There is a peculiar kind of engine at the heart of "Half Evil" by Tomato Soup, and it runs not on gasoline but on disorientation. The Denver six-piece calls their sound "Motor-Folk," and it fits. The track has the chugging, forward-moving momentum of a vehicle, yet it seems to be driving through a landscape seen in a fever dream, where the signposts are all...

Some tracks do not ask for permission to enter your headspace; they simply slip under the door and set up camp in your thoughts. There is a specific type of emotional gravity required to make a quiet song feel incredibly heavy. It is the feeling of sitting in a parked car long after you have reached your destination, trying to untangle a conversation that went...