THE TOP INDIE SONGS YOU NEED IN YOUR EARS THIS WEEK

by Jess Grant
5/18/20

Just think about it: We're in the middle of an unprecedented global pandemic and life is more restricted than it's ever been. And yet, somehow, artists around the world are continuing to find ways to bring meaning to our lives with their music. I'm not sure about you guys, but it's thanks to their boundless that I'm basically getting through this shiz. That, and Animal Crossing, of course. With another week of lockdown ahead of us, then, let's get Monday morn' started the only way we know how to with the latest edition of We Are: The Guard's Top Indie Songs, featuring KennyHoopla, The 1975, Perfume Genius, and more...!

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KENNYHOOPLA – PLASTIC DOOR///

Make no mistake about it: KennyHoopla is bringing The Indie Banger™ back in a big way and that's never been more evident than it is on “Plastic Door///.” The follow-up to “the world is flat and this is the edge//” hears the Wisconsin act continuing to reinvent that mid-to-late 00s sound for the modern age, with jangling guitars coming bound up with Kenny's existential, angst-riddled lyrics for a future-nostalgic indie slapper like no other.

 

THE 1975 – GUYS

With only four days to go until the release of Notes on a Conditional Form, The 1975 are concluding their early singles campaign on the most endearing note possible with “Guys.” A sequel of sorts to 2013's “Girls,” “Guys” is a flutteringly soft love letter addressed from Matty Healy to his three bandmates, with Matty catching feels as he sings of two decades of friendship: “The moment that we started a band/Was the best thing that ever happened.”

 

PERFUME GENIUS – WITHOUT YOU

Perfume Genius strives for self-acceptance on the glorious “Without You.” A highlight from his recent album Set My Heart on Fire Immediately, “Without You” is a country-tinged twanger that Mike Hadreas reveals was written about his battle with body dysmorphia, with the queer artist radiating with a tangible sense of joy as he sings of looking in a mirror and liking – even loving – his reflection: “It's the strangest feeling/Unknown even/Almost good.”

 

MOSES SUMNEY – BLESS ME (BEFORE YOU GO)

Every time I listen to Moses Sumney, I take one step closer to heaven. The San Bernardino act has the voice of an angel, with his falsetto reaching higher than ever before on “Bless Me.” Featured on his recent album græ, “Bless Me” finds the 28-year-old using religious imagery to depict the end of a relationship, with the cut opening up like the pearly gates as Moses prays to his lover: “Bless me/Before you go/You're goin' nowhere with me.”

 

DIJON – ROCK N ROLL

One of the best parts of falling in love is getting to share your favorite records with your paramour, and it's that intensely intimate, almost spiritual rite of passage Dijon is bringing to life on “rock n roll.” “She don't like The Rolling Stones/But I won't give up it's automatic/I just wanna see her dance around the room/To Joni's Blue,” growls Dijon on the cut – a raw, quivering, fractured prayer to the rock-and-roll gods that nothing short of goes off.

P.S. Dijon and Paul McCartney?! DROP THE COLLAB!

 

DUA SALEH – HELLBOUND

Dua Saleh never fails to go hard. Following on from the release of the interstellar love song “umbrellar” last month, the Sudanese poet returns today with “hellbound.” Featured on their forthcoming EP Rosetta, “hellbound” is a fiery, powerful damnation of religious institutions and their treatment of the LGBT community, with Dua rising up against the discrimination in order to channel their queer vision through the character “Lucifer Labelle.”

TL;DR: IT SLAPS!

 

LONELY GOD – SUNDAY

Every day feels like Sunday right now, and don't Lonely God just know it on his brand new banger “Sunday.” “Still spendin' all my days inside/Still lookin' at the birds in the window/Still thinkin' I'ma lose my mind/Still starin' at the trees when the wind blow,” groans the bleary-eyed Baltimore native on the cut – a lethargic lockdown anthem packed to the rafters with Gen Z ennui that follows up Lonely God's TikTok smash hit “Marlboro Nights.”

 

JORDANA – I'LL TAKE IT BORING

As a self-confessed introvert, I have to admit: Lockdown life hasn't been so bad for me. Something tells me Jordana is also pretty okay with our current quarantine situation listening to her latest single “I'll Take It Boring.” “I didn't want to go out tonight/So I'll take it boring, I'll take it boring,” sings Jordana on the fuzzed-up banger – an ode to staying home over going out and partying that serves as a much-needed anthem for the socially anxious.

 

GORDI – VOLCANIC

There's no artist who affects me quite like Gordi. Having previously shared the devastating “Sandwiches” and “Aeroplane Bathroom,” the Australian troubadour returns today with the third single to be shared from her forthcoming album Our Two Skins. “Volcanic” is a gut-wrenching exploration of Gordi's battle with crippling anxiety, with the 27-year-old revealing she wanted the piano solo to resemble a wave of panic that grows more intense over time.

 

FS3 & FELIX SNOW (FEAT. TYSM) – MY FAVORITE SHADE

Having produced for everyone from Lil Uzi Vert to Young Thug, Felix Snow is returning to his roots as Fs3 on the dreamy “My Favorite Shade.” A collaboration with his girlfriend and all-around We Are: The Guard regular TYSM, “My Favorite Shade” is a hypnotic shoegaze swirl that sounds like the love child of Mazzy Star and My Bloody Valentine, with TYSM's captivating coo coming swaddled in a most ethereal, otherworldly blanket of reverb guitars.

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Photo by Adolfo Félix on Unsplash

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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.