Indie Darling is the musical project of Michigan-based pianist, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Luke LaBenne. Luke began releasing music as Indie Darling 2019 but he has been writing his own songs for nearly 20 years. 

The Snowfall Suite EP was written in the thick of a Michigan winter in 2021. Luke composed these songs while his cats sat in the window watching the wild weather outside. The deluge of snow provided a thematic parallel to the mounting pressure of his day job that would go on to consume him, leading to a disconnection from his music and a period of deep depression. 

The longer he neglected his creative outlets the worse things became, leading to intense feelings of insecurity and self-loathing. This continued for much of 2022 even as Luke began attending therapy. In the fall of 2022, Luke revived his long-dormant Indie Darling accounts and started posting cover videos. The support and recognition he received from his followers online gave him new inspiration and began the first step in his recovery. 

In winter 2022, after one of the toughest year’s of his life Luke sat down to record the compositions he’d written the year prior. Now that Luke has found a way through the snow storm he enjoys spending time at home with his wife, Kyle and his two cats, Nico and Annie (Nico is the subject of the EP’s artwork and both cats appear in the music video). He still regularly attends therapy and encourages others to seek help.

Luke can now look back with clarity and answer the question that he poses in the song, “The lyric is ‘Please show me a secret or formula for keeping my head above’ and that’s the tricky thing, there is no formula. There is no easy answer, there is no hack. Life is hard and you keep going. That’s enough. Finding a reason (any reason) to keep going is the answer.”

Formula (1st Movement)

Darkheart is the darkest depths of Indie Darling's debut album Entertain. Lyreman transformed the haunting ballad into and upbeat banger.

Darkheart (Lyreman Remix)

Today, I'm releasing the Sped Up and Remix version of my song "The Very Same" from my debut album Entertain. I transformed the leisurely-paced piano ballad into a fast-paced banger. Hope you enjoy!

The Very Same - Sped Up

This is my B-Sides album made up of previously released singles, never released tracks from my now defunct Spiderscorpion project and some other random recordings I've had on my hard drive for years but never released. These songs are imperfect but beautiful in their own way just like me.

Cosmic Drift

Mechanical Choir

OREX2

OREX1

Shred in Em

Close To Me

soulbone / the freshness

F'in BIZNUSS

As I describe in the song this song came to me in a dream. I woke up at 4am and wrote down the lyrics then recorded the whole thing the next day. I use the term people use on social media, "felt cute, might delete" to illustrate insecurity and being hard on yourself. The lyrics are meta and basically chart my process of wondering if I should even make the song but the chorus captures my love of music and how it's a venue for me to express my most honest thoughts.

felt cute, might delete

Indie Darling is the musical project of Michigan-based singer-songwriter / multi-instrumentalist Luke LaBenne. Debut album Entertain out now.

Indie Darling

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