Vibe Rock is one of my favorite emerging sounds. The genre is centered around mid tempo, atmospheric grooves. It has a touch of ‘60s and ‘70s nostalgia that hints at psychedelia without getting truly trippy. It’s also got chorusy guitars, shimmery synths, and fuzzy bass. Vibe Rock is a synthesis of external influences not bound by place or time, but it’s definitely a mood.

PHOTO BY SYD WHITE

At the forefront of Vibe Rock is miicah, an American musician from the Intermountain West. His new single, “COMAS,” is an excellent introduction to this exciting sonic development. It’s groovy, it’s dreamy, with verbed out pop vocal melodies that’ll bounce around in your head.

An artist from Stoke-on-Trent in the UK, Rufus Joseph’s voice is incredibly soulful while still remaining rustic and earthy. Produced by MAAM, “Dance With Darkness” is an interesting fusion of the synthetic and the real. The ethereal piano feels so organic and natural. You can hear the keys click and the hammers hit the strings, but it’s run through filters and produced in such a way as to feel modern – and borderline electronic. 

From a songwriting standpoint, the chorus is reminiscent of early Coldplay’s emotional, piano-driven numbers. It's melancholy, beautiful, and stirring. Rufus Joseph’s stated mission is to “inspire introspection and reflection on the road to ultimate healing.” With this song, at least, he’s certainly started me down the path. I’m feeling better already.

"They were made for walking and they'll walk right out on you.
She can try to steal my man but she can't fill my shoes."

HOT DANG. That is one heckuva lyric. Hailing from Spring, Texas, Effy Harvard is tapping into a delightfully different kind of nostalgia: 1960s American country music. Her voice is as twangy as it is pure. In fact, I’d call her voice genteel if the song weren’t so subtly vicious. From the instrumentation and the mix to her hazy photography and overall aesthetic, Effy nails the vibe. The narrative-driven lyrics even come complete with excellent turns of phrase (a staple of classic American country music). If country music isn’t your thing, Effy will make you respect the craft.

Comfort Club is the perfect name for this project. “Fear Of Moving On” (a subtle play on the FOMO acronym) is comfort music. Instrumentally, the song is reminiscent of the coffeeshop artists of the 00s like Howie Day, Matt Nathanson, and Jason Mraz (before he got so into weed). However, Comfort Club doesn't repeat the tropes of those artists. Far from it.

Sure, at its heart, this is a singer/songwriter tune. But the way he’s treated his voice and produced the drums feels very 2020s bedroom pop while still hanging onto the rich organic instrumentation that made those coffeeshop artists so great.

What sets Comfort Club apart is that his voice has a subtle edge to it that feels spiritually akin to Mark Hoppus’ voice on “I Miss You.” I know some readers will question that description, and I know it’s not accurate. But it’s less about how it actually sounds and more about how his voice makes me feel. It's familiar, but fresh and emotionally resonant. It's a really great blend of sounds.

Chloé Temtchine’s voice is so smooth that you’d never suspect her source of breath is borrowed.

This is a functional and slick indie pop track that becomes even more impactful when you discover the story behind it: Temtchine wrote this song as a tribute to the individual who gifted her their lungs – literally breathing new life into her through a double-lung transplant. “It's a profound gesture of gratitude and love to the person who became my silent hero,” she says of the song.

Temtchine is about to embark on a nationwide US tour to perform for children and adults struggling with medical issues. Her goal is to visit upwards of 24 hospitals to perform in the lobbies for hospital staff and patients. “In addition to bringing hope to those in need and awareness to Pulmonary Hypertension, we’d like to turn this tour into a massive organ donation awareness campaign,” says Temtchine. “It’s important to be an organ donor. A donor can save eight lives and dramatically alter the lives of many more people.”