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 Fantasy Of A Broken Heart, Julien Baker, FKA Twigs, and more.
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Sun June – “41 Dollars”
Austin indie rock outfit Sun June are back with their first piece of new music since last year’s gorgeous Bad Dream Jaguar. “41 Dollars,” as vocalist Laura Colwell puts it, is about “listening to men talk,” the sonic equivalent of “nodding your head in exaggerated agreement and smiling through it.” It coasts along on a diaphanous mix of light percussion, acoustic guitars, and Colwell’s gossamer voice.
Julien Baker & Calvin Lauber – “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying”
Julien Baker has been playing some shows here and there, but we know little of what her follow-up to 2021’s Little Oblivions will be like. Although there’s still no news on that front, she recently shared a stirring collaboration with producer Calvin Lauber in the form of a Belle and Sebastian cover for TRAИƧA, Red Hot’s concept album out this Friday. Their take on “Get Me Away From Here I’m Dying,” which also features Quinn Christopherson and SOAK, is an exercise in anthemic indie-rock, built on towering, post-rock-esque guitars and dense, layered vocals. It opens up the original from a quintessentially twee tune to something epic and grand.
Beirut – “Caspian Tiger”
Last year, Zach Condon (AKA Beirut) released the spellbinding Hadsel, a record that saw the indie rocker flirt with the baroque orchestrations that have long been a staple of his catalog. On “Caspian Tiger,” a single written for a Swedish circus company’s stage adaptation of a Judith Shalansky novel, Condon reconnects with his love of choral arrangements. It’s anchored in gorgeous, swelling vocals that threaten to swallow the song whole, just before they recede into the background. As his latest track shows, Condon remains a compositional wizard.
Yaeji & Teddy Geiger – “Pink Ponies”
Halfway through the process of writing “Pink Ponies,” a track from Red Hot’s forthcoming TRAИƧA, Teddy Geiger’s new friend Pearl had unexpectedly died. Working through this loss, Geiger wrote the first two verses of her new song. “What could I mean to a pearl in the sparkling depth of the sea / Somewhere far out of reach,” go her opening lines. Electronic artist Yaeji handles the closing verses, singing in Korean as the swelling instrumentation behind her carries both musicians to its denouement, their two voices coming together in a fog of cavernous reverb.
Los Campesinos! – More Hell
Over the summer, Welsh emo collective Los Campesinos! released All Hell, their first new album since 2017. As someone who would happily take more All Hell, I’m delighted to report that their surprise-released EP, More Hell, delivers on its titular promise. Composed of acoustic renderings of five album cuts, plus a closing cover of The Secret Stars’ “Wait,” More Hell couldn’t sound more heavenly.
Geologist & D.S. – “Route 9 Falls”
As Brian “Geologist” Weitz and Doug Shaw demonstrate, the best music can sometimes result from captured moments that cannot be made again. A Shaw Deal, their first collaborative record, began as improvisations on guitar that Shaw posted on Instagram. As a birthday present for Shaw, Geologist ran the audio from those extemporaneous performances through modular gear, so he could then tell his friend that “you made a record, you just didn’t know it.” That spirit of camaraderie weaves itself throughout the duo’s kaleidoscopic abstractions on its lead single, “Route 9 Falls,” Shaw’s transmuted guitar cascading up and down in the mix like a waterfall. While those spontaneous guitar sessions can never be recreated note for note, they’ve now been granted a more permanent existence.
Hotline TNT – “4 Shadow”
One of the best new shoegaze/indie-rock bands around right now is Hotline TNT, whose 2023 album Cartwheel is easily one of the best records of the decade so far. The New York group is back with a remastered and reissued version of their 2019 compilation LP, Trilogy, which features two new tracks tacked on at the end. “4 Shadow,” the first of those two new songs, is pure Hotline TNT: explosive drums and grainy guitars caked in a wall of fuzz.
FKA twigs – “Drums Of Death”
In just a couple of months, FKA twigs will release Eusexua, a clear contender for one of 2025’s early highlights. “Drums Of Death,” the latest preview, is perhaps its clubbiest offering yet. Produced by Koreless, its chopped-up vocal samples, stop-and-start sawtooth synths, and punchy dance drums make it an immediate standout in twigs’ stellar discography.
Sasami – “Just Be Friends”
On her last album, 2022’s Squeeze, Sasami Ashworth dabbled in nü-metal and gothic imagery, exemplified by tracks like “Skin A Rat” and her menacing adaptation of Daniel Johnston’s “Sorry Entertainer.” Now, on the upcoming Blood On The Silver Screen, Sasami plays into her poppiest impulses. “Just Be Friends,” her newest single, mines the yearning of country music with a synth-pop sheen. “Stealing sad kisses and leave me in the rain / I promised myself I’d never end up here again,” she sings in the chorus. Somehow, heartbreak sounds good in a place like this.
Fantasy Of A Broken Heart – “Found You Again”
One of the most intoxicating, delightfully heady debuts of 2024 is Feats Of Engineering by Fantasy Of A Broken Heart, the experimental pop duo consisting of Bailey Wollowitz and Al Nardo. They’re back with a new single and Jordana collaboration, “Found You Again,” a track that’s among their more accessible, conventional material, but for Fantasy Of A Broken Heart, nothing is truly conventional. There’s the melodic, arpeggiated guitar that, moments later, transmogrifies into tempestuous squalls, which then turns into a syncopated dance beat with handclaps. Like the best FoaB songs, it’s full of thrilling hairpin turns.