The Indie Pop results of our Best of NYC Poll for emerging artists are always the most anticipated - beware though! These are just the Open Submission results, i.e. the list of indie pop bands that qualified to the next phase of the poll by submitting online; there will be a longer list soon including bands voted by our jurors.

Total submissions in this category: 28

Artists Qualified to the next stage (Readers' Poll, starting around 01.15):

1. Half Waif    8.5 (out of 10)
1. Hey Anna    8.5
3. Seasick Mama    8.33
3. Graph Rabbit    8.33

Honorable Mentions (scores above 7.16):

The Dirty Gems, Hurrah! A Bolt Of Light!, Coastgaard, Modern Merchant, The Roofer's Union, Truest, Beecher's Fault, Grand Cousin, Strip Darling, Dalton, dot and logic, Tropic of Pisces, Isle Of Rhodes, Marco Argiro.

Jurors: Charise Sowells (Deli Austin), Jordannah Elizabeth (Deli SB Area), PDG (Deli NYC)

Stay tuned for more results, and then for the readers' poll!

The Deli's Staff

Bedroom-pop at its finest comes form Nandi Rose Plunkett, otherwise known as Half Waif. Her EP "Future Joys" is charming and artfully crafted. Plunkett’s voice - slightly reminiscent of Grace Slick and Kate Bush at once - is powerful but never belting, and it gets you right where it hurts, through melodies that defy genres. Her vocal layering makes for dreamy clusters and swells, which float on a dark and ambient soundscape that would make Brian Eno proud. See Half Waif live tonight at Silent Barn. Check the new video from single Wooden Horse below. - Paul Jordan Talbot

Whatever happened to the independent ladies of the Lilith fair era, that golden time from the 90s when everyone re-learned how cool the piano and a great voice can be. Half Waif has some of that singer-songwriter sensibility setting off her emotions, but coupled with a scientist's flair for sound design (check out the long and soaring intro to album opener 'Wooden Horse'). New EP 'Future Joys' is at first an intimate journey told through her carefully wrought piano plays... but I'm continually surprised at how inventive the journey becomes as everything gets wound through her endlessly inventive sonic machinery.

So if you've ever wondered what kind of offspring Tori Amos might have had if she'd spent one stormy night with Brian Eno, check out Half Waif's new record here. - Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)