NEW INDIE MUSIC - WEEK 49

Whether we like it or not, Christmas is coming. Now that Thanksgiving is out of the way, we just have to face facts – it's only a matter of time before Saint Nick will be squeezing his sack into our chimneys. Personally, I'm beyond thrilled that the holidays are here as it means that I can finally blow off the dust that's been gathering on my copy of We Are: The Guard's Indie Christmas – our compilation album that we originally brought you back in 2017. Featuring Christmas covers by DENM, Jamie Lidell, MXMS, and others, it's nothing short of a must-hear for those of us who'd quite literally rather get run over by a reindeer than have to listen to any more Elmo & Patsy.

Check out this week's edition of We Are: The Guard's New Indie Music, featuring Grimes, The Weeknd, Bombay Bicycle Club, and others!

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GRIMES – MY NAME IS DARK

Grimes has been in the news a LOT over the last week – some may say for all of the wrong reasons. Claire Boucher is finally returning the focus to her music this month, however, with the release of “My Name Is Dark” – a churning, crunching fae-metal swirl that hears Grimes screaming in the blood-curdling chorus: “I don't go to sleep anymore.”

THE WEEKND – BLINDING LIGHTS

The Weeknd is back, baby! Three years on from the release of Starboy, Abel Tesfaye returns today with “Blinding Lights.” It's a dazzling, epinephrine-inducing piece of synth-pop that hears The Weeknd going full throttle, with the 29-year-old leaving a trail of blazing asphalt behind him as he sings about chasing the woman of his dreams (hi, Bella Hadid!).

BOMBAY BICYCLE CLUB – EVERYTHING ELSE HAS GONE WRONG

Bombay Bicycle Club go in search of hope on their uplifting latest single. Listen as the recently reunited British indie band capture that moment when the light starts to pour in after days, weeks, and months of darkness on “Everything Else Has Gone Wrong” – a spiritually elevating banger that follows up August's “Eat, Sleep, Wake (Nothing but You).”

KILO KISH – SPARK

Ahead of the release of Redux EP later this month, Kilo Kish returns today with “SPARK.” With serrated, distorted synthesizers meeting quivering drum machines – over which Lakisha Robinson sings into a kind of cavernous, visceral emptiness – “SPARK” is an experimental trap-rock cruncher that Kilo Kish says is about “keeping a creative fire lit.”

JAMIE LIDELL – DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR?

Leave it Jamie Lidell to come up with a Christmas cover as mind-bendingly groovy as this one. We Are: The Guard's Indie Christmas is out now.

RINA SAWAYAMA – STFU!

Having recently signed to Dirty Hit, Rina Sawayama is back this week with “STFU!” It's a thrashing sugar-metal blaster that hears the London-based act throwing her middle finger in the face of racists and microaggressors, with Rina raging it up the chorus: “Have you ever thought about taping your big mouth shut?/'Cause I have, many times, many times.”

ALICE BOMAN – DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME

It's hard to let go of love. Sometimes, it's easier to hold on to fantasy and illusion of it, even as reality falls apart beneath you. Just ask Alice Boman, who's singing about this very situation on “Don't Forget About Me” – a heady, sweeping lullaby of a song that hears the Swedish artist declaring in the breathy opening verse: “I dream on, dream on.”

SAINT PHNX – SCREAM

BEEP! BEEP! Banger coming through! Scottish rockers SAINT PHNX are making quite the entrance this Monday with “Scream.” It's a certified ripper of a track that demands that you give it your full attention from the off, with SAINT PHNX bringing a seemingly endless supply of party energy to what could well be the most monstrous riff that I've heard all year.

MAXIME. – HICCUPS (AS AN ADULT)

Following on from the release of the autumnal indie anthem “empty” earlier this year, maxime. returns this Monday with “hiccups (as an adult).” The track hears the Ottawa artist continuing to build on his seasonal sound, with whimsical guitars and twee synthesizers falling like leaves behind maxime. as he gives a voice to millennial doubts and regrets.

RICHARD J AARDEN – MORPHINE DRIP

This is truly gorgeous. Richard J Aarden is taking us to a place of utter beauty with his latest single “Morphine Drip.” It's described by Richard as an ode to nostalgia and the sense of safety and comfort that it provides, with guitars shimmering and gleaming while the Dutch-Italian artist's voice floats like a feather suspended in the early morning sun.

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Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

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.