The few tracks that have been released by the newly formed Brooklyn quartet The Weird Years showcase a unique hybrid of folk music. Employing slowly strummed guitars and vocal harmonies, the group initially shroud their sound with simplicity, dwelling on themes revolving around the march of time and the paradoxical feelings that come with being alone. It’s only after prolonged listening that their DNA unravels, revealing a double helix that equally relishes in a slow-burning ambiance. It’s an arresting combination which makes their EP deserving to be unpacked patiently. -Tucker Pennington

Music doesn’t have to be confrontational, hammering away or building tension, in order to convey to the listener a sense of gratification. NTHNL has chosen a path of escapism rather than digging into gritty details on “Away We Go,” opting for broad synths and effervescent vocals that lift the track to a headspace that is both introspective and exploratory. Drifting up and down doesn’t mean the production is aimless, however; the seemingly skeletal nature of the song traces the miniature climaxes that occur with every chorus. It’s a delightful soundscape, perfunctory yet powerful. “Away We Go” is the second single off NTHNL’s upcoming album and you can stream it below. –Tucker Pennington

There’s a wonderful sense of balance brought to the table by Miss Grit’s new Talk Talk EP, both in its approach to chaotic-tinged songwriting and the brilliant pallet of sounds explored. Each of the four songs toggle between airy and orchestral synthesizers that careen into fuzzy barrages of sound or simply glitch out at the seams. The marriage between the gutsy and the beautifully arranged is a marvel to witness, and this release is proving to be a standout for 2019. You can catch Miss Grit at Elsewhere on April 26 before they embark on a short U.K. tour. –Tucker Pennington

On I’m Not Getting Any Taller, the latest album from indie-folk outfit Daisy the Great, the duo solidifies its own voice that’s equal parts heart-wrenching and humorous. From first listen you can hear how they bend seemingly cutesy harmonies and mid-tempo, acoustic ballads into revealing and hypnotic displays of genuine hurt. The mundane, the absurd and the sentimental attachments found in life are lovingly displayed but still illustrate how affecting they can be. Songs like “Dips” morph from swaying, bluesy-pop to a dreamlike oasis that slips between your fingers before it crystalizes. Like a smile that can’t help but crack, I’m Not Getting Any Taller snaps a photo of the bleak and the blithe moments of life, something that rarely sounds as good as it does here. If you want to see Daisy the Great live and enjoy cocktails, you can catch them at Manhattan’s restaurant Le Fanfare on April 17, an event organized by our blogging friends The Wild Honey Pie in a collaboration with bourbon makers Noble Oak. –Tucker Pennington

Despite hailing from Brooklyn, Rae Isla sounds completely stratified in the atmosphere above our country on “American Paradise.” Hovering between painful longing and bitter condemnation, this airy pop star stretches the gossamer of her sounds to a tense and passionate apex. Mournful guitars wane in and out of view while distinctly boom-bap drums ground the track to reality described as full of opposing ideas that make this world simultaneously inhospitable yet a necessary home to inhabit. Rae Isla sidesteps the clichés with earnest declarations of longing for a home she recognizes as flawed, and these honest moments are carried to a painful, celestial finish that finds peace when soaring above the land. -Tucker Pennington

It can be easy to overlook music that gets released during the glut of year-end lists pushed out around the holidays. This is especially true for music that appears as small and unassuming as that of Daisy the Great. However, their newest single “famous” definitely deserves reexamination. Combining twee aesthetics and simple vocal harmonies, the duo packs quaint imagery into a haunting track. Ugly sweaters, gumboil rings and fitting into new shoes all act as a disarmer before the hook asks what the point of life is if there’s no possibility of fame. There’s no denying this is a straightforward presentation, with plucky guitars gently strumming along, yet it’s the clash between the hartfelt folksy delivery and the mundane topic that fills the latter with a deeper existential meaning. Daisy the Giant celebrated their album release party at Baby’s All Right on Jan. 26 and will go on to play several dates in the NYC area between February and March. -Tucker Pennington

