Beau Goodwin

Quiet Pleasures, the new EP from Phoenix-based rockers Glixen, delivers a haunting and intense experience through five tracks; as lead vocalist Aislinn Ritchie describes it, the EP explores “change, desire, devotion, sensuality and lovingness. The lyrics of the first four songs, with the last lacking any words/singing, are heartfelt and oftentimes vulnerable.

Gut, the hotly anticipated album from Baths, delivers on its title promise. Written from the stomach instead of the heart, Baths – real name Will Wiesenfeld – wanted to bare himself fully and write about his honest, unfiltered thoughts. In doing so, we encounter repeated themes of sex, relationships and yearning. The nature of these topics can often be uncomfortable but Wiesenfeld, in tackling them head-on, treats them so matter-of-fact and commonplace that they feel natural.

Puma Blue’s surprise album antichamber is a beautiful and intimate insight into loneliness; specifically, as Puma Blue (real name Jacob Allen) puts it, ‘aching winter loneliness.’ After picking up a nylon-stringed acoustic guitar while alone in his apartment, Allen started to write extremely personal songs that were akin to journal entries. The intimacy of these tracks is extremely noticeable and it’s easy to appreciate how they started out as demos intended only to be heard by Allen himself.