Tomasz Kowalczyk and Benita Rose have delivered something beautifully startling with their collaborative album, "Benita Rose Plays Tomasz Kowalczyk". It takes a staggering amount of vulnerability to hand the literal blueprint of your psyche to another human being. Yet, here we have Kowalczyk, a prolific Polish composer, trusting the world-renowned American concert pianist Rose to excavate his mind and translate his wordless, heavily emotional...

Casey McQuillen’s single “Better” arrives not with a bang, but with the quiet, decisive click of a well-made lock securing a door. It’s pop music, certainly, groomed and gleaming, yet beneath the surface bubbles a fierce kind of self-possession that’s less about demanding attention and more about curating who gets past the velvet rope of your own contentment. Coming from someone known for empowerment...