Not much is known about the elusive Dove Ellis, but we do have three concrete facts.
One: he’s an Irish singer-songwriter. Two: new-gen rockstars Geese are confirmed fans, with the band inviting him as their sole support act for their North American tour. Three: anyone who listens to Dove Ellis can attest he has one hell of a voice. And with the release of his debut album Blizzard, Dove Ellis delivers on the hype that’s followed on his steady gigging since 2022.
Compared to his larger-than-life live performances, Blizzard is eerily intimate. It’s bedroom pop, if the bedroom was a French catacomb with the tunnels blocked up. You feel every crack in Ellis’ voice, and songs like ‘Little Left Hope’ expand his voice into a ghostly choir that’s…
Category: indie-pop
After lending her versatile skills on stringed instruments (guitar, charango, violin, koto, etc.) to the alternative music scene of Iceland for some time, Ólöf Arnalds released her first solo album, the spare, delicate, and maybe a little magical Við og Við, in 2007. Over the next seven years, the elfin singer/songwriter delivered three more albums that were increasingly expansive, with electronics, electric guitars, and drums contributing to the fanciful, part-acoustic alt-pop of 2014’s Palme. A decade-long break from recording followed during which time, among other endeavors, Arnalds worked as a copywriter, raised her kids, started an artist-led cultural space in Reykjavík (Mengi), and married frequent collaborator Skúli Sverrisson. When she finally returned to…
…includes four additional tracks including two brand-new songs, ‘Love You Like a Rainbow’ and ‘Different Next Time’.
Oh! The Ocean, the sixth LP by The Wombats, was inspired by a shitty morning, a brilliant beach view and an almost drug-like spiritual awakening.
“There was this revelation that I had been living a life caught up in my own head, or in some kind of racing helmet or with blinkers on,” said frontman/guitarist Matthew Murphy reflecting on the album’s genesis. “It was really a potent experience. I felt like I saw everything new for the first time, and was aware that I had been so selfish to not take in how crazy the world and life is.” That epiphany led to what is arguably the band’s most ambitious and melodic record in their two…
On her fourth album, Unclouded, Melody’s Echo Chamber embarks on a life-affirming new chapter with an album that celebrates the present moment, whatever state we find ourselves in. There’s a continuity that runs through Melody’s Echo Chamber’s brand of psychedelic pop going back to 2012’s self-titled debut but now comes a perfectly executed shaking up of personnel.
Unclouded’s impressive cast includes Swedish maestro Sven Wunder, who co-produced the record and contributed to the writing, bringing his unique sonic palette to the richly-textured canvas; Josefin Runsteen on strings, who brings her avant-garde smarts to the tableau; Dina Ögon’s Daniel Ögen on guitar and Love Orsan on bass who Melody describes as “masters of…
Tulpa may have been formed by members of U.K. post-punk acts like Mush and Drahla, but here, led by the bright, crystal-clear vocals of singer/bassist Josie Kirk, they apply their skills to tuneful indie pop. But that’s not to say that their sound doesn’t let in bits of darkness, strangeness, and dissonance through the cracks. The endeavor won them some plum opening slots (Throwing Muses, Pale Blue Eyes, Bug Club) and a record deal with Skep Wax before they even released any music. The band, named for a mythical being conjured by intense concentration, do just that on their debut album, Monster of the Week.
After a sauntering “Theme” showcases their dual guitar approach, first song “Transfixed Gaze” establishes a warm, just slightly off-balance…
…includes two previously unreleased songs “Leave Overjoyed” and “Something Drive”.
Arriving ten years after the fun-loving indie rockers released their debut EP in 2015, the self-produced IRON is Post Animal‘s fourth studio album and their first to feature Joe Keery — aka Stranger Things’ Steve Harrington — since their 2018 full-length debut. IRON also saw all six of them gathering in person in the studio after operating remotely for a few years, with several other members besides Keery having relocated away from their base of Chicago. These reunions seem significant on an album that is not only named for the friends’ connection but proves to be their most sentimental release yet, with topics like friendship, loss, and aging surfacing on many of…
With Taylor Swift exiting her imperial phase and the field of alt-adjacent pop being wider than it ever has been before, it’s a great time to be an up-and-coming singer-songwriter with the skills to make a name for yourself. With Swift becoming something of a critical dud over her last few albums, it’s more popular to chase the mopey guitar pop popularized by Phoebe Bridgers and her Saddest Factory label. Gracie Abrams showed that you could become a pop sensation by putting a glossy sheen on the already glossy boygenius sound. California-by-way-of-Florida songwriter Gatlin Thornton takes a middle approach on her debut, The Eldest Daughter, writing open, accessible lyrics about taking hold of your own fate and rejecting the path that’s been laid out for you.
