There is a surprisingly grounded gravity when Reigns and collaborating artist Waives deliver their new single "Closer Than Your Shadow", a release that catches you entirely off guard before swallowing the room. The track begins quite cautiously. Solitary, fragile notes repeat in a sequence of profound melancholy, dropping you immediately into that terrifyingly cold space of personal isolation. https://open.spotify.com/album/4vmfetQu8eJMEZclkyRh7F?si=kQv-B2DcRlWp2Jx2ptEFcA Then, the floorboards begin to rumble. Waives usually...

Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...