Flavor Wave’s single, “The Optimist,” arrived less like a declaration and more like someone tentatively drawing back a dusty curtain on a grey afternoon. From West Chester, PA, these five lifelong friends – Kyle Loedel (vocals, lyrics), Matthew Stretch (lead guitar), Patrick Blair (rhythm guitar), Noah Montgomery (bass), and Joshua Speaker (performer/drums) – typically tread alternative rock paths nodding to influences like The Strokes....

Alds Fjóla, a musician who has been polishing her talent since the age of sixteen, lives and works in the lovely village of Borgarfjörur eystra in East Iceland. She's been in the music industry for a while now, and after years of playing with different bands, she's now taking the plunge and going solo. Shadows (2020), the forthcoming first album from Alds Fjóla, brings a new...