THE 10 TOP INDIE SONGS YOU NEED IN YOUR LIFE THIS WEEK

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There was more disappointing news for indie fans last week, when it was announced Coachella was being pushed back to 2022. While it’s looking like we’re going to have to wait a little longer until we can enjoy festivals once again (I’m not sure about you, but I really miss all of that overpriced bottled water and heat exhaustion!), at least there’s plenty of music to get us through life during lockdown. Lana Del Rey dropped a new album on Friday, and she’s just revealed there’s another to come. LDR isn’t the only one treating us to some fresh sounds, however, as we’re about to discover in the latest edition of We Are: The Guard’s Top Indie Songs. Headphones at the ready, then, as it’s time to check out the following 10 tracks from John Errol, Jelani Aryeh, Sorry, and more.

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JOHN ERROL – SOMETIMES

It’s been two years since he sent an earthquake through the blogosphere with “Dead Man Walking” – a song I’ve hardly stopped thinking about since it landed – but John Errol finally returns this Monday with “Sometimes.” Bringing together John’s softly spoken vocals with a Nine Inch Nail-esque churn of liquidy, electronic squelch, “Sometimes” is an at once soothing and chaotic ode to the unpredictability and irrationality of human thought. Inferno is out May 28th.

JELANI ARYEH – MARIGOLD

San Diego’s Jelani Aryeh is feeling mellow yellow on his latest single “Marigold. The follow-up to the rising indie artist’s cover of The xx’s “Angels” is a sun-drenched groover, with Jelani in a state of complete and utter thrall to a lover against golden hints of electric guitars and a bassline that has “bop” written all over it. A summer mixtape essential!

LANA DEL REY – WHITE DRESS

Lana Del Rey is back, baby! As April approaches, LDR returns with a dose of summertime sadness in the form of “White Dress.” The lead single from Chemtrails Over the Country Club is a sunset lament for the balladeer’s days of youth, with Lana showcasing a delicate rasp to her voice as she soaks in the nostalgia: “When I was a waitress wearing a tight dress handling the heat/I wasn’t famous, just listening to Kings of Leon to the beat.”

SORRY – CIGARETTE PACKET

Following on from the release of their critically acclaimed debut album 925 last year, British indie-rock outfit Sorry returns today with “Cigarette Packet.” It’s a paranoid, claustrophobic dive into a fried, short-circuiting nervous system, with angular shards of electric guitars and a relentless cowbell backing lead singer Asha Lorenz’s racing thoughts: “Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear, oh dear/What’s gone and been and happened here?”

SPENCER. – GENESIS (GRIMES COVER)

“Genesis” by Grimes gets a technicolor reinvention this Monday courtesy of Spencer. Lifted from 4AD’s covers compilation Bills & Aches & Blues – which also includes Tkay Maidza’s previously featured take on “Where Is My Mind?” by Pixies – it’s a dreamlike reinterpretation of the Visions banger that hears Spencer. splashing the cut in surreal, saturated tones.

LUCY DACUS – THUMBS

A couple of years or so after it first appeared in live sets – prompting fans to set up a Twitter account in its honor – the mythological “Thumbs” by Lucy Dacus finally gets an official release this March. It’s a crushing, gut-wrenching ballad that places the spotlight almost entirely on Lucy’s voice, allowing the Norfolk, Virginia native to tell her story about a friend meeting their estranged father to devastating effect: “You’ve been in his fist ever since you were a kid/But you don’t owe him shit even if he said you did.”

IOGI – EVERYTHING’S WORTH IT

Having made his debut on We Are: The Guard earlier this year with the interstellar “You\Me\Everyone,” Israel’s iogi returns to our column today with “everything’s worth it.” Featured on his forthcoming album of the same name, it’s a slow-tempo spin on iogi’s cosmic psychedelia that hears the Tel Aviv act tapping into a kind of 60s retro nostalgia as he sings about “changes and disbelief within a relationship.”

CRUMB – TROPHY

Crumb has their eyes on the prize on their latest single “Trophy.” Coming approximately two years after the release of the critically applauded debut album Jinx, “Trophy” is a hypnotic listen that hears the Boston band going even deeper into their psychedelic-lounge haze, with lead singer Lila Ramani’s mantra-esque repetitions pulling us right in there with them. Mesmerizing.

DAD SPORTS – MANY FACES

Ottawa, Canada’s dad sports never fails to make our days a little brighter. Case in point: “MANY FACES.” The latest single to be unveiled from their EP I AM JUST A BOY LEAVE ME ALONE !!! is a tribute to introverts of the world – those who prefer to be alone with their thoughts every once in a while – with dad sports delivering such folks an infectious, vibrant guitar anthem.

YACHT – THEY WANT TO EAT YOUR LUNCH

They recently took on the likes of Joy Division, Aphex Twin, and Sparks as part of their covers album Sub Versions – 100% of the proceeds of which went to One Fair Wage’s emergency fund for tipped workers – and today, Portland’s YACHT is back with “They Want To Eat Your Lunch.” Clocking in at three and a half minutes, it’s an eerie, jagged post-punk piece about the vampires and leeches of the world that I can only describe as disconcertingly groovy.

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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.