Six-minute hallucinations, nursery-rhyme unreliable narrators, a debut recorded in Lizzy McAlpine’s studio, and an acoustic version dropped on Earth Day: this week’s indie pop arrivals are doing the most, in the best possible way.
Jean Noir – Long For This World
Jean Noir’s “Long For This World” is a brilliant six-minute indie epic with Depeche Mode’s pulse, Roy Orbison’s heartbreak, and a kitchen-table vocal take that survived into the final mix.
“Long For This World” runs six minutes and earns every one of them. The opening melody, a series of “oohs” quietly recorded into a laptop at a kitchen table during sleepless nights with a newborn, survived untouched into the final arrangement. The production layers four-on-the-floor drums and analog synths against castanets, lap steel, and stacked harmonies, drawing on Ennio Morricone’s wide-screen scores alongside Depeche Mode’s rhythmic discipline. At the three-and-a-half-minute mark the track feints toward an ending before pulling back for one last, decisive ascent.
Jean Noir is Jonny Black, a California artist who spent his twenties fronting indie punk outfits Them Terribles and Dead Country before stepping off the stage to rehab old buildings into creative spaces for other musicians. A decade of proximity to other people’s studio practices clearly resharpened his own instincts. Canyon Prince, the forthcoming EP of which “Long For This World” is the lead single, trades guitar-driven punk for something more patient: ambient textures, faded Americana, and a family mythology rooted in lost California bohemia.
Daniel Karl Morgan – Speak the Truth
Daniel Karl Morgan’s “Speak the Truth” is a genuinely excellent piece of Blur-era indie pop: an unreliable narrator, intricately layered violins, and a nursery-rhyme hook that refuses to leave your head.
“Speak the Truth” is built around a pleasing contradiction: a narrator insisting on their own honesty while the song’s playful, nursery-rhyme structure makes everything they say feel suspect. The Blur influence is very clear in the melodic sensibility, drum rolls and overall delivery, but the Syd Barrett and Roy Harper undercurrents push the arrangement into stranger territory. But this all works when the standout element is the song itself : intricately layered parts recorded across multiple locations including Morgan’s Llanelli home studio, interweaving throughout and giving the track a handmade warmth that digital production rarely achieves.
Daniel Karl Morgan has been active in the Welsh music scene since 2000, most notably as frontman of Llanelli outfit Artimus Crisis. “Speak the Truth” is a preview of his forthcoming 13-track album “Is the Sky Before Me or Is It the Sea?”, five years in the making, ranging from fatherhood and the cost-of-living crisis to artificial intelligence. He has been balancing those sessions alongside regular wedding performances across Wales and family life, which perhaps explains why the album sounds so hard-won. A brilliant single.
Reina Mora – Bad Decision
Reina Mora’s “Bad Decision” is a superb piece of confessional indie pop: raw, cinematic, and intimate enough to feel like a voice note from someone who has genuinely been through it.
The acoustic version of “Bad Decision,” released on Earth Day, is the one that makes the song’s skeleton visible: vocal depth, lyrical precision, and the self-reflection that is the track’s real subject. Without the full production to lean on, Mora’s voice carries all the weight, which it handles wonderfully. Impressively, the full version’s music video crossed 100,000 views, suggesting an already significant audience primed for whatever she does next. And it’s not surprise; the song at its core is fantastic. But both versions connect for the same reason: this is a song about starting over, and it sounds written from experience rather than constructed around a concept.
Reina Mora’s musical instincts were shaped early by her grandfather, a Puerto Rican Bolero singer who mentored her before she could properly speak. She has an NPR-featured single to her name with “Trouble,” and her folk duo Willow Crest won SiriusXM’s most haunting song of 2021 for “Folktale.” The Los Angeles-based Puerto Rican artist also volunteers with WriteGirl and has supported the songwriters’ advocacy group SONA for five consecutive years. That combination of deep roots and community gives her work a grounding that is easy to hear. Check out her work below, it’s fantastic.