RISE’s new single, “Lost For Words,” doesn’t sound like the slow, sad end of a relationship; it sounds like the starting pistol for the next phase of a life. Here is an anthem that throws its shoulders back, propelled by a velocity that feels less like running away and more like accelerating toward something certain. Alex Mahoney’s drumming provides a relentless forward momentum, a...

There’s a peculiar, soil-and-metal chill to Rubanq’s new single, "Bury Me Deep." From the first few sparse piano keys, you’re not so much listening to a song as you are being lowered into its world—a quiet, frostbitten landscape where the roads are empty and the sun is just a rumor. The Swedish songwriter operates in that stark territory between grunge’s raw-nerve honesty and Americana’s...