1) Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, “Compassion” / Perhaps the most inventive union of three jazz musicians working at the moment, pianist Iyer, bassist Oh and drummer Sorey maintain the spirituality befitting their ECM Records imprimatur while experiencing true freedom through tightly coiled playing. Originals meet Stevie Wonder covers, all sounding like part of the same great emotional exhalation.
2) The Last Dinner Party, “Prelude to Ecstasy” / This British band lives somewhere between the dreamy yet sharp-tongued sensibility of Peter Gabriel-era Genesis and mystic wonder of Florence and the Machine. Their debut will make you feel everything all the time (in the best way).
3) ØXN, “CYRM” / This Dublin band creates some of the most haunting folk music you’ll hear, stirring up ancient ghosts, then baptizing them in atmospheric sound before sending them full and free into their eternal rest.
4) Kik Lodge, “What the Dead Take with Them” for Milk Candy Review / “A locket with another man’s smile inside. A fistful of forget-me-nots. An inventory of sorrys in your cardigan pocket. Sorry I could never stop after one pint.”
This brief, formidable Kik Lodge piece forms a litany of artifacts and regrets, unearthing what leaves and what stays when some beloved one slips away.
5) John Compton, “I Hear It Through the Static” for As It Ought to Be / I cannot overstate how beautiful the last moments of this John Compton poem are. These nine lines—read them over and again, then bask in its coda.