The first encounter with Asta Bria’s new single, “Dragonfly,” is a calculated disorientation. For an artist who once cozied up to funk’s leisurely sway, this is a sharp turn onto a rain-slicked digital highway. The song’s intent for the dance floor is immediately apparent; a commanding, four-to-the-floor beat acts as a gravitational field, pinning you to the present moment. But hovering just above it...

Dan Wilkie’s sixteen-song album, "MelodyBox," arrives not with a neat bow but feeling more like an overstuffed cabinet of curiosities flung open by its Shefford-based creator. Wilkie, working solo as a multi-instrumentalist and producer, wrangles virtual instruments and real vulnerability into something uniquely his own, steeped in the melodic hooks of 60s/70s pop but often taking sharp turns down less-travelled, sometimes shadowed paths. https://open.spotify.com/album/0EX2aW7d7JSQ2xonrFDGvZ?si=XRwACPuoRW2vG_PAITRfyg The album...