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 Alvvays, Sharon Van Etten, Weyes Blood, and more.
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Alvvays — Blue Rev
This Canadian band’s new album Blue Rev is a comeback of sorts, seeing as their last LP arrived over five years ago. They picked a perfect time to share the lush, 14-track project since it arrived just in time for sweater weather. Tracks like “Very Online Guy” and “Tom Verlaine” makes it clear the band is holding on to the fuzzy, dream-pop sound fans know and love, but updated for the year 2022.
Sorry — Anywhere But Here
Fontaines DC lead singer Grian Chatten called this UK post-punk group “genius,” and their sophomore album Anywhere But Here proves why. It flows between moody, dark jams like “Key To The City,” stripped-back ballads like “Quit While You’re Ahead,” fuzzy jams like “There’s So Many People That Want To Be Loved,” and joyous anthems like “Let The Lights On.”
Dayglow — People In Motion
It might be the time of the year when we begin to break out the blankets and cozy up, but Dayglow just dropped a celebratory album fit to soundtrack sunnier days. His third LP People In Motion is groovy, danceable, and aptly titled since it makes you want to get up and move. With tracks like “Then It All Goes Away” and “Radio,” Dayglow’s new release is exactly the kind up upbeat music we need to stave off seasonal affective disorder.
Disq — Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet
Buzzy Wisconsin-based five-piece Disq first set themselves ahead from the pack with their 2020 debut LP, but now, they are showing off their playful and dynamic approach to songwriting with their sophomore effort, Desperately Imagining Someplace Quiet. The album as a whole combines driving riffs, pastoral anthems like “Prize Contest Life,” and simmering power chords on tracks like “(With Respect To) Loyal Serfs.”
Jean Dawson — Chaos Now*
Jean Dawson has already positioned himself a pop-punk innovator with his 2020 album Pixel Bath, but this week’s new LP Chaos Now* cements his trailblazing status. The album is filled with biting hooks on tracks like “Glory*” and revved-up hits like “Pirate Radio*” that carry both a swaggering and vulnerable edge.
Will Sheff — Nothing Special
It might come as a surprise that Will Sheff dropped his moniker Okkervil River two decades after his initial debut, but his new album Nothing Special‘s haunting, stripped-back sound gives a clear reason for the name change. The album is a sprawling reflection on past ambitions and realigning a sense of self, complete with heart-tugging prose and atmospheric production.
Sharon Van Etten — “Never Gonna Change”
Sharon Van Etten released her standout album We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong earlier this year, but now the venerable indie musician is readying a deluxe version with a few new singles. One of those is “Never Gonna Change,” a cathartic ballad that shows off the singer’s ability to create an enveloping and emotionally charged tune.
Sigur Rós — “Untitled #7”
Icelanders Sigur Rós are breathing new life into their past songs and celebrating the 20-year anniversary of their breakthrough album () by remastering it. The new version of the album includes b-sides and never-before-heard singles alongside new versions of the classic album tracks, including the stirring number “Untitled #7.” The 12-minute epic takes the band’s boundary-pushing catalog to soaring new heights and is a reminder of the group’s cutting-edge sound.
Weyes Blood – “Grapevine”
Weyes Blood, aka songwriter Natalie Mering, has a unique ability to translate social ills into gripping ballads. Her 2019 LP Titanic Rising took aim at climate catastrophe, but her latest song “Grapevine” leans on her recognizably poignant vocals to unpack stubbornness in a relationship. “Technology is harvesting our attention away from each other,” she says of the song. “We all have a ‘Grapevine’ entwined around our past with unresolved wounds and pain. Being in love doesn’t necessarily mean being together. Why else do so many love songs yearn for a connection?”
Fever Ray – “What They Call Us”
Karin Dreijer, the pioneering mind behind Fever Ray, returned this week with their first new music since 2017. The single, “What They Call Us,” mixes an industrial beat with a reverberating cello and, like Fever Ray’s previous works, is enchanting, eccentric, and just a touch unsettling.