Top Christian Indie Artist Spotlight - 2022
Picture Credit: Eric Nopanen
What does “Indie” even mean? Google the term and you’ll get Deathcab for Cutie right next to rap-giant Macklemore.
A surprisingly technical term with a rich history, Indie music represents the artist’s creative drive to make new sounds outside of the mainstream.
If you have pictures of a musician hunched over their laptop in their closet, using Christmas sweaters and button-downs as sound-deadening material, you’d be right!
If you have images of established industry professionals sitting in a high-class studio, dreaming up a revolutionary direction to take their sound, you’d be right!
As followers of Jesus, it is a privilege and calling to think of fresh ways to “sing a new song”. This is the heart of Indie music.
Often distinguished by experimental sounds, energetic composition, and blending genres, Indie is the child of Rock, Jazz, Soul, Folk, EDM, and inverse-Pop.
If you are looking for the Top Christian Indie artists, look no further. These artists may not always appear on a Google Search, but these are the artists who we admire most for their contribution to the Indie music genre.
These pioneers are putting the “Alt” in Alternative Rock and Pop, giving us new sounds to be captivated by.
In this article, we’ll give you:
8 Top Christian Indie artists
Best album to start with for each
Our favorite lyrics from each artist
How they have impacted us as a band
Open up your go-to way to tune into tunes, and let’s go get our eardrums mesmerized.
Top 8 Christian Indie Artists
These bands and solo-projects are the brave voyagers who are asking, “what if we put that ancient truth in this new soundscape?”
Our lineup–in no particular order–is as follow:
John Mark McMillan
The Gray Havens
Kings Kaleidoscope
Judah and the Lion
Page CXVI
Propaganda
John Mark Pantana
John Van Deusen
To help you peruse this pantheon of creatives, we’ve made this playlist for you to enjoy.
Now let’s dive in head first!
(1) John Mark McMillan – Godfather of Christian Indie
Hailed by some as Christian music’s Neil Young or Bruce Springsteen, John Mark McMillan is a lyrical genius and deft song-crafter.
McMillan’s richly basso voice and swirling acoustic and electric guitar parts would be enough, but they are just the gold setting for the true masterpiece: his lyrics.
I came across his lines during early high-school–it was paradigm-defining! McMillan embodies for us what Gospel-pointing lyrics can and should look like.
McMillan has covered a lot of territory. From Southern Rock to Folk to experimental Cinematic Pop, he is a great example of an artist growing with his music.
There is a deeply rooted wisdom in his songs. He writes as someone who has known love and loss. When you listen to him, you feel like he is singing songs that Thorin Oakenshield of The Hobbit or Obi-Wan Kenobi of Star Wars would have penned. There is a sort of poet-warrior’s vitality to them.
Listen to John Mark McMillan if you want to be challenged, inspired, and carried along. Find a quiet, comfortable corner and listen to his albums straight through; they are always a cohesive work telling a story arc.
Recommended Starter Album: Borderland or The Medicine
Favorite Lyrics: “The Road, The Rocks and The Weeds”, “Counting On”, “Love You Swore”, “How He Loves” (yes, he is the original songwriter!)
Impact on us as musicians: We touched on his lyrical impact above, but McMillan has pushed in other ways as well. Over the last few years, he has been incredibly transparent about the challenges of being known as someone who makes “Christian” music. He has spoken out with helpful cautions about not getting caught in feeding a market, but instead enjoying and sharing Jesus. This is our heart as well!
McMillan playing “Counting On”, live from New Zealand.
(2) The Gray Havens – Musical Story Wizards
Creativity is when the spark of an inspiring source meets the tinder of a searching mind. This is the phenomenon that best describes the Gray Havens.
Husband and wife duo Dave and Licia Radford are like a wellspring of joyful, thoughtful wisdom. The college sweethearts struck out as a band early in their married life, and have been giving their listener-family album after album of inspiring, Gospel-rich artwork.
Beginning as a Folk-Pop band distinguished by lyrics heavily influenced by literature and story, they are now thoroughly Cinematic Pop. Their songs musically create the world that their lyrics describe in a way I have scarcely seen paralleled.
A core element of this dynamic has been their partnership with production-magician Ben Shive. Shive and Radford combine to pull ideas out of the realm of imagination and ensconce them in music.
Their most recent record, Blue Flower, is especially successful in this regard. They were able to make a musical interpretation of C.S. Lewis’ Surprised by Joy into a full-length exploration of hope, longing, and hunger for divine satisfaction.
Enjoy what is arguably our favorite band on a road trip or when you are looking for some magic to kickstart your afternoon slump!
