It takes a certain kind of ideological whiplash to shift from navigating corporate property deals to aggressively narrating the downfall of humanity, but at 74, Stephen Wicks introduces his single "The Doomsday Clock" with the blazing clarity of someone watching civilization slip off the edge. https://open.spotify.com/track/70JffY8Y63JRdjn98A1fMB?si=xK17Z-ERQO-o2he9oKPX-g The Hertford-based entrepreneur-turned-songwriter channels his late-in-life reinvention to confront a cocktail of existential horrors: geopolitical collapse, climate crisis, unchecked AI,...

Phoebe Huisman and the release "Inside" arrived in my speakers like the sudden, sharp scent of rain hitting hot asphalt familiar, grounding, and weirdly emotional. There is something unnerving about how accurately this collection of songs maps the topographical mess of being a teenager. Huisman, a singer-songwriter with the technical chops of a Distinction-grade vocalist and the heart of a poet, has essentially constructed...