This week’s indie folk sits with the hard things and refuses to look away. Grief, fading faculties, the search for a bit of light in the chaos: songs that trust quiet over spectacle and find their power in honesty rather than volume.
Mark Cee – How You Left Me Still
“How You Left Me Still” is a gorgeous, deeply human piece of indie folk from Mark Cee, the kind of grief song that sits next to you and comforts rather than wallows.
Mark Cee’s latest tune is a song built entirely from real hands and real air. Atmospheric and guitar-led, it layers delicate string arrangements and flute accents around a vocal that never reaches for melodrama, letting the stillness carry the feeling instead. There’s touch of George Harrison to it, and the track captures that frozen moment when someone disappears before a goodbye is possible. It’s got a lovely, warm, lived-in texture of music made with a whole lot of heart and emotion.
Mark Cee is an ambient indie folk artist from Babylon, New York, who has been writing poetry and music since 1995 and frames his work as a soulful read on the Gen X experience. This single comes from the forthcoming album ‘It’s Me, Mark Cee’, which we’ll definitely digging upon release. We’re big fans of his simple rhythms, authentic storytelling and the result? It’s a brilliant and beautifully put together song.
Simon J Knight – When the Boat Comes In
“When the Boat Comes In” is a brilliant piece of fiery folk-rock from Simon J Knight, intimate and electric by turns and quietly devastating throughout.
Simon J Knight’s latest single moves between whisper and roar. It opens in intimate folk territory before swelling into a lovely, soaring electric vibe, and that dynamic range is exactly what gives it its charge. There’s passion and rage here, a refusal to go gently, set against passages of aching tenderness. The guitar work does as much storytelling as the words, shifting from delicate fingerpicking to full-throated lead lines. And that chorusy guitar and drum performance really, really works, but it’s the vocal performance that’s the standout.
Simon J Knight is a South Wales singer-songwriter from Chepstow who holds a doctorate in English Literature, and that intellectual grounding shows in how carefully his songs are built. This one was written about his father, a Welsh vicar whose early-onset dementia robbed him of the retirement he had earned. Knight cites John Martyn, Neil Young and John Lennon as influences, and is currently recording his debut solo album, drawing openly on his own experience of mental health struggles throughout his writing. Great art can come from difficult places, and that’s definitely the case here. A great single.
Sinta Dos – Gravity (Acoustic Live)
“Gravity” is a stunning acoustic reading of the John Mayer classic from Sinta Dos, a cover that finds its own heart in a familiar song.
The latest single from Sinta Dos is definitely a cover that earns its place. I love the stripped back vibe of John Mayer’s song back to voice and acoustic guitar, and the live setting gives it an unguarded immediacy that polished studio takes often lose. The arrangement has all the right amounts of space, letting the melody and the famous plea to be kept where the light is sit completely exposed. The version is patient and warm, more interested in the song’s emotional core than in showing off, and that sincerity is what makes a well-worn track feel wonderfully fresh.
Sinta Dos is a Melbourne-based acoustic duo of siblings who have made music together since childhood, rooted in a family tradition spanning several generations. Their setup is genuinely intercontinental: instruments for this recording were tracked with a session-musician brother based in Seattle, with final production and mastering completed back in Melbourne. As an emerging cover act, they bring fresh, considered interpretations to beloved songs while keeping an authentic connection to those deep family roots, working across thousands of miles and several time zones. It’s a lovely version, check it out below.
Mark Griffin – Taking Over My Mind
“Taking Over My Mind” is a gorgeous folk-pop charmer from Mark Griffin, the kind of unhurried love song that’s lovely to sit with a while
Mark Griffin’s new single is folk-pop with nothing to hide behind. Guitar, banjo and voice carry the whole thing, warm and melodic, and the writing leans on plain-spoken honesty rather than any studio trickery. More of this please, this summer. It captures that specific surprise of finding love when you had stopped looking for it. Soft-edged and easy on the ear, it moves at the pace of a song written to mean something rather than chase a moment, and we very much love it.
Mark Griffin is a Perth-based solo artist who draws on early farm life and years working in cities around the world to write simple songs with real meaning. “Taking Over My Mind” was made with producer Elliot Smith at Sundown Studios in Fremantle, their first collaboration, and it has already charted Top 30 on the ASA Country Song Chart with airplay across 26 Australian radio stations. With stunners like this, it’s no surprise that Mark’s reaching so many people because this single is fantastic. We’ll be checking out the rest of his stuff for sure.
Reece Sullivan – To Tir na nOg
“To Tir na nOg” is a superb, quietly original folk song from Reece Sullivan, one of the freshest tracks you’ll hear this month.
Reece Sullivan’s latest beauty wears its strangeness lightly. Rooted in the Celtic legend of a land where no one dies, “To Tir na nOg” turns that myth into a playful, slightly quirky folk song that never feels weighed down by its own concept. The Americana-tinged arrangement stays soft and inviting, letting the storytelling lead, and there is a warmth to the delivery that makes the unusual subject feel welcoming and warm. It’s curious and characterful, and I really, really enjoyed it.
Reece Sullivan is an Arkansas-born, Lafayette-based songwriter who has reinvented himself many times over, moving from piano to guitar and from art rock to folk across a restless career. His songs have won a string of contests, including first place at the Red Lodge Rocky Mountain Songwriter Festival, and taken him to festival stages from Tucson to Michigan. An impressive set of accolades, but it’s the track itself here which does the talking. It’s fantastic.