A lot of days, it’s about quantity. Today it’s about quality. Which is another way to say it’s been a quiet Monday in the indie ranks — there’s only one new video and one new track to share in this Roundup. But here’s the good news: They’re both outstanding in their own fields. Don’t take my word for it; see (and hear) for yourself:
1 | Call it Three Minutes of the Condor. Well, 4:18 to be precise. But who’s counting? Not me: I’m too busy marvelling at how much thought and effort clearly went into the ultra-cool espionage-themed video for Everything Apart, the first single from the upcoming self-titled album by Prairie indie-rockers Foxwarren (featuring singer-guitarist Andy Shauf, the man behind 2016’s brilliant concept disc The Party). SEZ THE PRESS RELEASE: “The driving krautrock, drum machine backbone of the song evokes a ticking clock – a race against time. “Combined with Andy’s existential lyrics, the song’s propulsive feel reminded us of the noir-ish tension of classic spy thrillers like The Conversation, Three Days of The Condor, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” explained the video’s directors, the Ft. Langley Production Company. “With the band’s blessing, we set to work on creating our own micro cold-war thriller, paying homage to era tropes like zoom-heavy camerawork, trench coats, and analogue tech.” Find out if it’s safe above.
2 | Some songs ask questions. Others answer them. so what?, the noisy new track from numerically curious Calgary indie-rockers 36?, seems to be one of those songs that does both — and does so with the help of a stylishly clever combination of catchy melody and cacophonous mayhem. SEZ THE PRESS RELEASE: “so what? is about when being out with all of your friends can’t stop you from feeling alone – when you’re so down on yourself that it feels disingenuous to even engage with the people who are close with you. I don’t think this song is really about a particular moment, so much as it is about the general feeling of disassociation that can creep its way into situations where we should be having a good time but we’re not. The natural reaction when you are feeling super depressed is to overcompensate with faux-positive energy and pretend everything is super happy, which is what we did with the arrangement. so what? is like when someone tells a funny joke about how they hate themselves. You laugh, but you also know they are serious.” They’ve got your number:
