Some songs arrive with a chorus built for the group chat. Shannon Darcy’s ‘Treasures and Gold’ comes in closer. This alternative pop rock single centres on a far less tidy feeling: caring about somebody who has repeatedly made you feel unwanted, then realising that their behaviour cannot keep writing your value for you. ‘Treasures and Gold’ shifts Darcy from the defiant heat of "Control Freak" into...

Ava Valianti represents something increasingly rare in contemporary music: genuine precocity without artifice. This Massachusetts artist, who is only fifteen years old, handles general themes with a level of emotional depth that is shocking. She shows that youth can bring out the best in complicated human experiences, rather than hiding them. "Distant," her sixth single, functions as a sonic archaeology of friendship's dissolution. The track excavates layers...