RoofTop Screamers’ "Blink of an Eye" has a way of unpacking itself in your mind long after the last note fades, like finding a single, unexplainable sequin on your collar hours after leaving a particularly vivid party. It struts in with this curious collision of sounds – a pinch of power pop’s bright-eyed yearning, the jagged, insistent pulse of new wave, a defiant shimmer...

Lost Lot’s new single, “Waiting,” does a funny thing to the air in the room. It settles it. For three-and-a-half minutes, everything seems to hold its breath, letting a story of profound and stubborn love fill the space. On the surface, it’s a gorgeous slice of widescreen Americana—guitars shimmering with the texture of sun-bleached highway signs, a rhythm section that provides a steady, relentless...