Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...

Natasha, out of K.C., presents her new single, “Life’s Little Tragedies,” and it’s rather like an old, slightly melancholic tune you half-remember, then it snags you. The folk-jazz-pop tapestry, woven with soulful cello and unvarnished acoustic guitar, creates an atmosphere that’s chill, certainly, but with an undercurrent that pulls you in to listen closer. https://open.spotify.com/album/1IZqhutFIL4aVNVMTH4h7m?si=rCWdvIjKSsqWV7ok9_aBzA The song unpacks how present pain—a romantic betrayal, the rotter—can yank...