Listening to Sons of Martha's new single, "Samurai Smile," feels a bit like finding a beautiful, slightly unnerving porcelain doll tucked away in a toolbox – all sharp edges and unexpected fragility. This North London outfit promised a harder sound, and they deliver; guitars chew and churn with a satisfying grit reminiscent of early '90s Manchester swagger, but filtered through a distinctly modern unease....

One rarely encounters a title as forthright in its ambition as what Nikiré offers with "ETERNITY beneath the stars of God." This single from Tom Arild Junge’s philosophical project is not something you’d play while sorting the recycling; it demands, and subsequently creates, a specific kind of quiet. The Enya comparison is there, certainly—a female voice gliding over vast, ambient soundscapes—but the effect is...