Nov 10, 2026 · 47 min
New songs turn vulnerability into motion
Lake Street Dive, Thao, brakence and more new favorites
These selections trace how contemporary artists confront isolation, aging and creative uncertainty while still making room for reconnection and ordinary joy.
- 1Thao frames vulnerability as a choice to engage more fully with life rather than remain isolated.
- 2Oso Oso and brakence turn aging, anxiety and artistic paralysis into sharply contrasting forms of reinvention.
- 3Lake Street Dive and Kali Malone find wonder through folk-pop warmth and monumental, slow-moving minimalism.
Don't miss
Lake Street Dive’s gradual build turns a catalog of ordinary wonders into a hopeful case for protecting everyday life.
The brief
Robin Hilton and Sheldon Pearce survey new music at year’s end, moving from intimate indie pop and emo reflection to hyperpop, folk-pop and pipe-organ minimalism.
Thao’s “Fossils” treats under-living and isolation as problems that vulnerability can interrupt, while Helena Deland’s “Tip of My Tongue” turns reconnection with the past into anxious anticipation.
Oso Oso’s “Someone Like That” faces aging and emotional angst through dynamic emo-inflected shifts; brakence’s “Death Roll” answers creative paralysis with glitchy, genre-hopping reinvention.
Lake Street Dive’s “What About Flamingos?” builds toward a hopeful catalog of ordinary wonders, making everyday life feel like something worth protecting.
Kali Malone’s “Map the Path” closes the selections by transforming pipe organ into a slow, serene and monumental field of texture.
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