Have you ever felt like a lone sock in a dryer, tumbling endlessly, searching for its match, only to find... a button? That's a little how I felt listening to De/OS's (Taemin Kim's) new single, "Rise I." But in the best way possible. It's a swirling vortex of calm, a sonic kaleidoscope. The release is described as minimalist ambient, orchestral, zen…and yes, it’s all...

The moment the jaunty guitar kicks in on John Smyths’ new single, "Now I'm Wiser", you feel a familiar, comfortable warmth. It’s the sound of a good chair in a bar where the floor is sticky with spilled truths. And then the story starts, a classic yarn of a hard-living past yielding to a peaceful present. Smyths, a Dutch ex-metalhead singing country out of...