The Norwegian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Tonje Gravningsmyhr turns loss, self-love, identity and imposter syndrome into a thoughtful pop album 'Maze' shaped by horns, patient craft and grown-up honesty. In the old stories of labyrinths, the monster is rarely the only danger. The greater fear is the corridor that looks familiar, the turn that repeats itself, the small panic of trying to remember who you were...

Take Jack Horton, a Portland-based singer-songwriter whose path to folk-Americana included stops at Japanese law school, Tokyo piano bars, corporate boardrooms, and government offices. His latest EP, "Imperfections," feels like finding someone's private journal set to music. And that someone happens to write really, really well. The five-song collection opens with "Set Me Free," a piano-driven confession that might surprise anyone expecting typical breakup bitterness. Horton...