From Indian Lakes
I came across this band – From Indian lakes – a few months back and I’m really impressed with them. I’d describe them as soft rock, but I’m useless when it comes to sub-genres!
I really like the softer and lighter vocals scattered across the tracks, and I love the soundscape that flows by underneath them. From Indian Lakes is definitely a sound that is growing in popularity at the moment, and well worth checking out if you like the intensity of rock but also want something a bit softer to go along with it.
Check out this video and their whole album, and enjoy!
As an aside, one of the things that troubles me about today’s music is how much we focus on having the SAME sound as everyone else. As a voice coach I get a lot of people in wanting to sound like X, Y or Z, which leads to frustration when they don’t sound EXACTLY like that person.
However the reality is that no two instruments sound alike. As such, you simply can’t expect your own voice to be the same or even in the same ballpark as your favourite singers. That’s not to say that you sound BAD, simply that you will have a beautiful but different tone once a certain amount of training has been undergone.
What I love about this growing genre is that it celebrates a desire (in my opinion) to make music irrespective of whether an existing vocal sound already subsists in the audiosphere. From Indian Lakes has relatively light vocals. They are not jamming their voices as hard as they can ala hard rock, Zeppelin/Cornell style vocals. They are also not singing super low or dark ala Vedder or the like. Equally so, despite singing soft they are not going for the crooner sound ala Michael Buble. Instead there’s a sound that’s wholly different, so we have no preconceived notion of what they should or should not sound like.
Now, with today’s music being what it is, this could easily lead to us dismissing such music. However I feel they’ve managed to write something that grabs your ear and makes you want to pay attention to the whole song. This is critical to good artistry, and something I deeply respect.
I hope that’s made you think a little more deeply about songwriting and what you hear on the radio today. Til next time! Enjoy!