1) Dawes, “Oh Brother” / One of my very favorite working bands returns to, once again, upend my sense of self and society and what songs can do (in the best way possible). Core members Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith radiate their true, tuned brotherhood, and Taylor Goldsmith’s lyrical canon swells with killer new lines that will fix themselves in my memory.
2) Touche Amore, “Spiral in a Straight Line” / The latest from the post-hardcore band arrived right on time, delivering the sort of emotions that double as catharsis and consolation.
3) Field Music, “Limits of Language” / On their latest record in a considerable career, British brothers David and Peter Brewis approximate the sound of iconic acts like Tears for Fears as pulled through their own particular filter. These songs are big and cool and offer enough occasional zigs and zags to catch listeners blissful and unaware.
4) The music of Fazerdaze / New Zealand musician Amelia Murray creates dreamy, inviting rock as Fazerdaze and, having spent such rewarding time with 2017’s “Morningside,” it feels like a kindness that Fazerdaze will return with a new record next month.
5) Frances Klein, “Seascape with Grief and Taxidermy” for Pinhole Poetry / This Klein poem is a wonder, setting its lyric meditations on mourning to the elemental motion of waves and an almost painfully slow sense of progress. Klein personifies grief better than most, calling the force into conversation, wiling to learn from and quietly rebuke it.