Ava Valianti represents something increasingly rare in contemporary music: genuine precocity without artifice. This Massachusetts artist, who is only fifteen years old, handles general themes with a level of emotional depth that is shocking. She shows that youth can bring out the best in complicated human experiences, rather than hiding them. "Distant," her sixth single, functions as a sonic archaeology of friendship's dissolution. The track excavates layers...

Jamie Somerville’s new single, “Lonely Walkers,” drifts in like morning fog rolling over a deserted pier. It’s a track born from a home setting, and you feel that intimacy immediately – a close-mic'd vulnerability mapping the difficult terrain of profound solitude. Somerville, a London solo artist, clearly understands the peculiar weight of wanting connection while simultaneously building fortifications against the possibility of it. https://open.spotify.com/track/0pqbuFAcyMYC3JEZvomxxY?si=eb849e7f5ccb4d4a Drawing from...