The Swedish sextet Villa Rivercat turns hesitation, healing, and synth-lit folk rock into a single built for repeat plays. Some songs feel like the exact second before you send the text you have typed three times and deleted twice. 'Woodchopper', the new single from Villa Rivercat, lives in that nervous little gap. It is about choice, but it does not treat choice like a neat...

Listening to “Small Town Syndrome” by thinking silly is an exercise in delightful contradiction. Dylan Morrison’s project, shaped here by the production hand of collaborator Margot Taylor, builds a sleek, propulsive chassis of dark pop and minimal techno, only to house an engine of pure, grinding ache. It’s the sound of someone forcing a smile so wide their face hurts, a dance track for...