Mercy Kelly presents "Out in the Night" as a sonic artifact that feels strangely heavy in the hand, possessing the density of a brass paperweight found on a detective’s desk in a noir film. The track arrives with a moody swagger, trading the gloss of modern production for a "raw northern grit" that sticks to your clothes like second-hand smoke. It’s a revitalized sound...

Post Death Soundtrack’s latest offering, “In All My Nightmares I Am Alone,” arrived not so much as a collection of songs, but as a psychic weather event. Listening to Stephen Moore’s solo excursion is like being invited to a wake where the dearly departed is, perhaps, oneself, or maybe just the idea of a stable Tuesday afternoon. It’s a dense, prickly thing, this record....