Joe Rian has made a single for the moment the work shirt comes off and the car stereo goes up. “Think Yer In Luv,” is presented as an up-tempo, rock-and-roll-leaning blues track and the first release from his 2 October album of the same name. It is the promise of motion, companionship and a little room to breathe after a long week. Rian made the accompanying...

Dylan Forshner's new EP, “Hopeless Optimism,” presents itself not so much as a collection of songs but as a series of candid diary entries set to intricately picked acoustic strings. This five-song journey from the Welland, Canada artist begins in a place of palpable internal wrestling, where the lyrics – and Forshner’s delivery – map out the grim territories of being overwhelmed, using substances...