The fastest pop songs arrive like a notification. Ben Lester’s self-titled debut does something more interesting: it lets the listener wait for the message to finish forming. Across 13 tracks for Mayfield Records, the London singer, songwriter, performer and producer turns patience into part of the pleasure. The result is indie pop with an arranger’s discipline, a record built for people who like a chorus but...

WHITEFIRE reaches through the heavy silence of the Texas plains with "Until I See You (Pt.1)", a single that functions like a compass needle spinning wildly in a magnetic storm. It is a work forged in the specific, agonizing fires of loss the passing of the artist's son, Elijah and it demands your attention not through force, but through a terrifyingly honest vulnerability. https://open.spotify.com/track/27uQqDCCvJyaFcq6adRXpY?si=a186b28242b847da The track...