Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...

Have you ever felt a strange sense of nostalgia for a time you never lived in? Like a phantom limb for a past that isn’t yours. It’s a peculiar sensation, that anachronistic ache. Listening to “Lost,” the debut album from Dallas artist Jake Vera, evokes a similar feeling. It’s a record built with the tools of the 21st century, a collaboration forged in the crucible of...