On the new single “Under the Willow Tree,” 23 Fields the folk-Americana project of solo artist Step confronts the strange, yawning distance between who we were at seventeen and the people we eventually become. The track takes shape around a lively current of bright, resonant strumming and intricate, cyclic plucking. Before long, a gentle, pulsing thud locks into place beneath the intertwining chord patterns,...

To understand a song like “Over And Over,” you first have to understand the road it travelled to get here. This is not a track that sprang fully formed from a young artist’s ambition. It’s a gnarled, weathered thing, carrying the dust of a long and winding path. The artist, Block, is a name that echoes from the raucous, DIY-spirited New York anti-folk scene of...