Listening to RIOT SON’s new single, “Loneliest at Best,” is a curious exercise in emotional time-travel. The sound pulls you back to the early 2000s, to a time of angular guitars and heartfelt, frayed-collar vocals. It has that nervous, shimmering energy of indie rock that always sounded best on a pair of wired headphones, the beat prodding you forward even as the lyrics confess...

Folk music and indie folk have become more mainstream in recent years, to my surprise. The uplifting and soothing vibrations of this clean and global form of music are something we should all have more of in our lives. Two years ago, Lee Leffler (guitars, keyboards, vocals and lyrics), along with Michael Frackleton (drumming and bass), formed the Boston-based band, Dream of a Man...