Listening to Arnold J.’s new single, "Muddy Waters," isn't quite like anything else swirling around right now. It arrives with the gentle insistence of incoming tide, pulling you into its specific gravity. Arnold J., Ghanaian-born and now Canada-based, weaves a sound tagged as alt-country and folk, but those labels feel thin, like trying to contain smoke. There’s earthiness, sure, but his soulful vocal lines...

Un-Till’s new single, "Where We Belong," presents itself as a meticulously engineered festival anthem, a gleaming machine of euphoria built for raised hands and summer skies. On its surface, the track is pure, uncut optimism. The synths ascend with a kind of bright-eyed sincerity, the beat has that insistent, chart-friendly pulse that pulls you onto the dancefloor, and the whole production shines with the...