Last year’s EP gave a beautifully brilliant glimpse into the world of Magic Fig. The Bay Area band boasts a handful of familiar names that have been swirling around the indie pop arena; members of Whitney’s Playland, The Umbrellas, Almond Joy, Healing Potpourri, and Blades of Joy. Such a stacked roster brought with it expectations of breezy strums and pop hooks, but the band slipped free of their indie pop past to embrace prog, Anglican folk, and Canterbury psych instead. On their debut album, Magic Fig only deepen their devotion to the psychedelic swirl. The band plays the prog card from the very first moments on Valerian Tea, backing up Inna Showalter’s soaring vocals with dreamy blossoms of mellotron and a burbling rhythmic ripple.
What is it about indie pop that makes for such a winning vessel for the introspection and self-deprecation of songwriters? Perhaps it’s just that hooky guitars and catchy choruses are the spoonful of sugar that allows the lyrics of, say, Courtney Barnett or Liz Stokes of The Beths to go down ultra-smooth. Maybe it’s just because it’s one of the more evergreen flavors of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” indie music, one that can still excel without reinventing the wheel. This question comes to mind a lot when listening to Part of the Problem, Baby, the addictive sophomore record by ex-Tigercat Laura Kovic and her band, Fortitude Valley. For 34 minutes, the British four-piece churns out hit after hit, belter after belter, each one doing an immaculate job of softening…
Samuel Holden Jaffe, more likely known by the name of his indie-alternative solo project Del Water Gap, has spent the last few years in a state of uncertainty, searching rather unsuccessfully for answers. At times, pursuing a relationship that, upon its conclusion, not even he seems to have understood, or wondering about his place in the world, it seems Jaffe ultimately concluded that it all feels like pursuing an amorphous being. Or in a more allegorical sense, like chasing a chimera. The chimera is a creature from Greek mythology that’s part-lion and part-goat, its tail ending with the head of a snake. More simply, it’s a confounding and otherworldly creature made up of incongruous parts, not too dissimilar to the feelings Jaffe has toward life. This concept he’s…
…includes four previously unreleased tracks.
Irish indie-folk outfit Kingfishr have really been making a mark for themselves since their formation in 2022. With a blend of traditional Irish folk and a more contemporary indie sound, the Limerick band have really marked themselves apart from the competition. Their debut LP – Halcyon – now releases to a sense of feverish anticipation. Does it live up to the hype of their previous releases? The answer is an emphatic yes.
‘Man On the Moon’, one of the group’s most recognisable tracks, packs a mighty punch with a soaring chorus. It’s sure to be a live favourite with its infectious energy and sets the tone for the album. ’21’ leans more into traditional Irish sounds, showing a softer side to Eddie Keogh’s…
Strings swirl. A flute drifts like a bird floating on warm air. The melody is subdued, its tonality evoking The Smiths’ “Please, Please, Please, Let me Get What I Want.” A wistful, French-accented voice sings “I’ve always been so cruel, Hard on myself, You say I’m just a fool, Trying to be somebody else.” Mood set with opening track “Bluer Than Blue,” How and Why subsequently showcases nine more similarly moody, acoustic-centred songs.
The dreamy, slightly husky, voice is recognisable. Since 2003, Mélanie Pain has been a main vocalist with France’s Nouvelle Vague, Marc Collin and Olivier Libaux’s endeavour dedicated to recording and performing archly bossa nova-esque, acoustic-framed versions of songs from the new-wave and new-pop eras.
For a band often frozen in the public imagination as ’90s indie heroes, James have spent over four decades proving they are far more than that label suggests. Formed in 1982, the Manchester group have released 18 albums, survived industry shifts, internal upheavals, and even a five-year hiatus, emerging stronger than ever with their first No.1 studio album Yummy in 2024.
It makes sense, then, that now is the moment for a definitive look back — and Nothing But Love arrives with exactly that ambition.
