Violet Love has offered up an EP titled "Destined to Fail," and it arrives less like a prediction and more like a pre-existing condition, a medical chart for a soul that’s been diagnosed with itself. The DIY recording quality doesn’t feel lo-fi for aesthetics; it feels necessary, like these songs could only have been born in a sealed-off room where the air was getting...

Stars Go Dim’s new album, “Roses,” has a peculiar effect; it settles into a room less like music and more like a change in the atmospheric pressure. There’s a plush, amber-toned sound here, a vibe so authentically steeped in 1970s groove that you can almost feel the corduroy under your fingertips. https://open.spotify.com/album/1KS8wbOx2wWw1ce0VdcMgV?si=VRrFtLJDQi-8gD8p8t1BlQ Chris Cleveland’s vocals, smooth and seasoned like worn-in denim, glide over bass lines that...