Listening to Arnold J.’s new single, "Muddy Waters," isn't quite like anything else swirling around right now. It arrives with the gentle insistence of incoming tide, pulling you into its specific gravity. Arnold J., Ghanaian-born and now Canada-based, weaves a sound tagged as alt-country and folk, but those labels feel thin, like trying to contain smoke. There’s earthiness, sure, but his soulful vocal lines...

There's a specific kind of pleasant dread in the opening moments of Korda Korder’s new single, "You Still Turn Me Inside Out," like standing at the entrance of a cathedral you know is haunted by something benevolent. The East Sussex outfit calls this a gothic lament, and they aren't wrong, but it’s a lamentation born from awe, not sorrow. Guitars fall like silver rain...