When the first handful of TMBOY’s singles came out in 2018, it was clear that the electro-pop duo could pull off subtle rushes of emotion when combined with subdued, drum-heavy dance beats. On their newest album Steam, the pair doubles down on the sound of their singles, creating an album of hypnotic synths and glimmering vocals. The intricate rhythms of the electronic drums often interlace with a variety of synthesizers, offering quick jolts to a song’s groove or an atmospheric moment of meditation. The instrumentals offer hints of LCD Soundsystem, but the lyrics on Steam are unique to TMBOY. Earnest declarations and realizations of isolation make the act of touch and travel on these tracks sound otherworldly. Songs like “No One” and “Submarine” highlight how these sonic collaborations can so powerfully capture feelings of loneliness and searching for connection. You can listen to Steam when it releases on Feb. 08 and catch TMBOY live at their release show at Union Pool. -Tucker Pennington

There aren’t too many country singers that wax-poetic about the larger than life figures of our world. It seems like the cultural focus of the genre has shifted toward different stories with different motifs. Yet artists like Rodes Rollins are trying to change that with songs like "Mystery Man." Appearing like a country-pop mirage on the horizon, Rollins’ vocals are watery and obscure, detailing a man in a "forsaken land" that cannot be shot dead. The track is less about a character’s arc and more about this legendary figure’s reputation, and it plays out over haunting instrumentals that border on psychedelic with twangy guitars that become surprisingly soothing. With its soft sonic palette, "Mystery Man" could fool listeners into thinking it’s a lullaby, but there’s a sense of unease and tension in the air, like a standoff between two gunslingers is imminent. – Tucker Pennington

Slacker rock is often unfairly misunderstood from wider audiences. The lo-fi and haphazard veneer often gets misconstrued for lazy songwriting, but bands like Ghost King illustrate why that misconception is so undeserved. On "Slither," they combine the more psychedelic riffs of surf rock with the rickety velocity of garage rock, swerving back and forth through these inspirations with ease, effusing a multifaceted, hardworking ethos. The video for this latest single features the group dedicated to cleaning their community in an enthusiastic and slipshod manner, mirroring the dynamic sound of their music. This latest single is the first release from their upcoming album Dunbar Swamp which will release next January, and you can stream the video below. -Tucker Pennington 

Sometimes the inadvertent paradox of grandiose music is that the bigger it sounds, the less personal it can feel. The archetype of one artist and their guitar making music that everyone can relate to often only applies to sounds that are stripped down. Yet on Dan Knishkowy’s new album as Adeline Hotel, titled Away Together, this pitfall is circumvented. The warm and bare-bones guitar playing is felt immediately on the opener "So Long", but when it builds to a transcendent apex, the same crisp, emotional pointedness can be felt. The album features guitars that paint a hazy picture and pianos that bring back lucidity as Knishkowy’s lyrics push through the gossamer of life: relationships and time passing by as reality blurs. Away Together is a record that furtively slips into your own memories, demolishing the barrier between listener and artist. While songs like "Lightning" and "Plastic Stars" bring a brash urgency to the record, it’s the eponymous coda that cements how versatile Knishkowy can be in creating personal music. Adeline Hotel will be playing a release show at Union Pool this Friday, Oct. 26, but you can stream the album in full below. -Tucker Pennington 

Swimming Bell is an artist that seems to be in sync with the universe, and on "Desert Song (a lullaby)," she stitches an intricate tapestry of folksy, ambient soundscapes. Every sprawling atmospheric drone feels perfectly aligned with the subdued, yet colorful guitar production. Heavenly vocals feel less like falsetto for the sake of falsetto and more like the meditative channeling of ideas bigger than all of us. A song this packed with ideas could feel pretentious, but it ends with a staticy broadcast of an entirely different song, as if the listener just happened to tune in at the right time to take a serendiptous walk through the cosmos. Swimming Bell just started her U.S. tour in California but will be performing at New York’s Trans-Pecos on Nov. 3. -Tucker Pennington

The folk songs of The Brother Brothers feel like restored photograph full of subtle emotions and forgotten stories. A lush romanticism has been stitched into every note, and the warm instrumentation feels like part of a long lineage of Americana songwriting that’s been passed down from generation to generation. On the latest single "Red and Gold," from their new album Some People I Know, the duo strips down the sound to the bare minimum without losing the sentimental impact generated by the song. The record drops Oct. 19 on Compass Records and the band is scheduled to play an album release show at Union Pool on that same date. -Tucker Pennington