Casey McQuillen’s single “Better” arrives not with a bang, but with the quiet, decisive click of a well-made lock securing a door. It’s pop music, certainly, groomed and gleaming, yet beneath the surface bubbles a fierce kind of self-possession that’s less about demanding attention and more about curating who gets past the velvet rope of your own contentment. Coming from someone known for empowerment...

The New York City violinist and singer-songwriter Nevler packs Sequoia, Unfair, Sunshine, and Velvet with moonlit drama, bedroom closeness, and situationship fallout "A Handful Of Moons". Press play and the room changes size. "A Handful Of Moons" may only run for about thirteen and a half minutes, but Nevler knows how to make a short EP feel packed with messy texts, late trains, soft light,...