FLAVUS NOVA’s new single, “Blur,” kind of snagged on my ear the first time through, like catching a thread on a splinter. There's an immediate, uncomfortable honesty to it. This isn't background music for sorting your sock drawer, unless your socks are currently staging a tiny, threadbare rebellion against perpetual use. https://open.spotify.com/track/5gscoLfTvvYunm9hfyOOZp?si=0c71f009834440a7 The Northern Ireland native, now navigating the UK/Ireland scene, paints a stark picture here....

A city can teach a person how to carry noise. The Liberties, with its old trade routes and close communal pulse, has long carried dense human music. From that inheritance, Zak Coghlan appears to have taken not only a taste for melody, but a belief that feeling becomes sharper when placed inside a story that can stand up under pressure. “Lead Balloon”, his new single...