Silja Rós sends us “Letters from my past,” and it’s as if one has been handed a velvet pouch of smoothed sea glass, each piece a shard of memory polished by time. Listening feels like sorting through them, the Icelandic musician’s neo-soul and pop songwriting unfurling narratives from what must be deeply personal old diaries. There’s an intimacy here akin to deciphering faded ink...

Hearing Max Mayer’s single “Someday I’ll Fly” feels a bit like eavesdropping on a very specific, very modern kind of prayer whispered over a crackling phone line. Here we have this London-based musician, grappling with the magnetic pull of ambition against the equally strong tether of a heart miles away. The song lives squarely in that awkward, stretching space between here and there. https://open.spotify.com/track/6Gupo1O4sJok4Ku6qcTQOz?si=4Eu-s9UUTZiZH4Qo8piuUQ It’s country-inspired...