The first listen of Haus of Sound’s new single, “Mirage,” is like walking into a room where a beautifully ornate vase has just been shattered against a wall. There's a jagged, crystalline energy here, a collision of theatrical drama and raw, modern discontent. Evolving from their 2000s tribute roots, the Everett band has synthesized the best of that era’s angst—the coiled tension of early...

Resilience doesn’t sound like thunder – it crackles like dry leaves underfoot or hums over wires in the dead of night, waiting. In "Lightning In A Bottle," Eli Annina reaches out to this elusive voltage, siphoning its essence into three minutes and some change of atmospheric perfection. The Finnish-born, UK-based songwriter doesn't plead or break; she breathes, swims, and leaps, turning a migration into...