Listening to Shotgun Driver’s new EP, “Jester Privileges”, is like finding a glitter bomb in a padded cell. The four songs present a disorienting, strangely compelling contradiction. On the surface, the alt-pop framework pulses with an upbeat, almost defiant energy; this is the slick, rock-tinged anxiety of a Machine Gun Kelly track built for open-road brooding. But beneath it, the narrative, carried by those...

You may be the best couple in the world one minute and then be complete strangers the next. That is the rapid transformation in many partnerships today. Abby Carroll, in a song titled "Lovers To Strangers," appears saddened over the entire situation, as evidenced by the tone of her voice. The poetic tone of this piece of songwriting is touching and the music compliments the message...