Angela Sclafani brings vintage charm on How We Meet. Nashville swagger with an indie sensibility, it’s a pleasant combination of style and melodic intellect. In the vein of a classic songwriter the hook sinks into you. It doesn’t need to be overpowering, its a function of how the compositional changes catch you. As a songwriter Sclafani recalls emerging icons Norah Jones and Brandi Carlile, with a touch of indie pomp known to Kathleen Edwards and Big Thief. Sclafani is considerably more polished than Big Thief, but she shares their penchant for innovation with a classic appeal.
How We Meet adds an additional shade to Sclafani‘s stylistic spectrum. We were similarly smitten by her impressive Bell Jar, though we would say How We Meet is arguably more immediately gratifying. Regardless, both tracks display the artists dynamic while staying within an aesthetic framework. Sclafani’s flying too far under the radar, How We Meet should please an NPR audience addicted to sentimental melodies dressed in modern fashion.
Enjoy How We Meet now on our Best New Indie Playlist
Doglover95 honors the legacy of experimental producers before the advent of digital recording tech with their incredible new single CITY LIFE. Featuring the beautiful voices of Fredrik Høyer and Dorothea Økland, the song at its core is a charming JOBIM era folk guitar duet. The way that it is presented, however, is an elegant sonic art piece. It baffles us that more producers don’t take advantage of the sonic potential our new digital era offers. Doglover95 embraces its utility. The affect harkens to the experimental 60s and how samples first found their way into pop through works by George Martin and encouragements by filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard.
CITY LIFE is immersive. The lyrical content turns dark and pulls at your unconscious. There’s a dark and sexy underlayer lent by the raw appeal of the contributing voices. They all sound a little ragged and worn from the underworld and all of it’s vices. CITY LIFE would appeal to fans of JOJI and Frank Ocean. Like those artists, it finds a way to pull innovations out of a contemporary composition.
Hear CITY LIFE now on our Best New Indie Playlist
We were drawn into the hypnotic beauty of Pink Lagoon, the new single from Invisible Light Agency. A clever composition, the unassuming chorus hooks you with its variable contrast. The musical moods whiplash between a contemplative jesture and dreamy melodic oasis. Relentless percussive pickups swoop you in and out of the melodic place marks before finally settling into a closing soundscape to ride you to the finish.
A solid addition to the world of psych pop, Invisible Light Agency brings elements of acid jazz into the aura of dream pop. It feels inspired from contributions known to Zappa, with modern indie intellect in the spirit of King Gizzard and Sports. The group is eager to embrace the obscure, providing a list of similar artists that include less travelled underground offerings like The Raincoats and Quarteto Em Cy. Despite their off the trail inclinations, Pink Lagoon has widespread potential. Melodic offerings this rare are hard to ignore.
Enjoy Pink Lagoon now on our Best New Indie Playlist.
We were entranced by the haunting appeal of My Time Will Come Again, the new single from Badlands. Exotic and ethereal, an eastern melodic palette brings foreign desert vibes. There’s an element of Trip Hop, remnants of vibes known to Thievery Corporation, mixed with the psychedelic appeal of Blonde Redhead. The intense layered production and dynamic instrumentation have cinematic flair.
The artist Catharina Jaunviksna who releases her works as Badlands is a revelation. Mixing an international percussion palette with strings and sonic samples inspire comparisons to multi dimensional composers like Hans Zimmer. Badlands enhance it all with an otherworldly vocal, mixed to sound like a sprite conjured from the never world. The lyrical value suggests she’s risen to reclaim her honor in a fury of vengeance that will turn her interpretive beauty even more elusive and rare. That is to say “rare” much like the project itself, which stands alone in sonic presence and presentation.
Enjoy My Time Will Come Again now on our Best New Indie Playlist.
The Wild Is Calling 