HollyBear does not sound heartbroken on "OBVIOUS". She sounds like she already checked the receipts, closed the app, fixed her hair, and decided the lesson was expensive but useful. That is the fun of the single. It has the warmth of R&B, the cool posture of jazz influence, and the tiny side-eye of someone who knows exactly what happened. "OBVIOUS" moves with a smile that...

Listening to Cat Cork’s "Simple Song" is a funny thing; the title is a clever piece of misdirection, a plain brown wrapper on a package containing an entire life. This isn't some breezy, three-chord singalong for a lazy afternoon. It’s the sonic equivalent of discovering a shipwright’s meticulously drafted blueprint, detailing the construction of a human spirit from the first plank of childhood to...