Recommended Starter Album: Ghost of a King
Favorite Lyrics: “Shadows of the Dawn”, “She Waits”, “Paradise”
Impact on us as musicians: Too many ways to write! A distinct one specifically tied to Folk music has been the influences The Gray Havens draw upon. A lot of Folk music is based in life events, however, the Gray Havens have always seemed to draw most strongly from what they are reading.
We love how they participate in a continued creative conversation, and are excited to be doing the same. In fact, our single “Timeless” is inspired by our reading of Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus (find out more here).
Live one take of “Storehouse”.
(3) Kings Kaleidoscope – Wildest Sound
There are some people that must have a creative parade marching through their mind. Kings Kaleidoscope’s frontman, Chad Garner, must be one of them.
From their inception as a group of friends out of Seattle’s Mars Hill Church, the band has always been eclectic. Formed around Chad and his group of insanely talented musical friends, this group has been an exploration of how one man’s faith journey can echo in the hearts and ears of thousands.
A bold sonic blend of big band horns, sizzling drumbeats, and a thick texture of looping guitars and vocal samples, Kings K is the definition of experimental.
Every arrangement decision they make feels bold. And that’s what we love about them — they don’t play it safe.
It would be a shame if such brilliant production was a bandaid for lukewarm lyrics. But their writing is anything but.
It is a poetic compilation of the chillingly raw doubts and screaming hot battles the faith journey includes. Some of their lines have been the most anchoring words for our walk with Christ.
Listen to this crew if you are stuck. They will meet you with fight songs and give you grappling hooks to hold onto redemption. Or just listen to them because you want to jam out doing dishes.
If you want mixtape meets grunge meets symphony, all in a swirling consideration of deep theology, Kings K are your guys.
Recommended Starter Album: Zeal (then immediately go back to their first album!)
Favorite Lyrics: “Aimless Knight”, “Felix Culpa”, “Sometimes Phoenix”
Impact on us as musicians: As a musical duo, we envision most of our sound around the two of us. But Chad is a solo artist who has cast a musical vision so big that others couldn’t help but join in. We are excited for our music to be an invitation for others to join in.
Also, they’ve taken lyrical and genre risks to let their music be a confronting, true, and clarion. We admire their artistic integrity as Christians.
Live rendition of “Felix Culpa”.
(4) Judah &the Lion (and JUDAH) – Electronic Hoe-down Anthems
If you want a band that has explicitly gone through a clear, named metamorphosis, Judah & the Lion are that. Need proof? Well, they have an album entitled Folk Hop N’ Roll.
And it is accurate! These gentlemen have made a sound that is often Folk, Hip Hop, and Rock in the same song.
Judah Akers’ raw vocal almost has a Twenty One Pilots frankness to it.
Their lyrics are painfully, hilariously candid, always overtop an orchestration that seems like it chugged a 12 pack of Red Bull. These guys never run short on energy.
And you will find them spanning a wide range of content–from corporate worship to supremely personal wrestlings about loss and displacement. Their music is especially directed at the questioning-comfortable, when you find yourself in the same spot, but maybe not for the right reasons.
They’ve had some great collaborations, including Kacey Musgraves, Jon Foreman of Switchfoot and Jon Bellion (another few of our favorite artists).
Akers’ solo project JUDAH is exceptional in its own right, and feels like a sibling to the band rather than an independent departure.
Recently revamped and revitalized with their release Revival this duo is ready to bring the heart-pounding electric hoedown to your ears. Excellent workout music!
Recommended Starter Album: Kids These Days (original) or Revival (newest)
Favorite Lyrics: “scream!”, “Rich Kids”
Impact on us as musicians: We’ve loved their boldly intentional genre-blending. The band brazenly puts banjo right over thick synths and 808’s…and it works! In the same way we are excited to present music that pulls from our love of different sounds.
Live version of “Over My Head” - bluegrass stylized.
(5) Page CXVI – Hymns and Spiritual Songs Revamped
Latifah Alattas, aka Page CXVI (which is 116 if you are like me and don’t read Roman numerals . . . ), is the jazz-voiced, magic-minded maestra we get to visit next.
If Indie is taking music and words in fresh directions, Alattas takes this literally.
The central body of her work is a collection of stunningly reimagined hymns.
Latifah is a world-builder. She revives and revamps irreplaceable hymnody by placing timeless truths in a low-ceilinged lounge one moment, and an atmospheric soundscape the next.
As the producer of her own work, you can feel how close she is to her creation. Her Spotify features a playlist entitled “Spiritual Cosmonaut” – this is what her music invites you to do, consider where your walk with Christ may call your heart and life.
She sketches answers with musical imagination.
