Rachel Cholst

To listen to Swimming, the new album by Sam Moss, is to be confronted by beautiful contradictions. Moss and his ensemble spin a gossamer web of instrumentation around Moss’ earthy voice, at once hopeful and a deliverer of weary wisdom. With a band like Isa Burke on virtually every string

Jim White and Trey Blake present a layered composition in their intriguing project, Precious Bane. As complex as the music itself is, the album will require some context. White is an Americana outsider, “discovered” by David Byrne in the ‘90s and the subject of a 2002 BBC4 documentary about his

I don’t think any album could have better timing than Crys Matthews’ Reclamation. Matthews does not shy away from politics, as all too many artists have, nor does she shrink from naming specific social issues and crafting thoughtful songs about them. (We have let far too many artists get

Ethan Samuel Brown paints gorgeous character portraits on his stunning sophomore album Small Actors. Brown, based in Nashville, has played quite a few supporting roles in the ten years since his solo debut, The Outset Lament. He’s worked as a concert promoter, talent buyer, audio engineer, and his latest

A famous bard once asked, “What is love?” and Humbird seeks to answer that on her quirky EP Astrovan: The Love Song Vignettes. Clocking in at just about 15 minutes, one would think these 10 songs might be a one-off exercise, but Humbird is too astute an observer for that.

Garrett Owen’s guiding force on Memoriam seems to be: expect the unexpected. Owen spent five painstaking years writing this album – the majority of which were devoted to end-of-life care for his grandmother, who lived her last few years with dementia. Owen funnels these experiences to interrogate how they impacted