Martin Lloyd Howard has engineered a peculiar but entirely hypnotic time-slip on his new solo single, "Hidden Andalucia". Here is a piece of acoustic fingerstyle that defies basic gravity, built upon delicately plucked arpeggios that float above a soft, rhythmic bassline. https://open.spotify.com/album/5N48ROhSDPPCQiy8IOydGs?si=HAir8cZET7y9cg5r36PJQw As a classically trained English guitarist, Howard knows exactly how to manipulate the negative space between notes. He anchors the outer edges of this...

Janet Devlin’s new single, “Houston,” arrives as a gleeful contradiction, a two-stepping Americana anthem for the sovereign state of one. It has all the upbeat, country-rock fixings for a roadside sing-along, yet its heart is miles away, floating in a self-imposed, wonderfully stubborn vacuum. The track opens, and you’re ready for a communal good time; instead, you find yourself at a party where the...