Indie’s Sharpest New Songs: Alex Cameron, Body Type, Hovvdy

Good songs don’t shout for attention. They settle into a particular choice and commit. This week, Alex Cameron, Body Type, and Hovvdy each released something that works exactly because it refuses to overplay its hand.

Alex Cameron’s “Red Hook Rain” is the first glimpse of his forthcoming album Late to Set. The Australian songwriter has built a career on character-driven synth rock that balances sleaze with pop instinct. Here, the hook arrives early and lingers, a sticky counterweight to the narrative fog. The production feels lean and unhurried, a reminder that Cameron’s world-building always serves the tune first.

Body Type’s “Mulberry” steps away from the sunburnt urgency of their last two records. The Australian band returns to the quieter, cloudier territory of their earliest work. The single previews Tally, a third album that seems to trade outward energy for internal pressure. Guitar lines blur at the edges, the vocals stay close. It’s not a retreat, just a different kind of tension.

Hovvdy’s “Try Try Try” pulls off the same trick with even less material. The Texas duo have been refining a burnished lo-fi pop for years, and this first single from Big World feels instantaneous. Fuzzed-out warmth wraps around a semi-rapped second verse that disrupts the song just enough to keep it alive. At under three minutes, it lands like a Polaroid: small, immediate, and hard to shake.