NEW INDIE MUSIC - WEEK 35

If “Look What You Made Me Do” has left you fearing for the future of music, then rest assured that not every song unleashed onto the blogosphere over the last seven days was as pathetically petty as Taylor Swift's comeback single. As a matter of fact, it's been a spectacular week for sounds, and as we turn to September and the arrival of fall, we can't help but feel excitement at what the remainder of 2017 has to offer in terms of releases. Don't take our word for it, however! Hear it for yourself by hitting play on yet another edition of We Are: The Guard's New Indie Music, featuring METZ, MUTEMATH, LCD Soundsystem, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Alice Glass, and five other favorites.

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METZ – MESS OF WIRES

Canadian noise rockers METZ have let loose the first single from their forthcoming third album. “Mess of Wires,” which arrives ahead of Strange Peace, due out in September, is the purgative crusher that we all need in the age of Donald Trump and the alt-right, with frontman Alex Edkins sneering against a relentless, aggressive blitzkrieg of grit and distortion. “It's about speaking your mind,” write METZ of “Mess of Wires” on their Facebook page. “Attempts to incite division and fear through intimidation and violence have no place in this world. Racists and neo-Nazis fuck off.”

TUSKS – DISSOLVE

Ahead of the release her debut album Dissolve in October, English singer-songwriter Emily Underhill, or Tusks, has shared the dimly lit video for the lead single of the same name. Directed by Ludovic & Zotto, it's a film noir-style clip that features a couple of modern romantics fighting in the street. With their every move conveying the flame and fury of young love, it's a decadent watch that only serves to elevate the already sweepingly grand “Dissolve” to even more majestic heights.

J.VIEWS (FEAT. BENJA LYMAN) – WE MOVED

In 2014, J.Views launched The DNA Project, a musical platform which gave fans access to every step of the production process of his third album, 401 Days, and three years on, the New York artist continues to interact with listeners with the video for album highlight, the Benja Lyman-featuring “We Moved.” Comprised of footage of J.Views fans dancing in public places, from Big Ben to the Kremlin, the Tal Zagreba and Niv Shpigel-directed clip is a profoundly affecting watch, reminding us of the importance of creative expression if we hope to move through life without fear or prejudice.

MUTEMATH – WAR

Following on from “Hit Parade” and “Stroll On,” MUTEMATH have shared another cut from their forthcoming fifth album. “War,” as featured on Play Dead, due out in September, is perhaps best described as the sound of the America post-apocalypse made flesh. “The war is my nature,” sings frontman Paul Meany amid shape-shifting chaos and disorder, his falsetto wail calmly cutting through nervy rhythms and blistering guitar riffs. “I keep finding counterpoints to every point and they nag me like a bill collector out to drain me of any currency of optimism,” Meany tells Noisey of “War,” which comes accompanied by a video directed by Daniel Bowen. “Maybe this constant trial of ideas is life.”

ANNA OF THE NORTH – MONEY

As they prepare to release their debut album Lovers in September, Norway-via-New Zealand's Anna of the North – comprising of singer-songwriter Anna Lotterud and multi-instrumentalist Brady Daniell-Smith – have offered up “Money.” Coming after “Someone,” it's a dazzling listen, with a production that comes rooted in 80s-indebted electronic pop. Lotterud, meanwhile, provides a vivacious vocal counterpart, with the frontwoman heard pleading with a boy to ditch his gold-digger girlfriend. “'Money' goes out to all those fake ass people,” write Anna of the North in a press release. “Users who use those around them; for money, for status, for fame.”

LCD SOUNDSYSTEM – TONITE

With four days to go until they release their long-awaited post-retirement album American Dream, LCD Soundsystem have shared another groove-riddled teaser. “Everybody's singing the same song/It goes 'tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight, tonight,'” begins “Tonite,” a squelchy disco boogie that frontman James Murphy inevitably morphs into an existential musing on his own mortality. The band have also unveiled a video for the cut. Directed by Joel Kefali, the retro clip sees LCD Soundsystem performing on an old-school rotating stage, with Murphy reciting lyrics into a vintage tape machine.

GORDI – BITTER END

Gordi released her much-anticipated debut album Reservoir last Friday, and to celebrate, the Australian chanteuse has shared the video for the lush, sprawling “Bitter End.” Directed by Michael Beets, the clip – which is also available to watch in 360 – focuses on a wooden puppet, who passes his sad, lonely existence by dancing and gazing at the stars. It's a highly affecting watch that resonates deep in the soul, with Gordi's timeless balladry only adding to the emotionality.

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH – FIREPROOF

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, the Internet's original buzz band, return after a three-year hiatus with “Fireproof.” The centerpiece of their recent fifth album The Tourist, the song finds Clap Your Hands Say Yeah augmenting their plucky indie with more electronic-oriented textures, resulting in a forward-thinking groove that frontman Alec Ounsworth tells NPR is about “trying to win people over and then, once you have, trying to let them go.” He continues: “To be 'fireproof' in this context is to be dangerously self-confident – to have the capacity to try almost anything. The regret comes later.”

ALICE GLASS – BLOOD OATH

Alice Glass seeks revenge amid smoke and strobe lights on her latest single “Blood Oath.” Featured on her recent self-titled debut EP, the song is an ear-pummelling piece of cacophonous electronic pop that finds the former Crystal Castles lead singer making like a more unhinged Grimes, with a glitched-out Glass taking on the role of “a teenage girl being preyed upon and taken advantage of by an older man” over a club-primed combination of hard-hitting drums and industrial dissonance.

SEAVERA – CITY

Hailing from Australia, Seavera sculpt heartache and rejection into something inky and enchanting on their latest single “City.” With lead singer Tori Zietsch's tremulous vocals bleeding a potent blend of hurt, anger, and disappointment over a luscious bed of guitar chords and electronic drums courtesy of producer Daniel Pinkerton, “City” is a darkly alluring ode to a relationship that doesn't progress beyond the physical, with Zietsch at one point emoting: “You can't learn somebody/In the swirl of their sheets.”

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“Photo” by Yingchou Han is licensed under CC0 1.0 (cropped and resized).

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.