BEST INDIE SONGS - WEEK 6

by Jess Grant
2/4/19

Are you still feeling hungover after yesterday's Super Bowl celebrations?! I feel your pain. A Maroon 5 halftime show is enough to leave anyone with nausea and a sandpaper tongue ;-). Fear not, however: We Are: The Guard is here to help you flush all traces of a shirtless Adam Levine 'n' company out of your system this Monday morning with the latest edition of Best Indie Songs. Headphones and Berocca at the ready, then, as it's time to check out the following tracks from Billie Eilish, Jenny Lewis, Florence + The Machine, Broods, Bring Me the Horizon, and more!

-

BILLIE EILISH –  BURY A FRIEND

Halloween has come early! Following on from the announcement that she's set to release her debut album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? in March, Billie Eilish has shared “bury a friend.” Written from the perspective of a monster under the 17-year-old's bed, it's a certifiably creepy three and a half minutes that hears Billie's Prismizer vocals meeting a “Black Skinhead”-style beat. The video is the definition of nightmare fuel, too, with The Curse of La Llorona's Michael Chaves acting as director.

 

JENNY LEWIS – RED BULL & HENNESSY

Hot damn! Ex-Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis is showcasing her smoldering side on the first taste from her forthcoming album On the Line. “I'm about to get wicked/You got me lyin' on my back/Hallelu,” begins “Red Bull & Hennessy,” a rolling pop-rock anthem that hears Jenny channeling her inner Stevie Nicks over big, bluesy guitars and crashing drums.

 

HÆLOS – KYOTO

Coinciding with the announcement that they're set to release their album Any Random Kindness in May, HÆLOS have shared the haunting “Kyoto.” With Lotti Benardout and Arthur Delaney trading vocals atop a bed of dampened, Thom Yorke-esque pianos (see: “Guess Again!” from Tomorrow's Modern Boxes), “Kyoto” is an eerie lullaby that HÆLOS say is intended as a critique of “politicians who prioritize economics above the environment.”

 

FLORENCE + THE MACHINE – MODERATION

Having announced that she's set to headline Governors Ball this summer, Florence + The Machine has shared “Moderation.” The follow-up to 2018's High as Hope is a gigantic gospel-rock stomper that, far from what the song title suggests, hears Florence Welch going all out, with the British powerhouse belting out a vocal like her life depends on it against a cinematic backdrop of handclaps and church choirs.

 

BETTER OBLIVION COMMUNITY CENTER – DYLAN THOMAS

A Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst music video, as directed by Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast. Tell me, what more could you ask for from an indie column?!

 

NILÜFER YANYA – IN YOUR HEAD

Ahead of the release of her debut album Miss Universe in March, British singer-songwriter Nilüfer Yanya has shared “In Your Head.” The track hears Nilüfer delivering perhaps her most attitude-packed vocal performance to date, with the 23-year-old coming at listeners like a gnarly slap to the face against a backdrop of fuzz-caked guitars.

 

INJURY RESERVE (FEAT. RICO NASTY & PRO TEENS) – JAWBREAKER

Injury Reserve are back and packing a helluva a punch on their brand new single “Jawbreaker.” With its lack of drums and unnerving sense of space, the song makes for an intensely disorientating listen throughout its three-and-a-half-minute duration, with Injury Reserve lyrically going after everything from hypebeast culture to streetwear models like Ian Connor, who continues to work in the industry despite facing multiple accusations of rape and sexual assault.

 

BROODS – FALLING APART

New Zealand sibling duo Broods prove that pop monsters have feelings too on their dreamy latest single. “There's a hole in the head/There's a hole in the heart/There's a hole in the wall/That wasn't there in the start,” sings Georgia Nott on “Falling Apart,” an Auto-Tuned ode to the disenchanted that Broods reveal that they wrote following the election in 2016. “It felt like the echo chamber shattered and to a lot of people we knew, everything was falling apart.” Listen.

 

BRING ME THE HORIZON (FEAT. GRIMES) – NIHILIST BLUES

Bring Me the Horizon continue to move in a more dance-oriented direction on their brand new single. Featured on their recent album amo, the Grimes-assisted club banger “nihilist blues” hears the former metalcore outfit embracing everything “big room,” with lyrical themes of disillusionment and existential dread getting lost amid a haze of laser beams and smoke machines.
 

 

THESE NEW PURITANS – INSIDE THE ROSE

In March, These New Puritans are set to return after six years with Inside the Rose, and this month, the gothic-rock duo have shared the title track. Clocking in at just under five minutes, it's the kind of song that makes you feel like you're walking through a basement club lit by candles and draped in crushed velvet, with neoclassical strings and techno beats backing Jack Barnett as he asks “Inside the rose/How does it grow?/How can you know?/Where does it go?” (Did I mention that this video is NSFW?!)

-

Until next time, why not follow We Are: The Guard's Best Indie Daily! on Spotify for more music?! x

 

Photo by Thorpe Mayes IV on Unsplash

 

 

youtube

Jess Grant is a frustrated writer hailing from London, England. When she isn't tasked with disentangling her thoughts from her brain and putting them on paper, Jess can generally be found listening to The Beatles, or cooking vegetarian food.