Geo Chandler's new single, “Spent,” arrived like an unexpected late-night espresso – jarring, yes, but with a curiously welcome clarity. It sets out to bottle that bone-deep weariness, the kind where your own thoughts echo a little too loudly in the cavern of your skull, a place where even the dust motes seem to sigh. https://open.spotify.com/track/3UZAFl31kun56K1VCEbmx7?si=67NnS83cSGqiwrfnsPF3xw Chandler, an Edinburgh architect of sound, builds this with a...

Right, so, Manchester's own Robert McGinty is back. "Reflections," they call it. Twelve classical instrumentals. Twelve! Like the apostles, but...less preachy, more piano-y. It's supposed to be uplifting and joyful, this album, a sequel of sorts, tracking his growth since the debut. Did you know the collective noun for owls is a parliament? Completely unrelated, I know, but owls are wise, and there's a...