Ava Valianti represents something increasingly rare in contemporary music: genuine precocity without artifice. This Massachusetts artist, who is only fifteen years old, handles general themes with a level of emotional depth that is shocking. She shows that youth can bring out the best in complicated human experiences, rather than hiding them. "Distant," her sixth single, functions as a sonic archaeology of friendship's dissolution. The track excavates layers...

Well now. Here’s a feeling bottled, or rather, pressed onto a piano key. "Alone." Caitty, out of Margaret River – which, in my head, conjures images of dramatic cliffs and maybe someone losing their favourite hat to the wind, oddly fitting – gives us a stark landscape of sudden departure. https://open.spotify.com/album/05CkW9piuni9Ckoo5PLNWo?si=kom6wwPNRxWYaohA_qaWgA The piano isn't just accompaniment; it feels like the architecture of the emptiness. Chord by...