A delicate guitar descends as a robust beat kicks in, echoing the complex sentiments of Shayla McDaniel’s latest single “Let Me Breathe (How To Break Our Hearts).” The Knoxville, Tennessee-based artist’s solemn vocals open with unsure musings on the state of her relationship, seemingly having one foot in and one foot out. As a driving beat (written by Deep Sea Diver’s Peter Mansen) goes on and a bright electric guitar strums in, you can feel McDaniel’s disorienting emotions. 

A delay-filled arpeggiated guitar is introduced just as McDaniel's thought process starts to disentangle. It becomes more tenacious as she grows more self-assured, peeling the veil to recognize the actual nature of her relationship: “We’re living in a nightmare of a dream / You’re stealing all I have left of me.”

This all comes to a definite realization when the chorus sweeps in. The drumbeat opens up, triumphant horns make their way in the background and McDaniel’s voice swells lively in the front and center, leaving us with a painstaking question: “I don’t need you / You don’t need me / Why do we keep doing these things?” She invites us to look deeply and evaluate: are the relationships we are in actually nurturing, or instead have they become something unhealthy that we only hold on to out of habit? Photo by Shayla McDaniel.

When it comes to picking singles, the goal is usually to identify a track with an element that will really stick with a listener and keep them coming back for repeat listens. “Octopus,” the newest single from London-based rockers ISLAND, does not leave you guessing as to what that element is for long, as the harmonic-heavy and bright guitar riff that serves as the track’s selling point is the first thing a new listener will hear. After the riff registers a few times, the rest of the instruments unfold neatly from their hiding places—and once the bass and guitar kicks have settled into the mix, it becomes evident that “Octopus” is a slick, summery indie rock anthem, one that would have been poised for radio domination during the genre’s chokehold on the airwaves in the late aughts and early 2010s. ISLAND brought producer Mikko Gordon on board as their first outside producer, and his slight variations on an already winning formula gave way to a song strongly reminiscent of a warm, carefree afternoon. Photo by Christian Cargill. 

The indie pop trio Middle Kids burst onto the scene in 2018 with their debut album Lost Friends, garnering critical attention and solidifying them as a standout in the rising Australian rock scene. This band has proven themselves to be an act worth hearing, touring with the likes of Cold War Kids and Bloc Party, not to mention their talk show and festival appearances.  "Questions" is one of three singles Middle Kids has released in preparation for their second full-length album Today We're the Greatest, dropping March 19.

This band continues to dole out punchy, fun indie rock songs. "Questions" in particular is a hard track to ignore, as it breathes new life and creativity into handclaps and provocative lyricism. This song escalates and explodes into horns and percussion at its pivotal moments, adding drama and feeling to the stream-of-consciousness questionnaire of lyricism. All of this song's musicality points at the inner turbulence and growing desperation of the speaker: "And I've got questions / and you've got answers / and I'm not sure if they're fact or fiction." The redundancy of beginning each line with "and" is an expression of inner conflict, the speaker's brain spinning around the proverbial tilt-a-whirl of "what ifs" in a relationship.

"Questions," alongside "R U 4 Me?" are exciting introductions to Middle Kids' forthcoming record. You can listen to "Questions" anywhere you stream, and Today We're the Greatest comes out March 19. Photo by Daphne Nguyen.

Flyte, the indie British rock band, has released another single from their forthcoming album This is Really Going to Hurt, dropping April 9. "Under the Skin" is the fifth single Flyte has released since May of last year. This series of sincere and thoughtful singles have tapped into a deeper, more intimate part of Flyte's songwriting. From the heartbreaking and cutting "Losing You" to the contemplative "Never Get to Heaven," their next LP is bound to launch the London-based trio into the indie spotlight. 

"Under the Skin" is a perfect representation of what Flyte does incredibly well as a band: it's excitable, catchy rock music with contemplative, nuanced lyricism. But similar to the themes of the song, it's not a tune that's asking you to take it too seriously. The speaker begs someone to not give up on them, to not look their issues too hard in the face, but instead to let them in. "Under the Skin" serves as a lighter break in the stream of singles that we've heard from This is Really Going to Hurt, but it's hardly pulling any punches, and it stands alone as maybe the strongest single they've put out for the record thus far.

The writing for their upcoming album is laced with echoes of a turbulent time for the band. The singles' themes have varied from impassioned storytelling to melancholic longing. This ability to balance various themes and produce a cohesive piece of work is part of what makes Flyte so exceptional. Their premiere album, 2017's The Loved Ones, was a romantic and explosive introduction to their round indie rock sound. A band with a break-out album that self-actualized doesn't have anything to prove, but these latest releases have proven that Flyte has nowhere to go but up.

Stream "Under the Skin," and be on the lookout for their upcoming LP This Is Really Going to Hurt. Photo by Jan Philipzen.

Brooklyn duo Jordan Dunn-Pilz and Dan Alvarez, better known as TOLEDO, have just released their highly anticipated sophomore EP, Jockeys of Love. After the release of multiple atmospheric singles such as “It’s Alive!” and “Challenger,” it was clear that listeners could expect loads of goodness from TOLEDO. “Sunday Funday” is a song wrapped in catharsis—it is a recognition of the desire to hold space for someone dealing with alcoholism. Within this track is a sort of gleam effect, with shiny sounds of layering voices and enchanting, light-floating riffs. While singing about a very tender situation, fraught with discomfort, TOLEDO has a way of making the dismal truths of addiction sound glossy and a little bit easier to sit with while still addressing despondency. Photo by James Lynch.

Sometimes what you really need is a slow song about sad days. Sometimes only the sound of a guitar strung slowly and the folk vocals of an indie assemble can save you from a dark and cold winter night. The German have a word for the melancholy caused by the state of the world: Weltschmerz. And that world maybe perfectly captures what The Collection gives us with their new single "Blue Day." The North Carolina-based septet wrote, recorded and released the perfect manifestation of that sneaky feeling of sadness that you just can't shake. When even in beautiful days, that feeling that something is wrong and the blues are just at bay lingers. The Collection spent 2020 making music that perfectly represents the uncertainty of our times and the feeling of figuring yourself out when nothing is the way it used to be. "Blue Day" is the epitome of that and it already rises our expectations about what 2021 will look like for the band. Photo by Cory Wood. 

Contrary to what the title may suggest, Faerie’s “White Noise” is far from static. A sonically lush and textured synth-pop delight, the song comes out of 2am, her short but sweet EP debut. The song balances an intimate, electro-pop sound of the likes of Caroline Polacheck with a contrasting sense of dramatic, colorful synth-pop reminiscent of artists like CHVRCHES or MS MR. “White Noise,” which delves into getting over a past relationship, doesn’t lament but instead celebrates being satisfied with one’s own space. By the time the song’s hook comes in, “Give me a minute / My space to breathe,” you’ve already stood up to dance. Filled with synths, background vocals, and satisfying beats, the song takes whatever space it needs. The title is then a possible reference to that dreadful silence heard when a phone call goes unanswered, but Faerie turns that around, coveting that silence rather than fearing it. In the end, she pulls through triumphantly, “I don't need your love to feel at ease,” she concludes. 

Behind Faerie, there’s Christine Joyce Lam, a promising NYC-bred singer-songwriter whose combination of imaginative, colorful songwriting and powerful, cunning vocals make for an ideal artist to look out for. The song is co-written by two collaborators: Christian Young (ImTrying) and Jonathan Atkins (wavcat). Together, they make this deeply enjoyable and satisfying track, which makes for an ideal quarantine listen—a fun and perfect dance party for one. Photo by Brian Scagnelli.