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...

The last straw arrives quietly: I know who this person is, and I am done negotiating. Ally Cribb catches that switch in “Stand Back,” a country-pop single that puts self-respect ahead of another round of apologies. The 2025 four-minute record speaks to anyone who has confused patience with permission. Its title hits like a raised palm, immediate and impossible to misunderstand. Cribb is a Toronto-born singer-songwriter...