Ultan’s single, "The Tempest," erupts not so much into the room as it does through the floorboards, dragging with it the scent of wet wool and imminent confrontation. This Dublin solo musician, a cartographer of past agonies, presents an energetic rock piece that feels less like a song about history and more like a fragment of it, throbbing and urgent. The main riff careers...

There is a certain kind of song that seems to exist outside of time. It is a song that could have been a hit in any decade, a song that speaks to a fundamental human experience. Ferdinand Rennie’s “Unbelieving Eyes” is one of those songs. A sweeping pop ballad with a heart of gold, it is a song that is both instantly familiar and refreshingly...