The arrival of Seann Medicina's "As without So Within" EP feels less like a new record dropping and more like someone’s carefully tended, slightly wild garden gate has swung open. This five-song collection, crafted by Medicina alongside Kristina Mira and Whitney Toogood, weaves a curious tapestry – threads of North American rock and folk get wonderfully tangled with South American rhythms, all under a...

Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...