Ava Valianti represents something increasingly rare in contemporary music: genuine precocity without artifice. This Massachusetts artist, who is only fifteen years old, handles general themes with a level of emotional depth that is shocking. She shows that youth can bring out the best in complicated human experiences, rather than hiding them. "Distant," her sixth single, functions as a sonic archaeology of friendship's dissolution. The track excavates layers...

A broken teacup, stained with Earl Grey, hums with the same quiet ache as "Jeg Glemmer Dig Aldrig." Tomas Raae and the ethereal voice of Eline Hellerud Åsbakk craft something fragile, like frost on a window pane – beautiful and inherently ephemeral. It’s a love song, maybe, or a lament. It’s hard to pin down the heart of it exactly, which, I suppose, is...