Right then, let’s talk about Sean Kennedy and his latest single, "Insane." It arrived, not so much announced, as simply appearing in the sonic landscape, like finding a misplaced chess piece on a park bench. Kennedy, who’s apparently been putting pen to paper since he was ten (good lord, what angst were you channeling at ten?), crafts this slice of indie pop that digs...

Dylan Forshner's new EP, “Hopeless Optimism,” presents itself not so much as a collection of songs but as a series of candid diary entries set to intricately picked acoustic strings. This five-song journey from the Welland, Canada artist begins in a place of palpable internal wrestling, where the lyrics – and Forshner’s delivery – map out the grim territories of being overwhelmed, using substances...