Estelle Chen’s “all my life” holds onto love through a series of small requests, asking for closeness without trying to explain everything that makes the relationship matter. “Hold me tight / Through the night” opens with physical intimacy, followed by…
Alexa Kate’s “Does Anybody?” and “good for long” both stay inside anxious states of mind, but they approach them from different situations. The first is about feeling unseen while struggling to keep up, while the second finds happiness becoming difficult…
Yemi Alade’s “Alhaja” and “Titanium” approach It’s Yemi Alade from two different points in its journey, with the opening track establishing a personal frame before “Titanium” turns inward later in the album. Both are solo performances, keeping Yemi’s voice at…
Mister Chorister’s “You’re Not Listening” turns the complaint of being unheard into a question about who is doing the listening. What began with frustration toward a colleague shifts toward the possibility that the person being ignored may also be an…
Sylva Faye’s “WRAITHSONG” turns the language of haunting into a record of trying to outlive it. “Red sky / Black morning” establishes a world already under pressure, while “hang up on the demons calling” gives that pressure a concrete action.…
The Free States approaches “Most of All” from a songwriting practice built around patience and construction rather than performance. The project belongs to American songwriter Shaun Lyons, who developed an early fascination with recording and became more interested in building…
UNPAVED’s “Shine” builds its meaning from a few repeated words, turning “every breath im braking through” and “every step im finding you” into a mantra about movement toward connection. Resonating with the empowering rhythmic vitality found in Yemi Alade, The…
Extended Blundering’s “Deflated Souffle” and “Humanize Me” turn found sounds into two different encounters with the world around them. The first began with recordings made while watching a marching band warm up before a Fourth of July parade, while the…
Tara Lily makes “Break The Motion” sound suspended between movement and interruption, using a slow-burning blend of spectral jazz, alternative R&B and fractured electronica to resist a clean forward motion—an alluring nocturnal fluidity that complements the sultry, dancefloor-driven romantic plea…
Mackwood gives “Sammy” a sense of motion that comes from the relationship between jazz and the dancefloor rather than from either one alone. The track reflects his description of “Future Jazz, born in the dance,” with rhythm taking the lead…