When the lone-wolf empath Thomas, recording under the Beyond Signal moniker, finally unleashed his debut album “Gaia Algorithmica”, it forced an immediate confrontation with the digital glare constantly humming in our periphery. Thomas approaches his craft as a solo singer-songwriter championing neurodivergence and existential authenticity, weaving his lifelong angst into a self-invented genre he dubs Transcendental Indie Music. This blend of post-punk, electronica, and...

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...