Waiting for help can quietly become a way of delaying a decision. Rami takes that uneasy idea and gives it a clean, personal focus on “Save Myself,”. Classified as pop, art pop, and cinematic pop, the record begins with the feeling of being lost and unsure of what comes next. Its answer is not a sudden outside intervention. RAMI’s central idea is simpler and harder: the...

Listening to Arnold J.’s new single, "Muddy Waters," isn't quite like anything else swirling around right now. It arrives with the gentle insistence of incoming tide, pulling you into its specific gravity. Arnold J., Ghanaian-born and now Canada-based, weaves a sound tagged as alt-country and folk, but those labels feel thin, like trying to contain smoke. There’s earthiness, sure, but his soulful vocal lines...