There is a particular kind of clarity that only surfaces when a body has nothing left to give, the kind found on the last night of a run of shows, in a stairwell or a car park, somewhere between one place and the next. It was in exactly this kind of setting, a multi-story car park in Dublin, that Cork singer-songwriter Cathal Fitz wrote "A...

The fastest pop songs arrive like a notification. Ben Lester’s self-titled debut does something more interesting: it lets the listener wait for the message to finish forming. Across 13 tracks for Mayfield Records, the London singer, songwriter, performer and producer turns patience into part of the pleasure. The result is indie pop with an arranger’s discipline, a record built for people who like a chorus but...