The Best Indie Songs of 2015 - Declan McKenna

Declan McKenna is a 16 year old indie-pop solo artist from London, England. He has blues and folk influences and has numbered Jeff Buckley, The Black Keys, Django Django, The Leisure Society, The Beatles and Jack White, among others, as influences. His music has been described as “fun and lively, a refreshing and light-hearted.” Many commentators are expecting him to blow up big.

Little Pieces (Nov’14) is an acoustic song with minimal accompaniment provided by body percussion and glockenspiel. It’s a foot tapper, thigh slapper and has hauntingly beautiful vocals that worm their way into your consciousness. A song about inequality it has a rhythm that pops and has been called “swirly indie pop”. Don’t listen to people predicting a bright future for this musician. This is perfect. Right here, right now, Little Pieces is one of the best indie songs of 2015.

Note: This is a cover version for a reason. The original version is not available unless you down load it here.

 

Shit you need to know:

Declan McKenna plays guitar and mandolin and says he likes to mix-up genres.

Declan McKenna has described his music as “psychedelic-blues riffs and folk lyrics.”

His influences include Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Flynn, Django Django, Bach and T-Bone Walker.

He self-released his biggest song so far, Brazil (Dec'14), on vinyl. The song condemns Sepp Blatter and the corruption endemic in FIFA.

Declan McKenna's music was compared to Portishead and Radiohead by this reviewer while his unique vocals minded another of The Libertines.

Declan McKenna was the winner of the Glastonbury Emerging Talent Competition 2015.

The young man toured with rising hot indie band Blossoms on their UK tour this year.
 

Declan is being pursued by a number of labels & publishers according to A&R Daily in the UK.

Other great Declan McKenna tracks are Brazil and All That.
 

 

Declan McKenna’s percussion reminded me of Ben Harper’s Steal My Kisses (1999) which had the beatboxer Rahzel supplying the beats. So here is the roots rock musician with one of his biggest hits.