Chicago-based Andrew Belle has made a name for himself as one of our more compelling songwriters since releasing his debut album The Ladder in 2010. Though that album held strong at number one for several weeks on iTunes's singer-songwriter chart and earned dozens of television and film licenses, Belle boldly followed a new muse on the album's electronic, alternative follow-up, Black Bear. His third and latest album Dive Deep doubles down on the ethereal electronic sound of Black Bear, and sees Belle pushing himself to new depths as a songwriter, a vocalist, and a composer. Soaring choruses and moody arrangements abound on Dive Deep, a thoughtfully crafted and deeply felt album that deserves consideration among peers like James Blake and Bon Iver. 

Turning on a Hunter Metts song is like stepping into a colorful, cathartic world made just for two: His gentle indie folk music wraps around the ears and soul like a blanket – cozy and soft, ethereal and comforting, all coming from and speaking to a tender, aching heart. Authenticity is paramount for the artist and producer, for whom songwriting is as much a means of survival as it is one of artistic self-expression.   “I’m not sitting down to make music for a playlist,” he says. “This is what I want to say, this is how I want to say it; I hope people relate to it, but at the same time it’s not crafted for that.”   Born into a musical family in Nashville, Tennessee, Metts began playing instruments from a young age, gravitating toward avant folk artists like Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes in his teenage years. He fell hard and fast for artists like The Paper Kites, Gregory Alan Isakov, and Lord Huron, whose intentional lyrics and sweet, harmony-rich music became his north stars as he discovered his own voice and stepped into his own distinct folk identity. Yet it wasn’t until he spent a few years in the workforce as a coder that Metts realized the nine-to-five cubicle life wasn’t for him, and he embarked on a music career . He unveiled his debut single “The River” in 2021 and has been releasing a steady stream of songs ever since, finally quitting his day job to pursue music full time in 2023.   After the release of his 2024 debut EP Monochrome, a powerful introduction to his intimate and eclectic artistry, Metts traveled to Colorado to work on a new body of work with producer Andrew Berlin. From that came the recent release “Weathervane,” showcasing the positive aspects of an honest love. The deeply intimate yet widely relatable song is about always making it through whatever life throws at you, and trusting that home doesn’t always have to be a physical space, but a person too.   “Weathervane is about an honest love at its core,” says Metts. “I’ve been through a course of struggles in my relationship, but at the end of the day, we’ve always had enough trust in each other to make it through whatever life throws our way.”