There’s a reason local trio V3nom have been gaining attention across city stages, but if you can’t make it out to one of their many shows, then this five-song EP is the perfect introduction.

Combining themes of modern human experience and social commentary, The Lumineers’ fifth studio album Automatic is unpredictably layered and emotionally dynamic.

ZZ Ward’s latest release, the blues-infused Liberation, draws breath from childhood sound bites that inspired her earliest musical musings.

Hurry Up Tomorrow, which The Weeknd has said will be his final album, grapples with themes listeners have come to expect—self-destruction, isolation, addiction, lust, and heartache—but this time with a raw vulnerability that, in a lot of ways, feels like our first real peek behind his performing persona.

I’m often unimpressed with the vapidity of contemporary indie rock, but the newest album from Seattle, Washington’s Deep Sea Diver, Billboard Heart, is a notable anomaly. What sets it apart from others of its kind is its attentiveness to the interplay of lyrics, melody, and instrumentals in each song.

Although this tale offers up a distinctly suspenseful and creepy vibe, in the end what surprised me most is the strong underlying theme of mental health awareness, survival, and the resilience of the human spirit.