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...

There is more to Rosina Buck's story than just music. There is also a story of change. She broke the silence with "Like a Lion," a song about an artist who turned her problems into wins and showed that making art can be the deepest form of revolt. She has turned her problems into victories. For six years, this tune has been being worked on. It's...