DJ Momotaro’s new single "Neon Heat (feat. Vessa) " is less a track you listen to and more a space you occupy for three and a half minutes. The official description promises “optimistic melancholy,” a phrase that sounds like an exquisite paradox until the first synth pad washes over you. This is the sound of a midnight drive through a city that exists only...

Sam Ostler’s new single, “Lights,” then. It unfolds less like a sudden, intrusive glare and more like the slow, determined burn of a really good stage light finally finding its mark after a prolonged blackout. It’s pop, yes, vibrant and undeniably contemporary as advertised – clean lines, clear intentions. Yet, there’s a certain satisfying heft beneath the melodic uplift, a feeling that these notes...