Upper Wilds have announced a new album titled Mercury and released its title track. The Brooklyn-based band joins a thriving ecosystem of indie acts that thrive outside mainstream spotlight, a world documented in Ronen Givony's recent book Us v. Them: The Age Of Indie Music And A Decade In New York (2004-2014), published by Abrams Books.
Givony, a veteran New York promoter and booker with decades of experience curating shows across the city, chronicles the underground indie scene during its explosive growth into the mainstream. Rather than rehashing narratives around household names, his book examines the infrastructure and individuals who sustained Brooklyn's vital live music culture. He profiles venue operators who ran essential spaces like Glasslands and Silent Barn, as well as promoters who bankrolled memorable spectacles such as the Boredoms' legendary 77-drummer, 77-minute performance on 7/7/07.
The book recovers overlooked bands who shared stages and fan bases with more commercially successful acts, treating the marginal as central to understanding how indie rock actually functioned as a scene rather than merely a commercial category. Upper Wilds' Mercury announcement arrives in this context of renewed interest in indie music's foundational infrastructure and the artists who built sustainable careers outside traditional industry channels.
The new album signals the band's continued participation in a music ecosystem that remains vital, even as the definition of "indie" has evolved since the 2004-2014 period Givony documents. Upper Wilds represent the ongoing lineage of bands operating in similar creative spaces, carrying forward the ethos that made Brooklyn's venues and independent labels destinations for serious listeners seeking alternatives to mainstream rock radio.