These LITM Rock Picks are reflective, warm, and hold your attention effortlessly – featuring Ho Jo Fro, RIOT SON, Daniel Karl Morgan, and more!
1. Ho Jo Fro – When Did You Knock?
Melancholic and deeply reflective, Ho Jo Fro’s When Did You Knock? expresses personal grief in ways that hit hard universally. Sonically and emotionally, the song is centred on a wistfully sad string section, and this makes an already heavy track heavier – a good thing, in this case. The arrangement has otherwise been left deliberately sparse, with minimal layers that leave room for the emotions to swell. “What will get me through this season of pain?” is the core question the song asks, and lyrically, this is where the song shines: rather than offering closure, it sits with the discomfort of not knowing, and invites you to do the same.
2. RIOT SON – Slowly Without You
RIOT SON describes his sound as encapsulating a connection to “life’s multifaceted experiences,” and has already established an identity as someone who delivers music that’s reflective, warm, and delicate while holding depth and weight with ease – Slowly Without You, from his latest single, My Love Is A Promise That I Cant Keep, is no different. Dreamy haze, a sense of isolation and loneliness, and fragility overlap and fold into each other in a way that makes it clear that this isn’t about polish and sounding perfect – in fact, it’s more of the opposite. Distorted guitars and almost whispered vocals come together to create a track that’s almost hypnotising – listen here.
3. Daniel Karl Morgan – Speak the Truth
From its opening, Speak the Truth, from Daniel Karl Morgan’s latest album, Is the Sky Before Me or Is It the Sea? establishes an atmosphere of bright, upbeat indie-rock. It’s the perfect representation of the phrase “easy breezy”, with a sound that just floats along naturally and effortlessly. With lyrics like “It’s like a horror movie / When you liquefy my brain just to make yourself a smoothie,” sung in the cheeriest tone, surrounded by elements that are light and loose, yes, but also controlled with precision and held together by steady instrumentation. This is a track on which you’ll discover something new every time you listen!
4. Goodnight Native – Body & Soul
Goodnight Native’s Body & Soul is a song that leans into an air of mystique and questioning – from vocals that balance sounding hazy and confident remarkably well to a tone that sucks you in in the hope of finding some answers, the whole track is designed to grab and hold your attention. With distorted, jangly guitars and relentlessly powerful drumming, it’s unmistakably indie-rock at its finest, with a grain that lends the song an organic, unpolished feel, making it all the more real and raw. As the song begins to wind up with the repeating “I can’t live with or without it,” you’ll find yourself jerked back to reality – and then hitting play again. Listen here!
5. The Tacet Mode – Prayer
Delicate piano opens The Tacet Mode’s Prayer, from their latest – and debut – album, Not How You Color, and it’s soon joined by ethereal, soaring vocals that softly set the tone for the rest of the album. With a runtime of just below forty seconds, this track is meant to ease you into the journey that Not How You Color is going to take you on, and it does this remarkably well: putting you in almost a trance-like state, it gently cleans your mind of all the thoughts constantly swirling around in it, until all you’ll want to focus on is how this piece of music makes you feel. Give it a listen here!
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