There is a surprisingly grounded gravity when Reigns and collaborating artist Waives deliver their new single "Closer Than Your Shadow", a release that catches you entirely off guard before swallowing the room. The track begins quite cautiously. Solitary, fragile notes repeat in a sequence of profound melancholy, dropping you immediately into that terrifyingly cold space of personal isolation. https://open.spotify.com/album/4vmfetQu8eJMEZclkyRh7F?si=kQv-B2DcRlWp2Jx2ptEFcA Then, the floorboards begin to rumble. Waives usually...

Melbourne's TJ Howlett throws a shovel full of coal-dusted reality into the guitar-driven blues-rock furnace with his "Not Mine" EP. Two songs. Just two. But, my word, they carry the weight of generations. Suddenly, I'm thinking about Dorothea Lange's photographs, only... louder. https://open.spotify.com/album/6lCrWQGWQo9LsVDL94CR4k?si=97afEOrjR1WPe9AVG2pfgw "Not Mine," the title track, and then "Drinking Man" – they're not just following each other; they're wrestling in the dirt. This EP...