The latest from Jacob and the Starry Eyed Shadows, “Racing on the Back Straight,” performs a fantastic trick: it dresses up a full-blown existential crisis in its summer best and sends it to the beach. This Glasgow solo architect, Jacob, has constructed a Trojan horse of a track, all propulsive indie rock guitars and a pop-punk chorus so immediate it feels like you’ve known...

There is a specific, illicit thrill in turning off your alarm clock on a Tuesday just to watch the dust motes dance in the sunlight, and John Nicholas captures that exact frequency of rebellion in "Today With You". It’s been a minute since we’ve heard from him, and this return feels less like a polite knock and more like a friend throwing a pebble...