"America" from Dave Clark drops like a chipped ceramic mug onto a linoleum floor, not exactly a bang but you feel the thud. It's not about sparkly flag-waving; that much is clear from the first plucky guitar notes. It’s a story woven in threadbare folk chords and tinged with the static hum of some plugged-in grief. https://open.spotify.com/track/7nSYreI8IQDkOgvGjTvjwy?si=bbfaa8073f824d01 There's a man in this track, though you never...

For a man who has authored over 300 compositions, the French guitarist Arnito somehow still sounds entirely untethered on his latest release, "Musiques de mon monde, vol.4". When a musician hits their twenty-seventh album, you usually expect them to settle gracefully into a predictable chair. Arnito, alternatively, rips up the floorboards. The guitar-driven record acts as an intensely felt invitation to explore a map...