This new 58-track anthology aims to be the most complete document of James’ single-driven journey to date. Where 1998’s The Best Of delivered chart success but left significant holes, and 2007’s Fresh as a Daisy: The Singles…
Matt Berry release a box set of his recent album, Heard Noises, featuring 10 remixes and four additional songs from the sessions. Berry’s 13th long-player, Heard Noises became his first to make the Top 30 on its release in January, reaching No 22. Guests on the album include Kitty Liv of Kitty, Daisy And Lewis, Sax Appeal bassist Phil Scragg, Eric D Johnson of Fruit Bats and Orange Is The New Black actor Natasha Lyonne.
The box set features a remix LP, with reworkings by Sean Ono Lennon, Andy Votel, Tennis, ex-Skint Records head Midfield General, Rodeo Clown, Brian Kehew, Project Gemini and – in their first remix for 25 years – Moog Cookbook, aka Brian Kehew and Roger Manning. Further remixes by Ono Lennon and Project Gemini are included on the…
Sometimes, when you mix several disparate flavors together, you get something that tastes like mud. Occasionally, though, you’ll stumble across something delightful that you never previously knew existed. Regarding music, it’s admittedly easier to lean toward the latter outcome. When you start mixing genres, it’s usually a safe bet that you’ll get something that’s at least listenable. When bands like Khruangbin started getting wider airplay, many labelled them “global party music” because they blended various sounds from different parts of the planet into a good time. This is also what German jazz act Muito Kaballa is doing on their fifth album, Tomorrow a Flower. It’s a sharply more pop-oriented affair than what they’ve previously done. However, by stepping in that…
The 6th studio album by Florence + The Machine, 12 new songs + 4 exclusive Chamber Versions.
Since the release of their groundbreaking debut album Lungs in 2009, alt-rock group Florence + The Machine have not only carved their own space in the modern music scene – they have established their own unique world. A sonic and aesthetic domain fueled by rage, the divine feminine and the comfort of witchcraft, Florence + The Machine have become synonymous with the carnal, primal and unknown.
Fronted by the one and only Florence Welch, Florence + The Machine are preparing for the release of their sixth studio album Everybody Scream, out via Polydor Records. The album is destined for a Halloween release…
In the novel Barney’s Version, Mordecai Richler wrote of Montreal that “its salvation [is] the continuing devotion to pleasure by our movers and shakers.” The city exudes a self-assured, continental coolness, and its relative affordability makes it admirably hospitable to its artists. But Richler is right that this coolness takes effort; it’s an act of devotion rather than a natural endowment to the Québécois.
Hélène Barbier is one such devoted mover and shaker. Relocating to Montreal from France some 10-plus years ago, she’s put in the work: first with the lo-fi punk outfit Moss Lime and then as co-founder of label/zine/all-around scene-saver Celluloid Lunch, alongside her equally industrious husband Joe Chamandy of…
Those silhouettes on the cover of Big city life? That’s you and me! Smerz’s latest and best album feels like it was made for projection.
It’s not designed to be relatable, that most cursed descriptor of meaningless contemporary pop, but to be lived in, tailored to your body, snagged on the pedal of a Lime bike. In that sense, it lends itself fabulously to a remix album, and so arrives Big city life EDITS, an album of sinuous reinterpretations that highlights the endless plasticity of Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt’s voices and songwriting.
Across these 14 reworks, 18 acts write artful Smerz fan fiction: For the most part, the duo’s voices are left intact, but layered atop sounds far removed from the original record’s arch,…
Haerts deliver a hushed and folky third album with 2025’s Laguna Road. The album is named after the road where the German-born/longtime Brooklyn-based duo of singer Nini Fabi and instrumentalist Benny Gebert lived and recorded the album in Pasadena, California. They had moved west following the release of 2021’s Dream Nation, as well as the birth of their daughter and were just finishing up the album when the Eaton Fire swept through Pasadena, destroying much of the community where the couple made their home. Consequently, they made the difficult decision to move back east, settling in New York’s Hudson Valley where they prepared the album’s release. Where previous albums showcased the duo’s dreamy synth pop,…
As Farao, Kari Jahnsen has experimented with a range of electronic-acoustic palettes, setting her textured arrangements within indie folk, alt-pop, orchestral rock, glossier electronica settings, and combinations thereof.
With her third album, Magical Thinking, she leans into an R&B-inflected alternative dance sensibility that falls on the sleeker extreme of her output thus far, although it should be noted that both she and producer Ådne Meisfjord (120 Days) are credited with beats, synths, percussion, and, last but not least, zither. So, she hasn’t left her blended, psychedelic-leaning approach behind. It also isn’t entirely club-friendly. The album was recorded between Berlin and Oslo, Jahnsen’s former and re-adopted base, respectively.