Jessie Bird's new single, "Break It," feels less like a song strategically dropped and more like a personal diary accidentally left open on a park bench – specifically, one hailing from the clear-aired honesty of Camrose, Canada. The initial notes of this indie folk-pop track carry a disarming simplicity, almost akin to the unassuming hum of an old refrigerator right before it sputters out...

Leon Blanchard, a name perhaps faintly echoing from the mid-noughties indie surge, returns not with fanfare, but with a solitary signal flare titled "Astronaut". Hailing from Grimsby, a town known more for its fishing heritage than its celestial aspirations, Blanchard's new song does not really feel like a return, but more like a personal gearbox picked up after years of chatter. In 2007, his old band,...