Tag: Alternative pop

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Moulod Shares Sparse, Hook-Driven “Socialites”

Moulod is an emerging Stockholm-born artist. And for the Swedish artist, his music typically begins with lyrics. He writes constantly, using his lyrics as a way to strip down experiencers and uncover what’s real. Only the rare songs that carry honesty are released, for him about 10% of anything he writes, with each carrying his raw vocal delivery at the center. His words are paired with productions that run the gamut from lo-fi, hip-hop, R&B, indie rock and blues — or whatever best carries the story and song forward.

The Swedish artist’s latest single “Socialites” feat. Rûn is a sparse tune that’s simultaneously menacing and sultry, warmly introspective yet chilly and evasive. And while showcasing an artist, who cab pair unflinchingly honest lyrics with sleek production and incredibly catchy hook.

At its core, “Socialites” feat. Rûn conveys the uneasy contrasts between one’s public image and private life, and the demands and sacrifices that public image requires.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Rëa Shares Cathartic “Living Without You”

Rëa is an emerging, Black, queer, Canadian alt pop artist, who has quickly developed a sound that draws from early 2000s rock and meshes elements of dark pop, rock and ethereal soundscapes, anchored around haunting melodies, ethereal harmonies and gritty, fuzzy guitars. Thematically, her work sees her telling stories of love, loss and survival while exploring feminine rage, heartbreak and survival. She describes her work as “cathartic anthems for the beautifully unhinged.”

The Canadian artist’s debut single “Living Without You,” will appear on her forthcoming debut EP House on Fire. But in the meantime, “Living Without You” is a cathartic tune that’s built around a grunge rock song structure featuring alternating atmospheric verses and arena rock-like anthemic hooks and choruses with fuzzy power chords paired with Rëa’s enormous, pop belter delivery.

The result is a song that’s simultaneously cinematic and yet powered by deeply lived-in personal experience.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Dublin’s Galia Arad Shares Brooding and Intimate “This Close”

Galia Arad is an emerging Dublin-based singer/songwriter, who recently signed Dublin-based artist development label Rubarb Music. Arad’s Rubarb Music debut, the self-penned and self-produced “This Close” is anchored around strummed and plucked acoustic guitar, bursts of twinkling synths and skittering beats.

The broodingly intimate track is a a bit of a change in sonic direction for Arad, as the track sees her blending her long-held Americana-inspired songwriting with an alt-pop sensibility: Strummed and plucked, Country Western-styled guitar, bursts of twinkling synths and skittering beats create a broodingly intimate and lush bed for the Irish artist’s breathy cooing.

“This Close” showcases an artist, who can pair heartfelt, seemingly lived-in lyrics with a remarkably catchy hooks. Arad explains that “This Close explores the tension between craving and control- using vulnerability as a tool to capture after an endless game of chase. The production is inspired by that push/pull, and of course my own desires to kick off my pop girlie era.”

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: New Zealand’s Phoebe Vic Shares Raunchy “It’s My Pleasure”

With the release of her debut EP, 2023’s Strange Rituals, emerging Christchurch-based singer/songwriter Phoebe Vic quickly established herself as an artist, who paints emotional sonic landscapes with sophisticated, alternative pop songs that range from dreamy and romantic to foreboding, percussive-driven tracks that draw from her own life with sincerity and a self-referential, cheeky sense of humor. The emerging Kiwi artist followed Strange Rituals EP with last year’s “Wasn’t That Deep.”

2025 has gotten off to e a bus start for Vic: Earlier this year, she released the country-tinged “Mad Woman.” Her latest single, the Emily C. Browning-produced “It’s My Pleasure” comes on the heels of playing Nostalgia Festival.

“It’s My Pleasure” is a deliriously unhinged bit of naughty, raunchy fun featuring a glitchy production featuring rubbery bass bounce, skittering trap-beats, bursts of electronic skronk and screech that serves as a lush yet funky bed for the emerging Kiwi artist’s yearning and sultry delivery singing explicit lyrics about sexual desire. It’s a fun, horny, defiantly feminist and pro-sex anthem.

