The latest from Jacob and the Starry Eyed Shadows, “Racing on the Back Straight,” performs a fantastic trick: it dresses up a full-blown existential crisis in its summer best and sends it to the beach. This Glasgow solo architect, Jacob, has constructed a Trojan horse of a track, all propulsive indie rock guitars and a pop-punk chorus so immediate it feels like you’ve known...

Some names behave like locked doors. They sit in a lyric, plain enough to read, yet private enough to resist the curious hand. Emilia, in Yacovelli's new single, carries that strange power. She is named, pursued, teased, and protected, as if the song has placed her under stage light only to turn the bulb toward the crowd. For a band rooted in the scuffed romance...