Ava Valianti captures the agonizing, beautiful purgatory of sixteen on her new single, "Sophomore Slump". The Newbury, Massachusetts songwriter has tapped directly into the crushing gravity of adolescence, a phase where a trivial misstep somehow fractures your entire psychological reality. https://open.spotify.com/track/20fIdhi8sFspbb6FAzHXCr?si=27a8aa904ccb4a5b There is a distinct, humiliating vulnerability in breaking down in front of someone else. You desperately crave the safety of their connection, yet you burn...

Young V opens his latest album, "I Can See Earth From Here", with the peculiar calm of someone who has managed to step entirely outside the atmosphere to catch his breath. Hailing from Michigan City, the artist born Vincent Young crafts his records by putting pen to paper first, subsequently building custom sonic architecture around the lyrics at Bright Star Studios. That deliberate discipline...