Casey McQuillen’s single “Better” arrives not with a bang, but with the quiet, decisive click of a well-made lock securing a door. It’s pop music, certainly, groomed and gleaming, yet beneath the surface bubbles a fierce kind of self-possession that’s less about demanding attention and more about curating who gets past the velvet rope of your own contentment. Coming from someone known for empowerment...

Okay, let’s talk about Blofeld Sands, straight out of Brighton with a debut single, ‘People.’ That's the title, folks, not a directive. I mean, it kind of is, though, isn't it? When I first hit play, it wasn't the jangly guitars or the precisely placed drum fills that snagged my ear, but that singular word echoing in the verses: “loving people”. A simple phrase,...