On “Reaper,” a song off their recently released album Mirage on the Meadow, Pine Barons combine psychedelic instrumentals and vivid lyrical imagery to deliver a haunting track that truly rocks; perfect listening for this, the spookiest of seasons. The tone is firmly established within the first few seconds, as a series of long atmospheric tones from the synth drape themselves over the drum and guitar lines. Before the lyrics come in you have already been set on a meandering walk through the dark forest in your mind. 

Songwriter and vocalist Keith Abrams cleverly illustrates the concept of scattered thoughts in the pre-chorus where, utilizing different production effects, he plays two intertwining inner monologues: one perpetually questioning, and one confident in its defeatist statements but not offering any answers. From this back and forth bursts the hook, which delivers everything you could ask for in a great rock chorus. It’s melodic, it’s powerful and it stays with you long after the song has ended. For much of “Reaper” there is an expertly curated sense of movement, like some physical manifestation of inner anxieties is stalking you at a distance. The closing guitar solo and coda, which layer in melodic callbacks from earlier sections, bring about a feeling of envelopment, like that fog of fear has finally caught up and engulfed you. Photo by Chris Sikich.

Eerie, ambiguous and dark, Ryan Egan's most recent single "Cruel Times" lives up to its sobering name. The song is deep, dark synth-pop at its finest. It possesses Egan's precise command of production: a style that entices the listener with equal parts accessibility and surprise. Egan's vocalization is especially emotionalized in this track, taking on a harsh dichotomy between the chorus and verses. His typical dreamy falsetto is contrasted with baritone talk-singing—speaking his verses like melodic slam poems. The lyricism is politically charged, venting frustrations with apathetic leaders regarding their climate indifference.

Scandanavian artist Anna of the North further cements herself as a pop force with her newest single “Dream Girl.” It’s light and catchy with bright keys opening the breakup track. She cycles through all the traditional breakup emotions as she sings about visiting their old spots in hopes of bumping into her ex before launching into a bit of denial in the chorus, “In my dream world / I’m still your dream girl / No if, but or maybes / I’m still your baby.” It’s the song for everyone who hasn’t yet reached the “I hate you” phase of a breakup. You still want that person to love you back. The animosity hasn’t built up in your system. Just like Anna, you might pick up the phone at 3 am just to hear their voice even though you know it won’t yield the results you’re hoping for. “Dream Girl” is the first single and title track to Anna of the North’s sophomore album due out October 25.

Ackerman’s “A Day at the Beach” follows “84 Palms,” their first trippy, Animal Collective-inspired single from their upcoming EP, A Million Sunflowers, due out November 1. The Brooklyn trio started out as the solo USB-microphone recording project of singer Jordan McAfee-Hahn, but the “yummy collaborative effort” has evolved to include over a dozen members. That sort of sprawl is present in everything they touch—“A Day at the Beach” is a six-minute song, more than half of which is instrumental, taking its sweet time with an echoing guitar solo. On “A Day at the Beach,” the band concerns itself primarily with the feeling they evoke. When Bernardo Ochoa sings the opening lyrics, “Come sink / To the sea / It’s so sweet,” he sounds like a siren, beckoning the listener to join him, to float endlessly away. In the lead-up to the release of “A Day at the Beach,” Ackerman has been teasing the song with photographs of band members on beaches, accompanied by the song’s other terse lyrics: “The sun / Over me / And the beach,” or “My toes / Are sandy, yeah.” Sprawling, moody, and self-aware.

From the moment she declares, "The crown look good on me, don't it," Blu DeTiger demands your full attention on her funky new single, "Tangerine." DeTiger transports you to the world that flashes in your mind when you lock eyes with someone in a chic Lower East Side club: a vibrant reverie of glittering lights, where her name is scrawled on the walls in Glossier lipstick and she's made a throne for herself among silk sheets in your bed. Her voice, while more commanding than on her other tracks like "Mad Love," remains distinctly languid, and is the perfect vehicle for "Tangerine"'s allure. "Roses at my feet if I let you," she sings. If you're with her, she's in charge. "There's a vulnerability in admitting what you want," she says of the song, "It’s flirty, cheeky, empowering, badass, and the groove just glides." Produced by Benjamin Ruttner of The Knocks, her signature syncopated, "gasoline"-tinged bass sits at the forefront, while splashes of new wave guitar, punchy horns, and futuristic glitchy synths meet to create a high-saturation sound as fresh as tangerine.

Blush FM's "Move" is nothing short of a beautifully haunting power-ballad. The solo project of New York native Andromeda Hewson explores what it means to "allow one’s self the space to develop their own integrity." Evocative classical piano eventually builds into a groovy crescendo of drums and electric guitar as synths loom in the background and Hewson's voice reverberates through the lines, "I can’t do what you want me to do / I don’t know how to move that way / You don’t see who I wanna be / I only need to see that way." Sung with such conviction, Hewson said, "Move' encapsulates that trust in myself, while acknowledging that it doesn’t look the same on everyone.”