Listening to “Small Town Syndrome” by thinking silly is an exercise in delightful contradiction. Dylan Morrison’s project, shaped here by the production hand of collaborator Margot Taylor, builds a sleek, propulsive chassis of dark pop and minimal techno, only to house an engine of pure, grinding ache. It’s the sound of someone forcing a smile so wide their face hurts, a dance track for...

Freddie Perry has captured a very specific brand of Saturday afternoon existentialism in his new single "WHAT EVEN IS LIFE?" It’s a track that feels like it grew naturally in his Birmingham home studio, bypassing the polished artifice of big-label pop to find something far more grounding and relatable. The song hits with a driving, bright acoustic strumming pattern the kind of rhythm that...