Recommended Starter Album: All
Favorite Lyrics: “In the Garden”, “All”
Impact on us as musicians: It is central to our heart as a band to make music that continues to give to Christ’s bride. We are excited to place Scripture in music with an ingenuity and creativity inspired by Alattas’ work.
Jazzy edition of “You Love All Your People”, live.
(6) Propaganda – Prophet of Indie Music
A name is a funny thing isn’t it? Especially among artists, we can become so familiar with who a name is associated with, that we can forget to discern why they named themselves something. Propaganda is a truth-teller.
Socially conscious, redemptively minded, and lyrically deft, Prop–in some ways–is the voice of rap in the Indie genre.
Featured in extensive collaboration with three of the artists on this list (The Gray Havens, John Mark McMillan, and Kings Kaleidoscope), this rapper-poet has injected verse into unexpected places.
Why and how? His enigmatic lines get up under your skin–it is a rare gift when a rapper can spit just as powerfully over strings as he can over 808’s. Especially as Indie artists seek to craft meaningful works of art that speak into the most raw wounds of culture with real redemption, Prop’s voice has delivered an insight that is grounding, cutting, and probing all at once.
Pop open your browser and listen to his record Crooked with the lyrics in front of you!
Recommended Starter Album: Crooked
Favorite Lyrics: “High Enough” (Gray Havens), “I Hate Cats”, “W.D.Y.K.A.G” (Kings Kaleidoscope)
Impact on us as musicians: Propaganda has figured out how to put bold truths in plain sight, with a lyrical brilliance and emotional connectivity that cannot be dismissed. His words are not safe. Neither were Jesus’. May ours not be either.
Prop introing and performing “It’s Complicated” live.
(7) John Mark Pantana – Soul Vibes for the Love of God
Not only do we have three gentlemen named “John” on this list . . . two of them are “John Mark!”
But you don’t land on the Indie list for being a copycat. And John, with his sweetly high, stacked vocals, vibey soul production and acoustic airiness has crafted a sound that feels like biking slow at sunset.
Writing from a place of transparent testimony, Pantana lets us read his love letters to Jesus. If you struggle to see God as intimate or affectionate, see Pantana’s words as a mirror for the Lord’s character.
Chill to these songs as you do homework, do woodworking, dream of summer, or slowly sip some sweet tea.
Recommended Starter Album: Love Secrets
Favorite Lyrics: “On Your Mind”
Impact on us as musicians: Pantana writes from where Jesus brought him. Christ brought us out of some dark corners, we want to share how good He has been to do this, just like brother John has.
“Day By Day” album version.
(8) John Van Deusen – Power Pop Conductor
Indie artists are marked by their commitment to a sound. Sometimes they have smaller audiences because they aren’t creating a sound someone would easily slot.
But John Van Deusen is in his own league. He just completed a project he began in 2017–an incredibly ambitious four-part collection of albums.
Collectively entitled (I Am) Origami, they are a symphony. Classical symphonies include four movements, and the albums function seamlessly in this manner. In a stroke of musical mastery, JVD has made internally cohesive, diverse records of identity, praise, crisis, apathy, and search for divine enchantment.
His wavering voice and often raw recording makes you feel the pure energy intrinsic to brilliant art.
Part 1 through Part 4 deserve to be listened through as a block, but Part 2 stood out especially. It is a wildly experimental, dangerously aggressive compilation of sounds that is at first jarring, and then stunning. I think it is one of the boldest pieces of Christ-exalting music to be executed in recent decades.
Recommended Starter Album: (I am) Origami Pt. 2
Favorite Lyrics: “Forgive Me, Audrey Horne”, “With Every Power Wide Awake”
Impact on us as musicians: John has made insanely ambitious music, and has held to this compass over the course of four, intertwined albums. We want to have the same musical vision, and the same integrity as artists making art.
“Don’t Pitch Correct Me” - live on KEXP.
Keep the music rolling
Now that you have hours of musical adventure in front of you, who are you going to share it with?
One of my favorite memories is sitting in my friend’s dorm room and listening through entire records, then discussing them. Artists make music to be cherished. Enjoy that gift with someone.
That’s why we–as artists–write these articles. You can have a chance to sit with these crafters and creators, and enter their conversation!
If you like their music, we think you might like ours as well. It’d be an honor to have you join the adventure of Wind and Sail!
Keep leaning into new music — some of these artists are Folk-adjacent, enjoy our Folk Spotlight article!
Sign up for our email list and you’ll be the first to know about new releases, more articles, and shows near you! We are crafting music ranging from Indie-Folk to Alt-Rock, so hop on the boat!
Until next time, listen to new music, share new music, make new music!