Indie music has grown to include so much. It’s not just music that is released on independent labels but speaks to an aesthetic that deviates from the norm and follows its own weirdo heart. It can come in the form of rock music, pop, or folk. In a sense, it says as much about the people that are drawn to it as it does about the people that make it.
Every week, Uproxx is rounding up the best new indie music from the past seven days. This week we got new music from Boygenius, The Drums, Metric, L’Rain, and more.
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Helena Deland – Goodnight Summerland
Canadian singer-songwriter Helena Deland writes gentle, bucolic music that feels peaceful despite the heart-wrenching subject material. Her sophomore record, Goodnight Summerland, is a gorgeous paean to her hometown that also pays homage to her late mother. Deland’s cooing voice and finger-picked guitars make for some of the most pensive, beautiful music released this year.
The Drums – Jonny
Jonny Pierce has come a long way from wanting to go surfing. Though menace has always lurked just beneath the surface in The Drums’ music, it has never been as utterly present as it is on the group’s forthcoming sixth album, Jonny. Reckoning with Pierce’s hyper-religious upbringing in upstate New York that has left him estranged from his biological family, Jonny is his most autobiographical record yet. Lyrically, it doesn’t shy away from the baleful undercurrents that have powered his work. Even with surf-rock-adjacent guitars (“Isolette”) and high BPMs (“I’m Still Scared”), Jonny refuses to hide behind a facade of any kind.
L’Rain – I Killed Your Dog
I Killed Your Dog is a fairly jarring title for an album. It immediately grabs your attention, unapologetic for any discomfort it stirs. Of course, that’s come to be expected from an artist like L’Rain, real name Taja Cheek, whose music is intentionally inscrutable. On I Killed Your Dog, however, Cheek embraces something a little less elliptical. Like Yves Tumor accomplished on 2020’s Heaven To A Tortured Mind, Cheek’s subversion of rock music is still enticingly experimental. She flouts rock’s traditional structures by confronting them head-on in songs like “Pet Rock” and “New Year’s UnResolution.” The end result is as delightfully confounding as ever.
Metric – Formentera II
Named after a small, Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea, Formentera is a place that ringleaders Emily Haines and James Shaw became infatuated with when they stumbled upon it in a travel book while in their Toronto studio. Because travel was impossible, the Canadian indie rockers fantasized about this “dream destination,” and Formentera II, much like its predecessor last year, is about creating mental escapism when literal, physical escape is unfeasible.
Vyva Melinkolya – “Doomer GF Song”
Stillness is one of slowcore’s essential components. Vyva Melinkolya, the rising Louisville slowcore artist, makes the genre sound equally melancholic and vivacious, a heady combination that cements her as one of the most affecting songwriters in her discipline. Melinkolya’s new single, “Doomer GF Song,” is the perfect thesis statement for her mesmerizing tapestries of enveloping soundscapes and skeletal vocals. On Orbweaving, her collaborative album with heaven-metal pioneer Midwife from earlier this year, Melinkolya embraced a full-on ambient approach. Contrast that with “Doomer GF Song,” which sees her meeting the middle point between ambient, shoegaze, and slowcore.
Boygenius – The Rest
The indie trio comprising Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus, and Julien Baker has accumulated an immense fanbase since their 2018 eponymous EP, and each of its members has garnered only more fame and acclaim in the years since. After Bridgers, Dacus, and Baker all released sterling solo records, it seemed unlikely that we’d receive new Boygenius this early, or even at all, for that matter. But they’re back in top form. Despite releasing their great debut LP earlier this year, they’ve also shared The Rest EP, and, like its predecessor, it’s an endearing display of their friendship and camaraderie.
Bar Italia – “Jelsy”
Back in May, the London post-punk trio Bar Italia released their third full-length album, Tracey Denim. They’re already about to follow it up with The Twits in early November, and “Jelsy” is the latest taste they’ve offered. Mellower in tone than previous single “My Little Tony,” “Jelsy” showcases Bar Italia’s melodic side, led by acoustic guitar chords and hushed vocals.
Glass Beach – “The CIA”
Glass Beach are back with their first new music since their wonderfully titled 2019 debut LP, The First Glass Beach Album. The Los Angeles-based group returns with the emo-prog single, “The CIA.” It’s everything you love about this band in four-and-half minutes: It’s mathy, grandiose, cathartic, and, above all, a lot of damn fun.
Pinkshift – Suraksha
Baltimore trio Pinkshift are one of the most exciting pop-punk bands doing it right now. Last year’s Love Me Forever, their debut album, was more than enough to show why. Now, they’ve reunited with legendary punk producer Will Yip for a new, three-song EP, Suraksha, which is a Hindu word borrowed from Sanskrit that embraces security and safety.
Hotline TNT — “Out Of Town”
There’s no doubt that shoegaze is having a moment. This year alone, we’ve witnessed the reunion of Drop Nineteens, the return of Slowdive, and the ascendance of up-and-comers like Wednesday and Feeble Little Horse. Riding that latest wave is Hotline TNT, the noisy yet melodic lo-fi project led by Will Anderson. Next month, he’s slated to release his second album as Hotline TNT, Cartwheel, which is also his first for Jack White’s label, Third Man Records. It may seem like an odd pairing on paper, but, frankly, Anderson seems right at home with his scuzzy, sticky-sweet guitar arrangements. “Out Of Town,” the latest preview, is further evidence of that. Like if Alex G’s sole pedal was a Big Muff Pi, “Out Of Town” is noisy yet tuneful in all the right places.
