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 Indigo De Souza, Father John Misty, Jamie xx, and more.
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Haley Heynderickx – “Foxglove”
On “Foxglove,” Haley Heynderickx unearths a new side of her music. 2018’s I Need to Start a Garden saw the Portland, Oregon artist steep her songs in a contemplative hush. Listening to it felt like lying down in a moss bed, its strong aromas blanketing you in a nature-induced bliss. While “Foxglove,” off her forthcoming second album, Seed of a Seed, draws from lush, verdant scenery, it’s more rambunctious than it lets on. Shuffling ahead at a train groove, Heynderickx employs bluesy acoustic guitar and lockstep upright bass to guide her along. Nature is more than still calm; it’s also wild. “Tell me, what is your dream? / Tell me, truly, is it the city life,” she asks in the opening couplet, all but answering that second question for you. “Foxglove” reckons with the potency of natural beauty. It’s a reminder that, sometimes, the best balm for life’s ailments is to, well, touch grass.
Fievel Is Glauque – “Love Weapon”
The latest single from Fievel Is Glauque actually predates Fievel Is Glauque as a band. Its genesis dates back to 2011 when bandleader Zach Phillips wrote it for his old group, Blanche Blanche Blanche. Here, it has gained new life as a Fievel song with Má Clement’s airy vocals and a ripper of a closing saxophone solo.
Drug Church – “Slide 2 Me”
Prude, the latest album from hardcore greats Drug Church, is almost here, ready to see the world on Oct. 4. Before then, however, the group has shared one final preview in the form of “Slide 2 Me.” It’s quintessential Drug Church: rowdy, catchy, gritty, and delivered with frontman Patrick Kindlon’s unmistakable bark.
Indigo De Souza – Wholesome Evil Fantasy
Fresh off the release of last year’s album All Of This Will End, Indigo De Souza’s surprise-released EP is full of surprises. Wholesome Evil Fantasy, the EP in question, filters the Asheville musician’s jangly, heart-on-sleeve artistry through a zealous zaniness that contains her most danceable, colorful, and poppiest music yet. The end result is closer to Charli XCX than Wednesday. Opening track “Wholesome” is rife with AutoTune and synth-pop production, and “Evil” and “Fantasy” lean on blown-out, hyper-compressed drums that see De Souza embrace a playful guilelessness despite the bleak lyrics. If anything, Wholesome Evil Fantasy sounds fittingly wholesome.
The Armed – “NEW! Christianity”
The Armed have described Everlasting Gaze, an EP hidden in the vinyl edition of last year’s Perfect Saviors, as a cleansing. It’s an appropriate statement for a project centered on crystallizing the Detroit collective’s trilogy of records into a more succinct package. “NEW! Christianity,” originally written as the lead single for Perfect Saviors (and now the lead single of its companion EP), reflects on false idolatry. “A life so painless / Without flaw,” the chorus ends. On their latest single, the Armed aren’t seeking your praise so much as setting themselves up for a new beginning.
Father John Misty – “Screamland”
Josh Tillman is back with a meandering, sprawling ballad, the type he arguably mastered on 2017’s opus Pure Comedy. With “Screamland,” however, one of the singles from the forthcoming Mahashmashana, matters take a shocking turn. Whereas the typical Tillman ballad seldom strays from a piano-and-string foundation, “Screamland” comes armed with bit-crushed, distorted synths and high decibel levels never before reached on a FJM joint. It’s a captivating new angle on a well-established indie artist.
Hey, ily! – “(Dis)connected”
Being terminally online comes with advantages and setbacks. The main setback? You’re terminally online. The main advantage? You make music that sounds as variegated and colorful as Hey, ily!. Caleb Cordes, the Billings, Montana musician whose amalgamation of digicore, emo, and gaming OSTs has placed his five-piece project Hey, ily! within a distinctly online DIY scene, has leveled up his group’s sound like an astute JRPG player. Hey, I Loathe You!, the band’s second album, revitalizes the lo-fi sugar rush and electrogoth of their 2021 EP Internet Breath with a glossy sheen. “I’m so connected that I’m disconnected,” Cordes sings on the chorus of lead single “(Dis)connected,” speaking to the paradoxical isolation of the world wide web. On their latest song, Hey ily! manage to connect their influences in a thrilling, deliriously fun package.
Jamie xx – In Waves
Nearly a decade after his debut solo album, Jamie xx has finally returned with its follow-up. In Waves takes the xx member’s house-inflected beats and dials up the bass and limns it with a shiny polish. Compared to the more outré stylings on its predecessor, Jamie xx’s latest sounds exquisite, fit for a lavish club where you and a room full of strangers while away the nocturnal hours.
Origami Angel – “Sixth Cents (Get It?)”
D.C. emo duo Origami Angel have always been known for their pun-heavy song titles. They parenthetically acknowledge the running gag themselves on “Sixth Cents (Get It?),” another preview of the forthcoming Feeling Not Found. That playful spirit takes shape in the music itself, too. Ryland Heagy’s sticky-sweet vocal melodies and Pat Doherty’s kinetic, double-bass drumming all but ensure that you get more than just a bit. You get Origami Angel.
Blackstarkids – Saturn Dayz
Kansas City trio Blackstarkids recently shared the news of their imminent hiatus. It’s uncertain how long the break will last, but they’ve given us one more album to tide us over. Given that it’s possibly their last, Saturn Dayz encapsulates the core Blackstarkids sound into a dozen infectious tunes. From the ironically upbeat “Killjoy” to the deep grooves undergirding “Modern Happiness,” this album reminds us why Blackstarkids will be sorely missed.