There are songs that arrive carrying a room with them: the studio air, the private impulse, the public ache outside the door. In the case of Black November's 'Burning Desire', that room appears to be Mix Sound Studio in Thessaloniki, but it also holds the heavier air of Greece after the Tempi train tragedy. The cover single, does not treat admiration for an older composition as...

A breakup can make a person feel certain for a day, then doubtful again by nightfall. Brenna Menz gives that unstable cycle room to breathe on “Shattered Perspectives”, her debut concept pop album. The Seattle singer-songwriter follows a complicated, two-plus-year on-and-off relationship through changing points of view, letting the record move with the feelings instead of forcing them into one final answer. The central story is...