A selection of new and/or relevant indie/rock tracks that have recently left an impression on us. For the full playlist click here.
Adam Wedd – “Here We Go Again”
Adam Wedd’s “Here We Go Again” is a rollicking folk-pop track that wastes no time throwing you in the passenger seat of a lonely road trip on a scenic route with windows down, sun melting on the horizon, and a playlist that always seems to make its way back to the memories you’ve been quietly avoiding.
It’s the type of drive where you’ll suddenly think of a friend you haven’t spoken to in years, with no other reason than that you miss them.
Sliding guitar licks, fine vocal drawls and a steady, unhurried rhythm conspire together to crack open a space in your chest that you didn’t know needed airing out. It’s warm but heavy.
Wotts – “ALOHA!”
If I were on a spaceship bound to nowhere, watching new planets and stars blur past the window, Wotts’ “ALOHA!” would definitely be echoing through the hull.
And what you’re about to hear is a track with serious time-travelling quality. The analogue synths, sticky bass tones, and heavily EQ’d vocal production take you back to the retro times. At the same time, the pace, rhythm, and lyrics grab you by the collar and speed-run straight into the future.
Plus, it’s always nice to know when artists put effort into their album art that visually describes the soundscape of the entire album.
Cello – “We Do What We Want When We Want To”
Upbeat, punk-rock songs carry a different kind of energy. Cello’s “We Do What We Want When We Want To” would definitely be a song in Derry Girls, if the girls had somehow taken a wrong turn and ended up causing chaos in old-time, central England instead. Honestly, not that much would change.
It is quick, chaotic, and full of odd arrangement choices that somehow make it work even better than it should. The harmonies are so cleverly interspersed that you almost miss how much is actually going on.
Ticking at two minutes, Cello’s “We Do What We Want When We Want To” has the potential to become your new alarm clock.
If the conventional buzzer ringtone has stopped doing the job, this roll call chorus will have you up on your feet while you mentally bulldoze through every to-do list you’ve ever abandoned.
Bill Barlow – “The Trouble Being Human”
In the past couple of years, human anxiety has had a new bidder. It wasn’t unexpected, but it definitely has taken us all on a ride that most of us definitely did not sign up to be in. Bill Barlow has condensed this idea into a rocking title track, “The Trouble Being Human”.
The track is so precise that it feels kind of unfair. Not a single line in the entire track feels out of place or over-exaggerated, and that’s mastery right there. Every decision that went into making the song was well thought through. It holds your attention, baiting you to introspect on all the questions we have had since the emergence of AI. It makes you sit with the uncomfortable bits rather than skip past them, which is a known quality of good music.
PS: Shout out to the sax player who practically lent their soul in that solo.
Saving Nico – “Rustling”
Saving Nico’s “Rustling” is the perfect ending to every playlist, including this set of reviews.
The production is as gentle as the rustling of the leaves if you watch it from a window while sipping tea, reminding you of O. Henry’s The Last Leaf.
A tender love song for the beautiful scenic montages of a lovely spring movie with a bittersweet ending that stays with you.
The minimal yet full indie-folk production slowly fills in like a breeze that finds you on a park bench while you take in the beauty you find in a child blowing bubbles as she passes by and the duck swimming in the pond towards the middle-aged man with a fistful of breadcrumbs.
It’s delicate and unrushed and creates the perfect conditions for a feeling to arrive on its own instead of asking you to feel a certain way.
Find our previous indie/rock review here.
