There is a specific kind of quiet you find in the Midwest, and listening to Derby Hill and his self-titled release, "Derby Hill", feels like stumbling into that quiet after a long, noisy shift. It’s not the silence of emptiness; it’s the silence of after. After the argument, after the paycheck clears, after the sun goes down over the Detroit skyline or a Chicago...

There is a specific, agonizing silence that occurs right after you lay your heart completely bare. It is the vacuum of space before the other person responds. Swedish pop artist Sebastian Rydgren steps directly into that terrifying void with his new single, "Talk To Me". He does not offer a comfortable resolution. Instead, he forces the listener to sit in the unbearable tension of a...