Before listening to a single note of Suris’ new album, “Pertinax”, I spent a few minutes just looking at the word. Pertinax. It has the distinct ring of a Stoic philosopher’s last defiant utterance or maybe a type of beetle known for its unusually stubborn shell. What a curious flag to fly for a collection of songs in an age of fleeting distraction. But...

Sean at the Hotel’s latest single, "I Didn’t Think About Noah," doesn't so much start as erupt, a frantic confetti cannon of art pop anxieties. It’s the sound of a mind racing, or perhaps the collective consciousness of every thirty-something who’s ever stared into the blue light of a screen and wondered if they’ve irreparably broken their brain. The track’s skittering rhythms and overlapping...