A County Meath glam-pop celestial ride, a Melbourne songwriter asking what Australia has become, a Berlin band featuring longstanding members of Nina Hagen’s group, a Gothenburg studio recorded in two weekends, and a Hell’s Kitchen neo-grunge tribute to a Greek folk instrument: indie rock this week arrives from five very different rooms.
Barry J Walsh – Star Ride
Barry J Walsh’s “Star Ride” is a brilliant celestial glam-pop single: jangly guitars, soaring harmonies, and the sound of a home studio doing something the major labels clearly missed.
“Star Ride” is Walsh’s fourth single since 2024, recorded and produced in his son’s home studio in Trim, Co. Meath, with all instrumentation handled between the two of them. Let’s not mess around here, it’s fantastic. All jangly, glammed-up guitar riffage, giant beach boys harmonies and a kind of celestial pop construction that navigates the tension between two people orbiting each other without quite connecting. We’ve all been there, but Walsh captures this vibe incredibly, describing it as a song about taking a chance and reaching for the stars without guarantee of catching them. It’s produced like a dream, and should honestly be all over radio. Thankfully there’s an album on the way for early 2027.
Walsh was previously the lead singer and songwriter with Irish powerpop band The Fireflys in the early 1990s, and “Star Ride” marks the reopening of a creative chapter that had been on hold for decades. The fact that it was made entirely in a family home studio in County Meath, without label support or outside production, makes it one of the more quietly impressive debut single sequences in Irish indie rock right now. It’s beautiful, and we can’t wait for the album.
Paul Louis Villani – Who Do You Belong to Now? (Great Southern Land)
Paul Louis Villani’s “Who Do You Belong to Now? (Great Southern Land)” is a dark Melbourne alt-rock stunner: no sides, no agenda, just a songwriter born and raised here asking an honest question about what this country has become.
“Who Do You Belong to Now? (Great Southern Land)” was written from the inside out: no names, no political positioning, just Villani processing what he describes as a persistent feeling that something is off. I’ve always enjoyed songs that lean into that uneasy feeling, and this one sits in a dark wave and post-rock space, spanning several genres with care. It really is pretty compelling stuff, and interestingly Villani’s been explicit that this is not a polemic. He’s not asking listeners to agree with him, and that the request is simply to sit with the music long enough to feel what it was trying to express. Musically the results are brilliant and this single is genuinely a dark alt-rock stunner.
Villani is a Melbourne-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer who builds from instinct rather than genre formula, moving between whatever territory a song requires and maintaining a deliberate resistance to fixed lanes. He records independently and has built his catalogue across rock, blues, folk, metal and experimental territory over many years. It’s an important song, and we’re really excited to see where Villani goes next.
Ghost Moon Echo – Black Is the New Black
Ghost Moon Echo serve up a superb piece of Berlin indie rock, with strong melodic songwriting and with genuine roots in the indie heyday that knows exactly how to deploy them.
“Black Is the New Black” showcases the melodic instinct and arrangement confidence that comes from a band with deep roots in the classic indie-guitar tradition. This one’s genuinely groovy, with tasteful nods to Happy Mondays, and hint of INXS in the vocal, but it’s very clear that Ghost Moon Echo are definitely in their own lane. The guitar work is standout in this, and worth hitting play again for it alone. And excitingly, there’s an album on the way, which – on the strength of this single – will definitely be awaited by this blog.
Ghost Moon Echo are a Berlin-based indie guitar band whose members include longstanding players from Nina Hagen’s band, one of the more distinctive markers of German cultural rock history. Their sound harks back to the 80s and 90s heyday of indie-rock without being trapped by it, applying those instincts to new material with the confidence of a band that knows where the reference points are and when to depart from them. “Black Is the New Black” is a banger, and I’d love to see it live.
They Owe Us – Frank
They Owe Us’ “Frank” is a cinematic alternative rock banger, with a compelling blend of polish and cracks to make it utterly compelling
“Frank” was recorded at Lüxfällan, a small analogue studio in Kungälv that Kristoffer Ragnstam runs as his primary laboratory, with longtime collaborator Klabbe Hörngren on keyboards and Rick Hellgren on electric guitar. It’s got the vibe of an alt-indie classic, produced beautifully and vocally it really stands out. And wow these drums sound incredible. Interestingly, many of the scratch vocal and acoustic guitar takes made the final versions, which gives the record its particular quality of barely-controlled spontaneity. I love the middle eight, and it’s got that late night blur of all the best indie.
They Owe Us is the project of Kristoffer Ragnstam, a Gothenburg-based musician who has been part of the alternative infrastructure since the early 2000s, sharing stages with Debbie Harry, Mumford and Sons and Zander Hawley, and reaching number 1 on the Billboard charts in Japan and Top 30 on US college radio. It’s an impressive CV, but the main draw here is the song; it’s a fantastic single, and it should do very well. More of this please, guys!
YACOVELLI – Since Emilia
YACOVELLI’s deliver a simply gorgeous neo-grunge tribute: a Greek baglama opening into the sludgy, heavy riff isn’t your typical combination but we absolutely love it
“Since Emilia” opens with the baglama, a Greek folk instrument that is a miniature version of the bouzouki natively tuned in D-A-D, before dropping into the heaviest rhythm guitar hook. It’s not your classic opening combination, but we are hooked right away. Things get kinda sludgy in the best possible way, while there’s a genuine craft to the song, with some pretty serious dynamic shifts . The song is described as a poetic riddle, lyrically deliberately unresolved, and the track was recorded and produced by Alex Yacovelli himself, accompanied by a music video shot across Liverpool and Manhattan’s West Side.
Alex Yacovelli has been a fixture in the New York underground since the late 2000s, sharing the stage with Weezer at their legendary Madison Square Garden debut and earning an Honorable Mention in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition alongside Meghan Trainor. He recorded a live version of his tune “Songbird” at Jacaranda Records’ 1947 Voice-O-Graph direct-to-vinyl booth in Liverpool, at the club where The Beatles started. An impressive CV, but surely this ‘Since Emilia’ has to be up there with the highlights. A great single.