"Ticker Tape Parade" by Absent City is one of those soft pop-rock numbers that would sound right at home soundtracking a partly cloudy beach day or the lull that strikes in the middle of road trips. The song has that oddly small Midwestern town vibe, like it found fun in itself in a place where there isn't much else to do but look inside yourself and pull out the pretty parts that make your day memorable. The vocals are shrouded in some kind of demurity reserved for indie singers and songwriters.

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I sat in a prairie throwing tennis balls into the spacious abyss for my beloved German Shepherd pup to fetch and bring back to me. I was home for the semester thanks to COVID, and this was my life now. Remote learning. The great outdoors was now my campus. The further I yanked my arm back to hurl the tennis balls yards away, the harder my dog ran to please me and bring me back the one thing I could never get tired of momentarily losing. I watched him gallop on four legs to the ball, but I never lost sight of his furry mane and sunny disposition. He stayed in shape this way, and I could always cuddle him. I was just a boy and he was just my dog and we were just stretching out the last few rays of sunlight on a beautiful fall day before it was time to go home and listen to "Ticker Tape Parade" by Absent City and do it all again tomorrow.

Awash in softness, “To Philly” by Del Water Gap begins with gentle guitar strums, emotional vocals and simple, heartache-y lyrics. The simplicity is overwhelming, evoking so much while saying so little. "To Philly" sounds like a memory; lyric by lyric, pluck by pluck, the vocals melt together to tell a story of love, loss and something bittersweet. Though they start similarly, the single and music video diverge in sound; the track itself picks up, while the video stays soft and slow. As the drumbeat introduces itself, the song gains momentum and carries on with energy, before slowly coming to a close. The video, on the other hand, stays low throughout in a lovely way. The acoustic is strummed slower and the vocals are sung softer, as the music emerges with an aura of tenderness and intimacy. Strung together with snippets of footage, the home video layers the fleeting moments of life over the subtlety of the track, creating something altogether beautiful. Bask in the gorgeous croons of Del Water Gap at The Wild Honey Pie’s next NY dinner party, happening November 19 at Le Fanfare, and keep your ears open for his newest EP, Alive from Fresno out November 22 via Terrible Records.

After touring together this summer, Brooklyn’s No Vacation and Nashville’s Okey Dokey return with a collaborative shoegaze track called “Really Truly.” After Sab Mai (No Vacation) sets the stage over a sleepy bass-anchored groove, Aaron Martin (Okey Dokey) hooks you with his falsetto delivery of what turns out to be the track’s mantra: Now that everything’s faded, you figured it out. As the two groups continue to dip deeper into the groove they’ve built together, a call and response eventually leads into what sounds like the hypnotizing feeling of sitting in a 3 am subway train. Zooming beneath the East River on the way back to Brooklyn, the guitar riffs bring you in and out of a half-sleep. Lines from the tunnel lights flash at a steady 70 bpm. What a relief: the night went well. And in that timeless moment, the thing that’s been bugging you all week—you realize you figured it out.

Many beloved bands, from The Staves to The Wombats, have their roots in the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, a school founded by none other than Paul McCartney. Musicians from Norway, Ireland and Brazil met at the renowned institution to form All We Are, returning with their newest single, “L Is For Lose.” The track is described best by the director of its music video, Jack Whitely, who said that he “imagined a hot Miami night where the band plays characters caught up in an 80s crime love triangle, before the funk drops and they settle their differences on the dancefloor.” That seedy underbelly of a Tarantino universe meets tongue-in-cheek goofiness in the video, but also the sounds of the song itself. The backbone is an effortlessly funky groove, but All We Are takes painstaking efforts to scuff up that sheen with wordless yells and a test broadcast vocal breakdown, something The Flaming Lips might do to an Electric Guest beat.

Greek electronic-pop artist Σtella’s newest single “Monster” contemplates whether we should love or fight our inner demons. Despite its dark title, the track is light and airy with joyously rhythmic synths that pair perfectly with Σtella’s smooth vocals. The monster she sings about is not something to be feared, but rather something to be understood and possibly even accepted. Sometimes the hardest person to love and to forgive is yourself, but Σtella leans into this possibility as she sings, “love the monster inside / I’ll forgive you now cause you’re ready.” The introspective track is melancholic in its optimism, but it leans into a belief that perhaps the key to becoming the best version of ourselves is to accept the pieces we are not as proud of. “Monster” is the latest track off of Σtella’s upcoming album The Break, which comes out January 24th.

“Remember Pluto,” the latest single from emotional pop outfit, Clever Girls, feels the way The Breakfast Club ends: like summer turning into fall while David Bowie’s “Heroes” plays in the background as we hold a triumphant fist in the air. This isn’t just because of the dreamy, wailing guitar that has textures reminiscent of Robert Fripp’s celestial sound. It is also because the Vermont-based four-piece is releasing anxieties with this track and looking forward to new beginnings. They’ve created a song that sounds like the ending track of one movie and the beginning of another. It’s got this us-against-the-world attitude and the “us” is ultimately the self. “Tilt your head back / Wait for all of it to pass,” sings the band’s primary songwriter, Diane Jean (vocals, guitar), acknowledging that letting go of their faults and tensions can lead to major growth. Jean notices that finding ways to forgive yourself for some of the more reckless aspects of being alive can only make way for positivity, and with the help of the rhythm section made up of Toby Sullivan (bass) and Rob Slater (drums), it is possible to do this with an easy-going bop, a swing in your step, and a smile on your face.

The Birmingham-born quartet, The Brook & The Bluff, have released their first full-length record, which shifts from soft rock to soothing, melodic grooves seamlessly. One harrowing single from this long-awaited LP is "Hallways," a cold-weather cry to a long-lost love. Though lyrically a little ambiguous, the emotional poignancy of this track comes through its musicality and that classic layered harmony the band is known for. This is a soft, gorgeous song that nourishes a gentle, end-of-fall feeling but will still be listenable through the winter. Listen to "Hallways" on The Brook & The Bluff's debut album First Place.

Cue the melancholy horn section and prepare to fall even deeper in love—Andy Shauf is back with an irresistibly catchy new song. “Things I Do” is the first solo track Shauf has released since his The Party album in 2016, and it is the perfect taste of what’s to come from his fifth studio album, The Neon Skyline, out January 24. Combining his signature jazzy baroque-pop style with beautifully crafted lyrics, the Canadian musician tells the story of someone walking into their neighborhood dive bar, only to find their former significant other with another man. He sings, “Thought you'd be happy to see me / But you said, ‘What the hell are you doing here?’ / Why do I do the things I do / When I know I am losing you?” Andy Shauf has revealed that although the stories contained in the songs are fictional, there is some glimmer of truth. They are all based on the same scenario—one guy going to a bar, which is what Shauf was doing during the time he was writing this album, and how we process lost love.

The latest single from Londoners, Oh Wonder is a lush alt-pop track. "Better Now" is a smooth, easy listen that quickly escalates from oceanic and cool to a stellar display of pop music prowess. Oh Wonder is the indie duo consisting of Anthony West and Josephine Vander Gucht, who garnered quick acclaim from critics and music lovers alike when they released a single every month for the year of 2014. This new single displays what the band does so well: complement each other both vocally and musically. Vander Gucht's vocalization in the last minute of the song is essential and gripping. Listen to "Better Now" wherever you stream!