When I pressed play on the latest release from Shelita, titled "Sailors", I wasn't expecting the floor to drop out from under me. You see, "pop" is often a safe word, a designation for the palatable. But this? This is something else entirely. It’s as if someone took a tender ballad and threw it into a particle accelerator to see what sub-atomic emotions would...

Cinnamon Rayne’s single “Caroline” doesn’t drift into your ears; it materializes, like damp chill seeping through a window frame you thought was sealed. This isn't the hazy comfort some dream pop offers. Oh no. This Rochester songwriter has brewed something far more unsettling, an urgent plea cloaked in eerie synth washes and vocals that hover with genuine concern, maybe even panic. https://open.spotify.com/album/3mnoY7Hz9lxIDtFfRE3mJB?si=xWTzRM53Q1yoohZTNzdwGA The sound itself is...