“This song was born from a long dry-spell of lacking in the intimacy department,” Vic says. “So if I wasn’t getting any action, I decided I wanted to make something really hot and horny – that champions owning your sexual fantasies and desires!”

“I really like minimalist prod and it was an exercise in using less elements to create something in-your-face.” producer, Emily C. Browning adds. “We both wanted it to feel like a punchy little arcade game or something, with little reward sounds and different levels.The metal breakdown was Phoebe’s idea and I had to quickly figure out how to play guitar and bass like a metal head. Very fun day in the studio!”

Directed by Lore Films‘ Adam Hogan with support from New Zealand’s On Air New Music Single grant, the accompanying video is set at a depressing open mic, where a terrible stand up comedian is gently pushed off the stage, mid routine before Phoebe Vic steps on the stage and does a raunchy, burlesque style performance that gets everyone in the room uncontrollably horny. “We wanted to make something cheeky, visually stimulating and silly that matched the vibe of the song, while adding an additional heightened story-telling element to it!” Vic says.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Finland’s Mere Stellar Shares a Sarcastic Examination of Contemporary Dating

Milja Inkeri is a Finnish singer/songwriter, who can trace her career back to 2007: She competed on that year’s Finnish Idol and reached the Top 24. And as a result of growing national attention, her covers series on YouTube amassed over two million organic views between 2006-2007. Inkeri also has had stints in Finnish bands Kailo and Antti Kokkomäki & Tammikuun Lapset. Additionally, she has collaborated with a number of projects both nationally and internationally, including Taiwanese shoegazers The Other and Finnish metal outfit Planeetta 9, along a growing list of others.

Inkeri is the creative mastermind behind the indie pop outfit Mere Stellar. Influenced by Kate Bush, Joanna Newsom and Radiohead, the Finnish artist’s new project sees her playfully meshing experimental electro pop with acoustic elements to create a sound that is at times quirky yet melancholic. The Finnish artist explains that “Mere Stellar is the creation of a free soul, who stopped caring about external rules and authorities of music . . ” and
“started to have fun with music again and speak her true soul’s voice — the pain, the joy, the channeling of healing.” Inkeri adds “Mere Stellar is the manifestation someone who held it inside and listened to others too much, who channels pure love, fun and crazy vibes.”

Inkeri’s latest Mere Stellar single, the recently released, woozy and hook-driven “The Crush Realm” pairs a looped sample of twinkling and arpeggiated keys, skittering beats, industrial clang and clatter with Inkeri’s plaintive and yearning delivery. While sonically seeming to channel a quirky synthesis of Tori Amos, Kate Bush and Kid A-era Radiohead, “The Crush Realm” is a lived-in, bittersweet and desperate examination of contemporary dating culture, in which everyone feels simultaneously desperate to find “the one” or “someone” but tacitly recognizes that everyone feels miserable and disposable. But she does so with a sarcastic, snaky sense of humor.

Directed by the Finnish artist, the accompanying video for “The Crush Realm” captures the desperation, uncertainty and quirky sarcasm at the hear of the song, as it follows Inkeri and a snail around a rather European-looking house.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Riya Gadher Shares Cinematic and Introspective “Own Way Home”

Riya Gadher is an emerging Leicester, UK-born, London-based singer/songwriter, who spent five years quietly developing her sound and approach, including graduating with a degree in songwriting and performance, before stepping out into the spotlight as a solo artist earlier this year.

Sonically, the emerging British artist has often felt like she was an old soul, from a different era — but she has readily embrace a sound that meshes elements of alternate pop with conventionally classic undertones. Her latest single “Own Way Home” is a slow-burning, cinematic track that pairs sleek, contemporary electronic production featuring skittering beats, glistening synth arpeggios and twinkling and percussive piano with Gadher’s plaintive and expressive delivery. At its core, is a songwriter, who displays a remarkable sense of insight and wisdom beyond her relative youth with introspective lyrics informed by her own life.

Sonically, the self-produced track reminds me quite a bit of Gravity Pairs and Along the Lethe-era Beacon. Thematically the song as the British artist explains “is about embarking on a journey of self-discovery to find mental peace in a world that’s face paced, while not being afraid to cut your own path and do what’s right for you. It’s about faith, hope, female empowerment and courage.”

