#indie-electro

New York is my favorite track off St. VIncent’s brilliant 2017 album Masseduction. And Refs has been a long time love here on IHM, with our fervent praise for the NYC duo stretching as far back as over four years ago. So it probably makes perfect sense that I would fall for the pair’s cover of New York, lifted from new EP, Now. They infuse New York with their subtly glitchy beats and smooth cooing on their beautiful rendition, which joins three other fine tracks on their new EP, like opening track Bones, which is featured in Apple’s iPhone 11 Pro global launch video. Stream that bold brooding, heavy and hypnotic effusion of alt pop and indie electro, below. Refs’ Now EP is available on major digital services, here.

I never really thought about it until now, but when its midnight, it’s also morning, isn’t it? And to delve even deeper, the moment the clock strikes twelve is a clashing point of precarious unknowns, when the night’s reckless adventures meet the inquisitive quietude of morning. Perhaps that’s what drove Morning Midnight to name themselves so. They’re known to strike a balance between intimate and intense, and their new single Hearts A Mess is a straight shot for my own messy heart. It’s a restlessly contemplative beauty that shirks genre classification with modulated vocals and a pensively melancholic tone. Shades of Imogen Heap, The Japanese House, A R I Z O N A, and Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) can be found coursing through its sparse soundscape. Hearts A Mess dives headfirst into heavy themes of depression and isolation, familiar ground for night owls who face that midnight moment regularly. It’s a time when past haunts and future looms. Speaking on the track, the band states: “It’s a song that talks about coping with the struggle of doubt and self-preservation that come with trying to pursue your dreams. It's me battling internally with the feelings of isolation from the people I care for and questioning if I can go on. Listening to the verses the words might come across as bleak but the chorus intentionally both asks the question and answers it, ending with a feeling of resolution and hope.” Hearts A Mess follows on the rather mysterious duo’s debut Ancoats Junction, which you’ll find below. Keep up to date with the intriguing new duo, here.

Jamie Sierota, formerly of Echosmith, sure knows how to push the right “buttons” with his solo project meija. Buttons is the Los Angeles producer and songwriter’s second single, a luminescent cascade of chillewavey indie pop and indie-electro with twinkling beats and dreamy shimmers. It’s a light and airy, balmy and sunlit frolic steeped in optimism and warmth. meija already turned heads and perked ears when he made his debut a few months ago with I Already Said That I Love You, streaming below. With Buttons, he solidifies himself as a notable newcomer in the indie scene. His mosaic production and patchwork arrangements are sophisticated and entangling, yet unpretentious, like veracious percolations of the porous heart. Listen to meija on Spotify, here.

If you ever wondered what it might sound like to mix the sooty drawl Sir Sly, the muggy heat of The Neighbourhood, the electro ambiance of Mansionair, and the gooey slink of Glass Animals, you might find the answer in Dear Pressure, a budding new act based out of Toronto. Though By Number is our first encounter with the pair, it’s by far not their very first single. The group made their debut with their indie electro sounds a year ago, turning heads and perking ears with Never. They continue to make a lasting mark on the scene with By Number as they prepare to release an EP named ‘swimdrown’ soon. Like a “paint by numbers” coloring book (but without the numbers to guide their inherent talent), Dear Pressure adroitly fuses genres and creates a masterful tapestry of texture and sound on their viscous and sticky, sultry and molten song. Dear Pressure’s prior release, Stories, is a twilight ambler with a dreamy soulfulness that leaves us swooning in bliss. Stream Stories below. Keep up with the intriguing Canadian act, here.

5 Years Time is ONR’s second single from his forthcoming debut EP, and with it, he’s thoroughly entrapped our souls and moved our hearts with the Scottish indie-electronic artist’s vast sprawling, melodic sweeping sound. The ear-turning alt talent infuses his music with a eclectic array of rock, new wave, electro, and pop to give us his high flying, synth florid music. At certain turns and swells, 5 Years Time nearly feels like The Killers’ more electronic based offerings crossed with Cold War Kids’ bluesy timbre. Despite its moody composite, 5 Years Time contains a glimmer of hope. It’s an anthem about keeping faith, and we most certainly need a boost when it comes to looking forward to the years ahead. Stream 5 Years Time via Spotify, here.

 Chorus

Beautifully dusky harmonies and a delicate melange of dream pop, indie-electro, and indie folk draw us into teepee’s atmospheric yet lushly produced No Reason. The arresting song melds the mellifluous smoothness of Oh Wonder with the ambient, tenderly progressing backdrops of The xx and Daughter. teepee is a spellbinding collaboration from Prague between singer/acoustic guitarist Miroslav Patočka (Mason) and singer/electric guitarist Tereza Lavičková. No Reason arrives on Springstoff Records after the pair have already garnered over 200 thousand Spotify streams with their prior singles. Tereza gives her insight: “No Reason’ is a very important song for me. It tells a story about our history where men and women grew apart. We created ridiculous binarities of masculinity and femininity that has been damaging our minds and souls for centuries and we claim that it's natural. We make wonderlands out of each other saying that someone is not able to be or do something because of their gender. I think that the most dangerous phenomenon in the world is when one group calls the other group ‘The Others’ because most of the time it leads to injustice. That is why the message of the song is that we should leave behind the dichotomies. There is no reason to keep them because all genders are splendid.” Listen to teepee on Spotify, here.