RiYL

Upon reflection, Beatrice Deer suggests that Inuit Legend may ultimately be her least personal record to date. That's not to say the musician doesn't connect deeply with the work, only that she's opted to draw on the stories of others -- both historical and folkloric. Deer has long approached her own life with a thorough candidness, as she discusses family, sobriety, and the struggles of the Inuit people. The latter form the focus of her latest work, as she finds echoes in her own family's story.

The Rise & The Fall marked The Rural Alberta Advantage's return to a trio. Multi-instrumentalist Amy Cole's return was a homecoming, serving to reinvigorate longtime members, Nils Edenloff and Paul Banwatt. The Toronto band is readying a followup -- its sixth LP, overall -- preceded by a handful of singles. The most recent, “The Hunt In Edson," contemplates life through the near death experience of a mouse that took refuge in Edenloff's home.

The pandemic wasn't a creatively fruitful time for Mirah. Life as a new parent no doubt played a major role in any such blockage, coupled, with a loss of the rituals attached to tour dates and album releases. Seven years would ultimately pass between records. When the time came to step outside her life for a moment, however, the deluge of Dedication came pouring out. The musician's seventh album is a celebration of the life that happened in between.

Had he served all 15 years of his sentence, Jason Mills would have re-entered the world last year -- almost exactly half his life to that point. The gravity of that fact hasn't escaped him. As idk, the rapper has seemingly squeezed a few lifetimes in that space, including five albums, seven mixtapes, a lecturing gig at Harvard, and, recently, a Tiny Mix Tapes set. His latest single, "LiFE 4 A LiFE" finds him reflecting on lessons learned along the way.

The Goldbergs' 2021 move was meant to be temporary, a relocation from Los Angeles to his wife's hometown while the new network television gig did its thing. And then something happened -- The Equalizer stayed on the air for five seasons. There are, of course, far worse fates than a successful TV show, and there are far worse places to see them out than New York's Hudson Valley -- especially when one has a young family to raise. The new home also saw Adam Goldberg revisit his passion for songwriting, channeling the complexities of relocation into tight pop harmonies on When the Ships of My Dreams Return.

A few moments into My World is the Sun, there's little doubt Dominique Fils-Aimé is doing what she was put on this earth to do. As an ode to vulnerability, the record shines as it strips away instrumentation, focusing the attention on her voice, where it should be. Her work is a celebration of music's connective tissue and the hopefulness it can bring us together when we need it most.

Surprise, it's all four members of The Happy Fits, beaming in from their Philadelphia practice space. After a rough couple of years -- losing a member, gaining two, moving, breakups, interventions, sobriety -- the band is in remarkable good spirits. Preparing to embark on a tour ahead of their latest at, Lovesick, the group is re-energized and focused on the road ahead.

Few albums warrant their own YouTube explainer direct from the band. It's not exactly necessary for Deck -- particularly in the wake of compilations produced from the project's 54 songs -- but it's part of the fun. The entire four-album set is a testament to Hallelujah the Hill's ability to keep things fresh 20 years on from their debut. The Boston band is producing some of the best work of its career and enjoying every minute of it.

It takes light 4.2 years from Proxima Centauri, the nearest non-sun star, to reach Earth. It took the songs of 2025’s Stargazer EP nearly five times that to see the light of day.That’s nothing in cosmic terms, of course. But as musicians go, the 20+ years that have elapsed since the songs were written in preparation for KT Tunstall’s debut, Eye to the Telescope, amounts to several lifetimes. The Edinburgh-born singer-songwriter has showcased remarkable staying power, navigating the landmines of life, health, and the music business. At 50, Tunstall resides in the American Southwest and radiates the contentment and wit of a life lived to its fullest.