Studio in Alexandria has been pivotal, Thomas has shaped a visceral sound ready to capture global attention through its expansive cross-over appeal.

‘It’s You’ is now available to stream on all major platforms via this link.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Arnold J.’s ‘Eden is Burning’: An Alt-Rock’s Cosmic Elegy to Lost Paradise

Arnold J.’s latest single, ‘Eden is Burning’, allows listeners to imagine Tracy Chapman’s iconic singles filtered through Bowie-esque cosmic pop-rock, soaring riffs, and twilight-drenched synths. The Ghanaian-born, Canada-based artist, whose creativity first took root amidst the streets of Ghana, defies every boundary with a genre-fluid sound built from raw emotion and untethered imagination.

‘Eden is Burning’ instantly grips with eccentrically ethereal vocals, weaving swooning melodies haunted by 80s nostalgia without succumbing to convention. The experience echoes the otherworldly charm of Science Fiction/Double Feature from the Rocky Horror Picture Show—except here, the surrealism intensifies. Arnold J. crafts a love song steeped in desolation, a harbingering elegy to the absence of someone capable of transforming the seventh ring of hell into a utopian escape.

Arnold J. has always marched to his own rhythm, from daydreaming melodies in Ghana to electrifying thousands at Assiniboia Downs on Canada Day. With ‘Eden is Burning’, he continues this pursuit, sculpting sonic portraits from poetic introspection, surreal imagery, and existential musings.

For alternative rock listeners drawn to music that traverses emotional depths and existential heights simultaneously, Arnold J. offers an experience as profound as it is soul-stirring.

‘Eden is Burning’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including YouTube and Apple Music. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Noah Nordman Constructed an Indie Pop Rock ‘Paradise’ with His Latest Raw Revelation of a Release

Noah Nordman perceptibly shares melodic DNA with Sam Fender, but within his sound lies far more than sonic assimilation; he delivers stridence twined seamlessly with indie sensibility. His latest single, ‘Paradise’, is cultivatedly twee, presenting Nordman as an artist who wears both his heart and his digressions openly on his guitar strings and soaring vocal lines.

As the rhythm section steadily feeds the track’s pulse, all peaks and valleys emerge courtesy of Nordman’s elastic vocal range, contracting and extending to flood the track with endless nuance. This melodic confession bursts with blistering emotion, subverting the stereotypical tranquillity of summery indie-pop-rock into an intimate canvas that vibrantly colours Nordman’s vulnerability and candour.

Based in Indianapolis, Nordman made his initial impact through the 2022 release of his debut, two-part album, SHIPWRECKED!. Following live performances across breweries and distilleries, he transformed his ambition into reality by diving headfirst into home production. With ‘Paradise’—the first of multiple planned 2025 releases—his powerful, clean vocals align effortlessly with impactful lyricism that blends indie-pop immediacy with singer-songwriter introspection.

Nordman’s music invites listeners into a world where emotional sincerity bursts free from indie-pop convention. ‘Paradise’ confidently positions him as an artist unafraid to colour outside the lines, providing listeners with a melodic outpouring as authentic as it is unforgettable.

‘Paradise’ is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Soundcloud.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

JNDJ Spun Reflections of Liberation into a Riff-Charged Pop Rock Anthem with ‘Mirrors’

JNDJ’s latest single Mirrors throws open the windows to let the light in while ripping through the airwaves with an unmistakable alt-90s edge. The track eases in with a dreamy jangle pop melody before slamming into full riff-charged momentum, intensifying the (literally and figuratively) reflective lyricism. The mix of heavy rock energy and Latin pop spirit adds an anthemic, emotionally raw quality, making every note hit with intention.

With its emancipating, bolstered with lyrical gold, Mirrors is the ultimate pick-me-up, freeing listeners from the toxic ties of negative perception. The bilingual vocals carve another layer into the liberating single, reinforcing its message of resilience and clarity.

For Julissa and Jesse Girardi, music has been a lifelong pursuit—one that led them through the highs of industry success before disillusionment pushed them to seek deeper meaning. After rediscovering their purpose, JNDJ returned with a sound that leans into their ability to create music that resonates far beyond surface-level appeal. Mirrors proves that when they step up to the mic, they ignite something transformative.

If JNDJ had risen alongside Garbage, Texas, and The Cranberries, they’d already be in the same breath of recognition. If you’re looking for a band that knows how to pull you from the depths and shake you back to life, this is the one to follow.

Stream the official video for Mirrors on YouTube now.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

The Secret Radio Tune into Indie’s Melancholy with ‘Mockingbird’

Aching in the same vein as Elbow, Badly Drawn Boy, and Starsailor, The Secret Radio’s Mockingbird’ carries the weight of nostalgia with the kind of orchestrally laced swells that sharpen the emotion without slipping into saccharine cliché. The song, taken from their debut album, Shortwave, is a testament to the enduring pull of melodic indie rock, one that transcends eras rather than leans into pastiche.

The Secret Radio’s roots trace back to New York in 2006, where they played live for five years before the original members went their separate ways. While some of their early recordings lingered in obscurity, chief songwriter Damian Fowler, a North Yorkshire native now based in New York, revisited and reworked select tracks during the pandemic.

With producer and pianist Asen Doykin, guitarist Bebbo, and a collective of musicians spanning multiple countries, these songs found a second life—fitting for a band whose name now comes with a definitive article and a renewed sense of purpose.

The British sensibility weaves through Mockingbird, with its sweeping violin lines and honeyed vocals that console as much as they ache. It revives the trend of truly affecting indie pop rock, carrying all the sentiment and none of the excess. If The Secret Radio are this laudable straight out of the aural gate, their sophomore release will be one to watch out for

Mockingbird is now available to stream on all major platforms including Spotify and Apple Music.

Review by Amelia Vandergast