TOP INDIE SONGS - WEEK 34

Okay. Let's be honest. The last seven days absolutely, completely sucked. Between the events in Charlottesville and Barcelona, it felt as though a real darkness descended on the world. There were, however, some lighter moments. Like Belle and Sebastian accidentally leaving their drummer in a Walmart in Dickinson. Or Queens of the Stone Age mistakenly appearing on a Gordi album. There was a whole lot of music that was released, too, the very best of which we bring you in the following edition of We Are: The Guard's Top Indie Songs. Just scroll down to discover the latest music from Gabrielle Aplin, Lawrence Rothman, Melkbelly, Cristobal and the Sea, Ritual Talk, and five more.

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GABRIELLE APLIN – WAKING UP SLOW

As she prepares to release her latest EP Avalon in September, Gabrielle Aplin has shared the scintillant “Waking up Slow.” The song marks a significant shift for the Wiltshire chanteuse, who first made a name for herself posting dusky folk covers to YouTube. Featuring Gabrielle singing about a revelatory love (“Oh/All my nights/Taste like gold/Yeah, when I'm with you/It's like everything glows”) over an on-trend tropical pop pulse, “Waking up Slow” couldn't be a more ebullient conclusion to summer.

MANE – WHAT IF THE LOVE DIES

Hailing from Adelaide, Paige Renee Court, who records as MANE, makes her debut on We Are: The Guard with her latest offering “What If the Love Dies.” Coming ahead of her tour of Australia, the song derives its influence from an intense, dramatic, and frustrating long-distance relationship, with MANE's blues-tipped vocals breathing life into lyrics like: “Sick of the phone calls/Sick of no touch.” Directed by Kieran Ellis-Jones, the video is also worth a watch, with MANE seen performing in a blindfold while suspended from the ceiling.

LAWRENCE ROTHMAN (FEAT. MARISSA NADLER) – AIN'T AFRAID OF DYING

Ahead of the release of his debut album The Book of Law in October, Lawrence Rothman has shared “Ain't Afraid of Dying.” A collaboration with Marissa Nadler, it's a plangent piano ballad with a Leonard Cohen-esque gravitas that was written by Lawrence the day after learning a close friend was dying of a rare disease. The video, meanwhile, was directed by the coveted Floria Sigismondi, with the protagonist taking the form of the red-headed Hooky – one of Lawrence's nine alter egos explored in detail in The Book of Law.

G.SMITH – X

G.Smith continues to blur the lines between pop music and experimentalism on “X.” The follow-up to “Life Out” is a mesmerizingly haunting statement of artistic intent. With a Kate Bush-indebted cadence meeting a bricolage beatscape (the production samples a washing machine, among other sounds), “X” is an avant-garde opus that comes accompanied by an enchanting video produced, directed, shot, and edited by the Los Angeles singer-songwriter. “I tried to convey the notion of feeling like a ghost in a relationship, and despite your best efforts, you're not able to be seen,” Smith tells Ones to Watch. Check it out.

MELKBELLY – MIDDLE OF

Chicago's Melkbelly are gearing up to release their debut album Nothing Valley in October, and to celebrate, the Wax Nine signees have shared “Middle Of.” An anxiety-caked belter built upon angular guitar, disorientating drums, and, of course, the maniacal vocals of frontwoman Miranda Winters, the follow-up to “Kid Kreative” is a hyperkinetic ball of nervous energy that comes accompanied by a lo-fi video as directed by Matt Engers and A R M and filmed in Melkbelly's practice space.

CRISTOBAL AND THE SEA – STEAL MY PHONE

Cristobal and the Sea – the London-based collective whose members originate from Portugal, Spain, France, Egypt, and the USA – are dancing their troubles away on their latest single “Steal My Phone.” Featured on Exitoca – their second album, due out in September and described as “a proposed evacuation from the toxic mires of Brexit” – it's a sanguine slice of worldbeat that arrives with a choreography-driven video as directed by Elliott Arndt. “We fancied a little dancing, a little homage to all those cheesy 90s MTV videos we all grew up watching,” Cristobal and the Sea tell Dork. Watch.

RITUAL TALK – SENSE

Brooklyn quintet Ritual Talk continue to refine their multisensory breed of psychedelic folk on their latest single,  the aptly titled “Sense.” The second single to be unveiled from their debut EP Rippled Glass – due out in September – after “Help, I've Been Dreaming” is a dense, meandering odyssey. Starting out as a showcase for the band's lush five-part vocal harmonies, as led by frontman Alex DeSimine, before crescendoing with a fuzz-caked  guitar solo, “Sense” comes paired with a luminescent video as animated by Alex Braddock.

THE DESERT – JUST GET HIGH

Introducing The Desert – the Bristol two-piece comprising of singer-songwriter Gina Leonard and producer Tom Fryer – who make their debut on the blogosophere with the heady “Just Get High.” Featured on their forthcoming first EP Playing Dead, the song is an intoxicating folk-house hybrid – and not in the Avicii sense. With Gina's languid vocals pairing with a swirling mixture of acoustic and electronic guitars and understated beats, “Just Get High” emits an atmospheric warmth that you very much want to linger in.

MASIS – ALWAYS YOU

Following on from the release of “Flesh” in January, Glendale outfit mAsis return this month with another minimalistic dreamscape in the form of “Always You.” Opening with softly rippling synthesizers, before a breathy set of vocalists enter to carry the song to its sentimental, pillowy crescendo, “Always You” is nothing short of an ambient pop masterpiece. “In an age of reformatting, hyper-editing, dragging and dropping, I have something that stays unchanged,” mAsis tell Ones to Watch. Enjoy.

THIRD CULTURE KINGS – DONE AND GONE

Citing everyone from The Velvet Underground, King Tubby, Leonard Cohen, to Africa Bambaataa among their influences, Third Culture Kings – a duo compromising of Glorybox's Jan Johansen and Dälek's Alap Momin – deliver a beguiling blend of genres on their latest single “Done and Gone.” Featured on the band's recent debut album Is That Light You Carry?, the song is a seven-minute dirge that inches along at a ruminative pace, with Jan's tremulous, Lou Reed-esque baritone coming set against a backdrop of complex beats and droning electronic guitar atmospherics.

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See you next Monday. x

“Photo” by Benjamin Voros 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.