I spent a solid hour this morning watching dust motes suspended in a single shaft of sunlight, my entire nervous system held absolutely captive by Magdi Aboul-Kheir and his devastatingly immersive new album, "Slow Heat". The Germany-based journalist and classically trained pianist usually writes across a massive spectrum of genres, pivoting wildly from trance to late romanticism. Today, he has dropped an ambient, contemporary...

At 2 a.m., the smallest thought can take over the room. Stargazer understands that escalation on Insomniac, a debut single that compresses insomnia, anxiety and emotional isolation into 2:27 of alternative rock, emo, electronic production and hip-hop-influenced delivery. It moves with the pace of someone trying to outthink their own fear, then finding that the mind has already sprinted ahead. The song refuses the easy...