Ultan’s single, "The Tempest," erupts not so much into the room as it does through the floorboards, dragging with it the scent of wet wool and imminent confrontation. This Dublin solo musician, a cartographer of past agonies, presents an energetic rock piece that feels less like a song about history and more like a fragment of it, throbbing and urgent. The main riff careers...

Listening to Weston Day release "Storms" feels a bit like opening a window during a gale just to see if the glass will hold. It’s a rush of air, sudden and brisk. While his style is often bookmarked as "Elvis Costello meets Paul Simon," I hear a man frantically trying to explain a complicated heartbreak before the bar closes. https://open.spotify.com/track/1YxtWM0OIRR0ShlLMhxKmc?si=d5BvDBy8Qdib-_4WhMb-kA Armed with an 8-string baritone acoustic...