The majority of new music that has been released during quarantine has felt urgent and introspective—often forcing us to face uncomfortable sides of ourselves. However, California artist Lillian Frances has us looking outwards. Her debut album, Moonrise Queendom, is a joy to listen to and puts her among a group of exciting new artists to follow.

On "Pídelo," Frances invites us to look at the moon. She describes a bright summer night, which she’s in awe of—enticing us to join her skywatching. As her lyrics discretely shift to Spanish, she asks us to listen to gossiping stars, "Las estrellas son cotillas, escucha!" Her reverence for the moon and stars is contagious and vibrant with childlike wonder. And yet for a song that wanders through the night sky, "Pídelo" seems to have plenty of sunshine. A self-described "sonic collage," Frances weaves together electronic textures and rhythms with a warped playfulness that brings to mind recent Dirty Projectors.

Lillian Frances brings the same kind of fun, colorful energy to electro-pop that Sylvan Esso did in 2014. It is no surprise that six years ago, while attending a Sylvan Esso concert in L.A, she described what she was thinking on her Facebook page, “that is what I am going to do.” And so she did, and even more impressively, she managed to make her own sound along the way.

Australian artist Alex Lahey's "Unspoken History" prettily describes holding onto a relationship despite its troubled past. It can be hard to detangle yourself from people who have become essential characters in your life, and sometimes it doesn’t feel like it is worth the trouble. Even if the relationships are proving to be more detrimental than uplifting. The echo of the piano adds a softness to the track that we don't often hear from Lahey as strings come in to fill the space in-between. It is full of softness with very little dead space as she sings, “We couldn't play the roles we were assigned / wasn't any space with everything on your mind.” She managed to make a light and airy song with a gloomy message—leaving someone behind when you aren’t completely ready to let go of all the good that came with knowing that person. It’s sad, but her intonation and the brightness of the arrangement makes it a hopeful sadness. It’s sparse compared to the rest of her discography, but it hits just as hard. "Unspoken History" is the third and final single off Lahey’s sophomore LP The Best of Luck Club released via Dead Oceans on May 18th.

There’s a heartbreaking scene somewhere in the middle of (500) Days of Summer that follows Joseph Gordon-Levitt through two parallel parties, one labeled “expectation,” the other “reality.” In one version of the party, he’s the charming hero he wants to be, but in the latter, his jokes don’t land and he is reminded just how over his relationship is. When going well, it’s hard not to see the different parts of relationships as one, but faltering relationships often have two very different sides, a phenomenon played out by Fake Dad in their new single, “Can U B My Home?” Like a dreamy, polite version of Gotye’s inescapable “Somebody That I Used To Know,” the track features one lonely, heartsick mess (“Sometimes it feels like you hold / The better half of me”), as well as the breaker-upper wearing 20-20 hindsight goggles (“Everybody’s asking if you need help / But there’s no shame in trying to do it yourself / Just take my masterpieces off of your shelf”). The letdown itself is gentle in a way that reminds us that a breakup isn’t necessarily malicious, and the production of the track, with its ethereal piano chords and hip-hop-influenced beat, places Fake Dad squarely in the world of a genre-bending band like Glass Animals, but it was clearly of the utmost importance to make it all seem effortless. With the song’s feel-good summer vibes, it would be easy enough to forget its subject matter entirely. Fake Dad says it right there in the band bio, their mission statement reading loud and clear: “They want you to know that everything is going to be okay.”

Sidney Gish’s single “Somebody’s Baby” throws a contemporary spin on Jackson Browne’s 1982 original. The instrumentals blend synthetic and natural sounds in a delightful fusion of old and new. Gish’s cool vocals immerse the listener in the universal story Browne penned in the original—overcoming doubt to pursue a crush. This track is filled with infatuation and butterflies in the stomach. Through calm and mellow music, Sidney Gish’s bold artistry shines through.

“Kinfolk” is the second track off L.A. based singer-songwriter, rapper, and producer Mereba's debut album. In The Jungle Is The Only Way Out, Mereba gives us a break-up album that flips break-up album expectations on their head and showcases her unique folk-R&B hybrid style. The 13 tracks leave out the typical pining and wallowing and instead focus on getting up, moving on, and appreciating the moment. In “Kinfolk,” Mereba exalts the power of spending time with the people you love and reminds us not to take our kin for granted with lines like “Don’t you see we got what no money could measure.” The track opens with haunting, mellow guitar riffs that pave the way for Mereba’s smooth, gliding vocals. The melody is joined by a sultry bass line and eerie choir-like echo that pick up in the chorus to highlight the delightful range of her voice. The track has no patience for planning for tomorrow as Mereba sings bluntly “not gon’ save my love for no rainy day, I’ll never find no peace that way.” “Kinfolk” focuses on the present and is just one of the many wisdom-filled, genre-bending songs on a break-up album unlike any that came before it.

Ra Ra Riot’s recently released “Flowers” is the second single off their upcoming album, Superbloom. The first single, “Bad to Worse,” dropped in March, and the album itself is set to drop in early August. It will be their first LP since 2016’s Need Your Light.

“Flowers” is the perfect teaser for the album and the perfect song for any summer playlist. Produced by Rostam Batanglij, a former member ofVampire Weekend, the song is an upbeat ode to a lost love. The indie rock band sings, “Do I wonder if I should have stayed? / Every night / Every day” a bittersweet sentiment followed by “So don't bring flowers to my grave / Say goodbye from far away”—in an uplifting, pitched chorus paired with a quick-paced, dance-inducing rhythm. The song is quite matter of fact with lyrics like, “I know it ain't good but I'm feeling self-destructive,” in Wes Miles’, the lead vocalist, perfect tone. While the lyrics are raw and rather heart-wrenching, the instrumentals and beat keep the piece light and fun—a great song for reminiscing while keeping in mind the days ahead.

Yoke Lore’s newest single “Safe and Sound” is a meditation on the changing functionality of relationships over time. It is gentle and comforting as Adrian Galvin sings of this love being a sanctuary, “All the days of the danger, believer / You’re my safe and sound.” In a world where everything seems to be changing, shifting, or just plain falling apart, the people we hold closest to us become our sanctuary. The New York indie pop act drives this point home not just in the lyrics but in the comforting swell of Galvin’s voice and the peaceful piano melody. It is a sweetly melancholic take on a love song. The harmonies add a sense of community within the track as it builds to the second half. It never reaches too large of a peak, stopping right before it becomes anthemic. It quiets back down for the second verse before the track fills out again with synthesizers and layered vocals, but it never feels forced. It is a natural progression of strength. “Safe and Sound” is the second single from Yoke Lore’s upcoming EP Meditations due out on June 14th.