It takes a certain kind of ideological whiplash to shift from navigating corporate property deals to aggressively narrating the downfall of humanity, but at 74, Stephen Wicks introduces his single "The Doomsday Clock" with the blazing clarity of someone watching civilization slip off the edge. https://open.spotify.com/track/70JffY8Y63JRdjn98A1fMB?si=xK17Z-ERQO-o2he9oKPX-g The Hertford-based entrepreneur-turned-songwriter channels his late-in-life reinvention to confront a cocktail of existential horrors: geopolitical collapse, climate crisis, unchecked AI,...

The Austin-based songwriter Alex Winters turns the terrifying act of emotional surrender into a towering alt-rock confession. There is a specific kind of silence that occupies a room right before a heavy truth is spoken aloud. It is thick, suffocating, and entirely self-imposed. We build fortresses out of our past traumas, stacking bricks of deflection and mortar of avoidance to guarantee nothing can ever hurt us...