Christian

The Cockney Cowboy Redraws the Map with “Us Against The World”

There's a curious jolt in hearing a title like "Us Against The World" from an act called The Cockney Cowboy. The name itself is a glorious contradiction, a pairing of gritty East London reality with the wide-open romance of Nashville. You half expect a joke, but what Justin Vella delivers is a dead-serious, straight-shooting country ballad that smells less of hay bales and more...
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Finding Defiant Glee in the Anxiety of Lemon’s “Let It Out!”

There's a beautifully urgent twitch at the heart of Lemon’s new single, "Let It Out!", the kind of coiled-spring energy that feels seconds away...

Beautifully Broken: The Quiet Power of Suris’ “Pertinax”

Before listening to a single note of Suris’ new album, “Pertinax”, I spent a few minutes just looking at the word. Pertinax. It has...

Vicious Clay Turns Poison Into Ink on “bleecker street revisited”

To listen to Vicious Clay’s `"bleecker street revisited"` is to stumble upon a cartographer’s personal diary, one filled with maps of places that no...

Aleutians’ “Osiris” and the Poetry of Giving In

Aleutians’ new single, "Osiris," arrives sounding for all the world like a breezy afternoon on the coast, jangly and familiar. The New Brighton project...

More Than a Record, A Life: Robin James Hurt’s “A Song, A Story Told”

Robin James Hurt’s “A Song, A Story Told” arrives with a sound you can almost run a thumb over, like worn corduroy. In an...

Shadow Person Peels Back the Facade on “Chronic Disappointment”

Listening to Shadow Person’s new album, "Chronic Disappointment", feels like staring into one of those fun-house mirrors, only to realize with a slow, creeping...

A Map to Your Chaos: Navigating FREE/MAN’s “The Reconnection EP”

There's an intimacy to the new FREE/MAN release, "The Reconnection EP," that borders on a welcome invasion of personal space. It is the sonic...

The Heavy Grace of Dryadic’s New Single, “Ghosts”

Dryadic opens the door on their new single "Ghosts," and you immediately feel a change in the room’s pressure. The piano chords that introduce...

The Calm Hum of Mastery in Zov.yay’s “No Watches”

Listening to Zov.yay’s new single, “No Watches,” is like catching yourself forgetting what day of the week it is, and then deciding you quite...

Chellcy Reitsma’s ‘Carpe Diem’: An Album That Fights Back

There is a specific weight to Chellcy Reitsma’s "Carpe Diem," one that feels less like a motivational poster and more like a heavy coin...

Finding a Shared Shelter in Cat Cork’s “Simple Song”

Listening to Cat Cork’s "Simple Song" is a funny thing; the title is a clever piece of misdirection, a plain brown wrapper on a...

Navigating the Hypnotic Maze of “Half Evil” by Tomato Soup

There is a peculiar kind of engine at the heart of "Half Evil" by Tomato Soup, and it runs not on gasoline but on...