9 Songwriters Reclaiming Indie Rock
These artists and bands are making guitars great again.
Jay Som
Who: Melina Duterte is the multi-instrumentalist behind Jay Som, shaping the sound of indie to come with '90s alt-rock influences.
Where: Oakland
Start with: "The Bus Song," "Turn Into"
Elaiza Santos
Who: Her band Crying makes a lunatic slurry of prog, pop-punk, and video game soundscapes that juts into multiple dimensions at once.
Where: Purchase, New York
Start with: "Origin," "Premonitory Dream"
Cold Specks
Who: Ladan Hussein has released two acclaimed solo albums since 2012 but it's not too late to get acquainted with her knockout sound that channels southern gothic and blues.
Where: Toronto
Start with: "Absisto," "Heavy Hands"
Mal Devisa
Who: Deja Carr's depth, musical range, and innate understanding of how to make her music spotlight itself help make her one of the most compelling new singer/songwriters in recent memory.
Where: Northampton, Massachusetts
Start with: "Daisy," "Honey Honey (Feist cover)"
Japanese Breakfast
Who: Michelle Zauner has cracked the code of progressive dream-pop on Psychopomp, even her saddest songs are places you can't bear to leave.
Where: Eugene, Oregon
Start with: "Everybody Wants To Love You," "In Heaven"
Vagabon
Who: Laetitia Tamko's debut album Infinite Worlds is one of those auspicious first records that heralds the arrival of an important new voice with songs to stay with and mull over again and again.
Where: New York City
Start with: "The Embers," "Shadows"
Eskimeaux
Who: Gabrielle Smith's latest EP Year Of The Rabbit is a culmination of years of glittering baroque-pop track and 24-karat melodies in a deceptively simple package.
Where: Brooklyn
Start with: "Power," "Sleeping Bear"
April Aliermo
Who: Last year her band Hooded Fang released Venus on Edge, an album of shadowy surf-rock from the radioactive shores of Lake Ontario. They also did sunnier lo-fi indie rock really well on 2013's Gravez.
Where: Toronto
Start with: "Glass Shadows," "A Final Hello"
Sneaks
Who: Like an even more pared-down Prinzhorn Dance School, Eva Moolchan puts on for people who love post-punk that balances cheeky bounce with moodiness.
Where: Washington, D.C.
Start with: "Tough Luck," "Red"
Thumbnail photo from "The Embers" music video by Vagabon, directed by Zadie