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Apparently younger people have various other unrelated things they refer to as indie (not necessarily worse, just not what I'd call the genre of indie)
@Dontgiveupyourdayjob wiz for you too.
It depends on what you label as "indie". I can talk mainly about Interpol because they are one of my favorite bands. So let's review them in a nutshell. I will try to use basic music theory terms, if you need help on them, we can discuss later.
Pretty standard for indie is:
1. Voice leading. Some pretty cool examples here:
- the main riff on Obstacle 1: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/interpol-obstacle-1-tab-s92807t2
- the intro of Stella was a diver....: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/interpol-stella-was-a-diver-and-she-was-always-down-tab-s9747t0
- the chorus and outro of PDA: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/interpol-pda-tab-s9742t3
You can use voice leading everywhere, even for chorus. Learn the major and minor scale to do it properly.
2. Play triads all over the neck. Most of the triads are played partially - root and fifth or root and third or root and fourth.
Examples:
- the main riff on Leif Ericsson: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/interpol-leif-erikson-tab-s9960t0
- Bloc party's Banquet (pay attention how the two guitars harmonize each other trough triads): https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/bloc-party-banquet-tab-s3532t0
Partial triads to indie is what power chords are to grunge.
3. Play some intervals of the major and minor scales to harmonize the chords:
- the intro of Stella was a diver.... - check the second guitar: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/interpol-stella-was-a-diver-and-she-was-always-down-tab-s9747t0
- Not even jail - beginning and before the chorus: https://www.songsterr.com/a/wsa/interpol-not-even-jail-tab-s9907t1
I hope you find this helpful. Indie is pretty fun to play and it's not difficult. If you want to "dive" into the genre, study more of the bands that you like. Analyze their chord progressions, they way they build songs and try to define what's cool about them.
Good luck.
P.S. Many people will advise you to get a Jaguar or Jazzmaster for that "indie" sound. It's bullshit - Interpol use Gibson and Epiphone, Kings of Leon use Gibson and Fano, Bloc Party use telecaster. So all type of guitars can server you well (except B.C. Rich and super-strats with EMGs).
You may need a fair amount of reverb though.