Need your indie fix STAT when you get back to the bleak, bleak New Haven winter? You’re in luck — the Yale Cabaret will host indie musician extraordinaire and Yale alum Holcombe Waller on Jan. 11, according to a Cabaret press release.

At Yale, Waller — also known as Mike Sagalowicz ’98 — was an Art major and member of the Duke’s Men, a group that, along with Laura Gragtmans DRA ’12, will open at Wednesday’s concert. Serious Doox fans, take note: it was Waller who dreamed up the arrangement of the Barenaked Ladies’ “What a Good Boy” that has become a Doox standard, according to one of our favorite Duke’s Men.

Now based in Portland, Waller has won widespread praise from reviewers, who have called his music gentle and mellow, beautiful and sad. “It feels like the best feelings in life, the ones that make us know that we’re alive for better or worse,” the Oregonian writes. So, the vibe we’re looking at is basically Elliott Smith, minus the limitless despair.

Most recently, Waller toured with a traveling theatrical folk concert called ‘Into the Dark Unknown.’ In winter 2011, he released a compilation album of the same name that featured recordings of the concerts.

Check out Waller’s work on YouTube. Cross Campus was especially moved by the music video for “Hardliners”:

Pretty intense, huh? Our ever-so-cold hearts just melted a tiny bit. You can’t get that much soul from your Bluebook, no matter how hard you try. So take a break from the ‘omg will I get into this class’ drama and have an existential night out. We’re willing to bet our last tacky holiday sweater you’ll leave with a blast of perspective — the sun will still rise.

You can buy tickets for $10 online at yalecabaret.org, over the phone at (203) 432-1566 or via email at ysd.cabaret@yale.edu. They’ll cost $15 at the door.