Valentine’s Day the Indie Way

By Caroline Janes
Music Journalist

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, and although some people see it as a corporate sham to sell cards and chocolate, I think it’s a great time to celebrate love and relationships with anyone in your life. Whether it’s your friends, family, or significant other, Feb. 14 is a great day to show how much you care about your loved ones. Music can be a great way to express your feelings when you aren’t sure exactly what to say or what to get someone for Valentine’s Day. So I’ve compiled the best indie rock and indie pop love songs in my music library. Regardless of how you feel about Valentine’s Day, these are some great songs for any occasion. Here’s a further look into a few songs and the playlist is linked below!

Toro y Moi – “Girl Like You”

For all you electronic pop lovers out there, this is the song for you. This upbeat song would be perfect to serenade your secret crush. I’m sure many guys out there can relate to the chorus: “What’s it gonna take for a guy like me to find a girl like you?” The dreamy synth the song opens with accompanied with the punchy beat carries the song along nicely and instantly makes you want to dance (perhaps with your crush).

BOYO – “Mantra”

This track opens up with a funky guitar melody that continues throughout the song making it catchy and memorable. The lyrics, “you, you are the best thing,” also add to the songs contagious beat and makes it easy to sing along to. These lyrics are also perfect to send to your sweetheart to remind them of how much they mean to you. BOYO also sings, “Mantra in my mind, I say it all time, I can’t go on without you.” These charming lyrics could also easily describe how you feel about your S.O. this Valentine’s Day. BOYO keeps the lyrics minimal and repetitive making this song an easy-listen and helps showcase the sweet guitar and bass.

Generationals – “When They Fight, They Fight”

This song is definitely a long-term couple kind of hit because as most couples know, even if you fight from time to time, at the end of the day you still say “I love you baby,” just as the duo, Grant Widmer and Ted Joyner, belt out in the chorus. It’s a perfect song to go back to when you need to remind yourself that what you’re fighting about is probably petty. This song is heavily ’60s-influenced from the backup vocals to the bass line, making it fit right in with the music of that era. The trumpet in this song is subtle and really makes the track stand out because it’s not often that indie rockers like Generationals throw a brass instrument into the mix.

Homeshake – “Real Love”

In this sweet song, Peter Sagar is describing an encounter with his “baby” in a crowded club. He sings “it’s real love in this club tonight” and he says that “her and I” feel “alive.” The lazy guitar and synth combination in this song are quite characteristic of Homeshake’s style especially off the album this song is on, Midnight Snack. This could be a great song to slow dance to with your Valentine. Just like “Dancing” by Mellow Fellow indicates, dancing with your love can be quite romantic and intimate.

Young the Giant – “Crystallized”

This is easily one of the cutest (and cheesiest) songs on this playlist. Lead singer Sameer Gadhia sings “When the beat of my drum meets the beat of your heart, you know I couldn’t love any other.” The guitar and melodies of this complex song are characteristic of Young the Giant’s unique brand of sound. The verses and bridge in this song give it complexity and break up the repetitiveness of the chorus in a beautiful way that’s also characteristic of Young the Giant’s style of songwriting.

Sports – “You Are the Right One”

I have to admit this is one of my all time favorite songs. Everything about it from the drawn-out synths to the infectious guitars adds to the absolute perfection of this song. Sports has an eccentric sound that draws heavily from music from the ’80s. Even the main guitar riff in this song is taken from Eric Clapton’s 1977 hit “Wonderful Tonight.” That is yet another song that is perfect for Valentine’s Day. The title lyrics “you are the right one” and “you are the only one I can picture by my side” are great ways to express how you feel to that special someone this Valentine’s Day.

Featured image by Caroline Janes.