It seems these days that modern pop music has become the same songs again and again, never diversifying from a hackneyed collection of three identical pop songs, mashed and remixed in different combinations. These pop love songs are either musicians lamenting over someone no longer being there or very creepy men objectifying women (although the Anne Frank worship on Neutral Milk Hotel’s In The Aeroplane Over The Sea is just as creepy, and extremely worrying), accompanied by sickeningly repetitive trap beats.
Older generations of music lovers generally hold that pop music today is dying, that it is worse with each passing year, and, without wanting to sound too harsh, I must agree with them.This seeming deconstruction of the pop music genre should thrill us all as an example of intense minimalism, wherein a chart-topping hit can be created from the same basic repetition of elements, but it doesn’t. It is, instead, worrying for the landscape of popular music.
For me, modern pop music is dead. If that’s your music of choice, then I bear you no ill will but should you happen to grow tired of what pop music has to offer, I’m here to present an alternative. If you turn your eyes away from modern pop music, you’ll see in the distance another genre, the bright and shining landscape of the indie scene.
Indie music is as vibrant as it’s ever been, showing no signs of diminishing. Even beneath genre heavy-hitters like Andrew Jackson Jihad, Neutral Milk Hotel, or Sufjan Stevens, smaller diamonds still shine through, such as Eliza Rickman, whose use of instruments such as the tiny piano create a wholly different, ethereal sound for her music; The Magnetic Fields’ experimental use of synthesised instruments for a new age sound with retro vibes; and Jason Webley, whose unconventional blend of genres such as the ballad, and even shanty, create an audio experience unlike any other. But there are still hundreds of bands and artists still lying in wait, that are just as good: the indie landscape is a gift which keeps on giving.
Something which indie music does extremely well is storytelling. I realise that all texts, even the lyrics to something as abhorrent as Justin Bieber’s ‘Yummy’ tell some kind of story, albeit in a vague way. What we find in indie are songs that tell a clear and focused narrative. In the same way that Johnny Cash’s songs – and those of country singers to this day – sang about people’s lives and times, so too does indie music create odes to people’s lives, creating a more human connection – something that is missing from a large section of pop music. This something my favourite band, The Mountain Goats, excels at.
The Mountain Goats have been rocking the indie scene since 1991, with hits like ‘The Best Ever Death Metal Band In Denton’, ‘No Children’, and their most well-known anthem ‘This Year’, so they know a thing or two about making indie music. Each album they release tells a cohesive story in itself, building up to either a narrative or thematic conclusion, as does each song on the record. With Tallahassee (2004), it was the story of a toxic relationship, dubbed ‘the alpha couple’, falling apart, while on Beat The Champ (2015), the world of professional wrestling is examined through the little moments of the wrestler’s lives. Every song by The Mountain Goats is full of heart and pathos as they unflinchingly examine what it is to be human; to love, to lose and to live.
‘Woke Up New’, from their 2006 album Get Lonely and a favourite of mine, would be a prime example of this human storytelling. ‘Woke Up New’ is a song about the absences of the people we have loved once they are gone. However, unlike many offerings from the pop contingent, ‘Woke Up New’ doesn’t plead for the person to come back. Instead, it paints a picture of someone now rudderless in the wake of loss:
“On the morning when I woke up without you for the first time
I felt free and I felt lonely and I felt scared
And I began to talk to myself almost immediately
Not being used to being the only person there.”
“The first time I made coffee for just myself, I made too much of it
But I drank it all just cause you hate it when I let things go to waste”
It’s this quiet sense of desperation that’s not really addressed in other songs, which The Mountain Goats can capture in a unique way. This aura of dread pervades the entire album, “And I will find a crowd and blend in for a minute / And I will try to find a little comfort in it / And I will get lonely”, proclaims the album’s title track. The record as a whole provides a clear meditation on the feelings of loneliness and the ways people try to cope in the aftermath of loss.
However, The Mountain Goats not only offer up examinations of the darker aspects of human nature, they use these to show the possibility of hope, of light in the darkness. Even on an album which features the heartbreaking ‘Lakeside View Apartments Suite’, a song which tells the tale of an extremely low point in lead singer John Darnielle’s early life, Transcendental Youth (2012) gives us ‘White Cedar’ which exhorts “I’ll be reborn someday, someday / If I wait long enough / I don’t have to be afraid”. Songs like ‘Hebrews 11:40’ also share in the hope of restoration, with the infectiously ubiquitous chorus of ‘This Year’ makes you want to yell “I am gonna make it through this year / If it kills me”. Good things are coming, The Mountain Goats reassure us, we may just need to wait a little, but they’re coming.
Emily Dickinson once said that if something “makes my whole body so cold no fire can ever warm me, I know that is poetry. If I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off, I know that is poetry.” The music of The Mountain Goats feels like that; it’s raw, it’s real and it’s visceral. Their music grabs you by the throat and pulls on your heartstrings, never letting you go. The Mountain Goats demonstrate the musical potential of the indie genre in its most potent realisation. And indie music is like this; the genre expands the boundaries of songwriting and storytelling in deep and moving ways.
Sometimes,a catchy pop tune to dance to is just what you need. If, however, you’re looking for something new, venture off that beaten path and give indie music a try. Broaden your musical horizons, and experience the beauty and poignancy of indie music by letting the sounds of Jason Webley’s accordion take you away, and losing yourself in Eliza Rickman’s sharp vocals. Dig a little deeper than Spotify trending playlists and radio number ones and explore the vast landscape of indie music that’s waiting just there for you to uncover. It might well be one of the best decisions you make in your musical journey.