“I really believe when your mind is still and at peace you can better deal with the challenges that life throws at you,” Gadher adds. “I feel it’s not always possible to change your physical space but your mind has the ability to take you anywhere.”

Directed by Daniel Alexander, the accompanying video for “Own Way Home” follows the pensive and emerging British artist wandering London and the English countryside, seeking a sense of peace — and her own sense of power.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Tulsa’s TOOMBZ Shares a Mind-Bending and Earnest Single

Tulsa-based outfit TOOMBZ — Davey Rumsey (vocals, guitar), Chris Davis (bass, synths) and Micah Mosby (drums, percussion) — formed back in 2019. The trio quickly released a string of singles before beginning work on what would become their full-length debut This Is Not A Dream.

Slated for a fall 2023 release, This Is Not A Dream reportedly represents an intersection of each member’s tastes and sensibilities blend together with the members equally contributing to a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Sonically, the album’s material sees the Oklahoman trio pairing aggressive guitar riffs and driving rhythms with ethereal synth and electronic textures with lyrics that explore complex relationship dynamics through the contrasting lenses of dreams and waking life, and atypical song structures and arrangements.

Live, the members of TOOMBZ find a delicate balance between the analog and digital aspects of their sound, effortlessly shifting from lush and controlled synth-based soundscapes to feedback-driven chaos — with a large, detailed sound.

This Is Not A Dream‘s latest single “Future Magik” is built around atmospheric electronic textures, glistening synth arpeggios, skittering and propulsive drum patterns and subtly buzzing and slashing guitars paired with Rumsey’s plaintive delivery and enormous hooks. “Future Magik” sees the band crating earnest, big-hearted pop with mind-bending math rock in an accessible fashion.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Tel Aviv-Born, Brooklyn-based Romi O Shares Woozy and Shapeshifting “M2M”

Deriving her stage name from her love of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romi O is an emerging Tel Aviv-born, Brooklyn-based singer/songwriter who has been making music as long as she can remember. Initially writing and singing songs in Hebrew, the emerging Brooklyn-based artist eventually switched to writing and singing in English. Her earliest forays into songwriting saw the Tel Aviv-born artist leaning towards bittersweet and melancholy ballads. Her struggles with her own gender identity were accompanied by insecurity, self-doubt and self-hatred, which manifested as an aversion to the genre strictures and rules she found herself in, that she saw “too sweet, too girly.”

When she turned 22, the Tel Aviv-born, Brooklyn-based artist relocated to Brooklyn, where she sought a fresh start in music: She wound up joining JOVM mainstay act Ghost Funk Orchestra, contributing her vocals to three albums — 2019’s A Song For Paul, 2020’s An Ode to Escapism and last year’s A New Kind of Love. She’s also the co-founder of PowerSnap, which sees her and her bandmates specializing in a high-octane punk and garage rock-influenced sound, informed by a desire to break the stigmas she held of herself. With PowerSnap, she desired to ditch the soft persona of a “female singer/songwriter” — and pave the way for women, who didn’t want a traditional view of femininity to be the main attraction to their work. A couple of years ago, as part of a spiritual awakening, she rediscovered her feminine side, as she witnessed her sweet and heartfelt ballads touching listeners.

Romi O will step out into the spotlight as a solo artist with her forthcoming solo debut album, which will feature material that reportedly sounds as though it were influenced by TunE yArDs, Kimbra, Charli XCX, Dead Rituals, Trent Reznor and Bjork — but while not trying to ride someone else’s wave.

The album’s second and latest single, the Daniel Bloch-produced “M2M” is a woozy and mind-bending song featuring elements of alternative pop, singer/songwriter pop and doom punk built around a hypnotic and insistent groove, skittering beats and the Tel Aviv-born, Brooklyn-based artist’s self-assured, powerhouse vocals. While revealing an artist with a playful, forward-thinking sound and approach, the song according to Romi “deals with the idea of always being ready to question life choices and decisions and approaching everything without the fear of taking things too seriously,” to not “make a mountain out of a molehill,” as the song says.

