GISKE’s "The Sound of Birdsong" doesn’t so much begin as it seeps into the room, like the pale, perpetual twilight of a Norwegian summer night where sleep feels like a theoretical concept. This is a song for the space between the last page of a book and turning off the light; a four-minute float in that strange, conscious stillness when the world is quiet...

With the passage of time, it becomes increasingly important to have quiet time and space in which to process complex ideas. You must honor that under any circumstances. Having said that, Cullen Jack is hoping that things will get back to normal and that he will be fine even if you don't end up going. He sings about this and other related issues in his new...