The single from Syracuse’s ORWAX, “Everything's Addictive,” doesn’t so much ask a question as it does state a grim, unblinking diagnosis for the modern soul. From its first notes, the track establishes itself not as a party anthem for self-destruction, but as the sound of the machine humming underneath our choices. The trio—a self-contained unit of Ryan and Jim Moran, with Jason Randall on...

Five songs. Seventeen minutes. A decade’s worth of emotional receipts. Vanessa Moussa’s self-titled debut EP finds the Sydney vocalist placing her own name on the cover after years of work alongside other artists. This compact indie folk and alternative blues release traces new love, heartbreak, hope, regret, then the choice to move on. Moussa enters this chapter with experience. ABC’s triple j Unearthed identifies her as...