Okay, let’s tumble into Apryll Aileen's “Under My Tree,” shall we? It’s not your grandma’s sleigh-bell jingler, not by a long shot. Aileen, this classically-trained pianist, decides to cloak herself in a Christmas-themed R&B haze, like wrapping a finely-made watch in soft flannel. It’s the kind of thing that makes you tilt your head. https://open.spotify.com/track/6BBE2fTRte3f7HW7NZkTwm?si=JDkhIyolRLeIJS9r8m7PVA The song feels like staring at a snow globe, the tiny...

There are songs that arrive carrying a room with them: the studio air, the private impulse, the public ache outside the door. In the case of Black November's 'Burning Desire', that room appears to be Mix Sound Studio in Thessaloniki, but it also holds the heavier air of Greece after the Tempi train tragedy. The cover single, does not treat admiration for an older composition as...