Directed by Margot Bennet, the accompanying video features Romi O in a bare studio, shot from the shoulders up. But throughout subtle details and differences in her appearance manage to reveal elements of her personality, desires and even how she expresses herself and gender.

Video by William Ruben Helms

New Video: Miami’s Gurudine Shares Cathartic and Anthemic “Maniac”

Gurudine is a Queens-born, Miami-based singer/songwriter, electronic music producer and artist of mixed Moroccan-Egyptian heritage. “music has always been a part of my life, and I’ve always wanted to be a creator,” Gurudine says. “I hope my music helps people the way my favorite artists have helped me.”

Released earlier this month, the Queens-born, Miami-based artist’s latest single, the high energy “Maniac” firmly establishes a genre-defying sound and approach: The song sees Gurudine effortlessly meshing elements of 80s-influenced synth pop, emo, alt rock and hip-hop with earnest, heart-on-sleeve lyrics and arena rock friendly, catharsis-inducing hooks. The song’s uptempo air is at best deceptive; the song thematically details struggles with anxiety, depression and other mental health issues — with the nuance and empathy of someone, who has suffered through something similar.

Directed and edited by the Queens-born, Miami-based, features the mysterious and masked artist rocking out in the studio and throughout random locations in sunny Miami, in a Freddy Kreuger-like outfit.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

New Audio: Emerging Artist Octavia Releases a Sultry Single

Octavia is a Corsica, France-born, London-based singer/songwriter who since 2017 has developed an a unique take on alternative pop/R&B inspired by the likes of Missy Elliott, Lauryn Hill, Jeff Buckley, Radiohead, Destiny’s Child, Martha Aregeritch, Hiatus Kaiyote and Alice Coltrane among others, paired with lyrics that touch upon being a survivor, the people she has lost, her experiences and being a woman in general — sung in English and in French.

French-born, British-based artist’s latest single “Girlfriend” is centered around a dark and brooding production by Moma, MADD..’s Basile Peter and Lous and the Yakuza’s Raphaël Zeboulon featuring skittering tweeter and woofer rattling beats, wobbling synths paired with Octavia’s sultry vocals to create a song that swoons with desperate and nervous desire: the song tells a story about a woman’s first romantic and sexual encounter with another woman — and the recognition that they’re at the very least bisexual. While thematically perfect for Pride Month, the track also manages to be an honest exploration of feminine sensuality and sexuality.

Single Review by William Ruben Helms

Tennin · The What – The Notorious B.IG, Method Man [Tennin Remix]

With the release of a handful of singles that received attention from InRocksLab, Radio Nova, Earmilk and Afropunk, the rising Paris-based alternative pop artist Tennin quickly exploded into the international pop scene in 2015. The Paris-based artist ended a momentum building year by performing at La Cigale, as part of a showcase featuring rising female Parisian artists.

The following year, Tennin built upon her growing profile through tours across France, Germany and the UK. Adding to a relatively young career of big career highlights, the French pop artist’s single “Heal You,” catches the attention of acclaimed, trip hop pioneer Tricky, who signed her to !K7 Records. She then contributes a track to the Test of Time compilation, which featured tracks from Saul Williams, IDLES and others.

Additionally, last year saw her becoming a finalist of the Afropunk springboard but she also opened for the likes of Dope Saint Jude and Muthoni Drummer Queen at Les Cuizines — and she played the final show at Les Etoiles. She ended the year with a live interview and session for Radio Campus Brussels.

Earlier this year, the rising French pop artist signed to renowned Parisian electronic label Kitsune Music, who released her first single of this year “Guys in Tears.” Interestingly, Tennin posted a cover/remix of The Notorious B.I.G.‘s “The What,” feat. Method Man on Instagram that received such positive reactions that she decided to record and release a full-version. While retaining the original’s memorable beat, the addition of Tennin’s vocals adds sultry, Aaliyah-like air to the proceedings. Naturally, while being a shoutout to Golden Era, East Coast hip-hop, the song is also a vital reminder that hip-hop is the lingua franca of kids across the globe.