Australian band The Paper Kites have perfected the sound of fragile folk-rock songs. They let their listeners drift along with their slowly smoldering songs, which land gently in both ears and the nervous system.

In September, the band released their latest full-length album, At the Roadhouse. The band settled in the small Australian town of Campells Creek to record the album. They took over an abandoned building, which they transformed into their own "roadhouse." During the day, they wrote songs, and in the evenings, they played free concerts for the locals. With its sometimes raw instrumentation, you get the feeling as a listener that the songs were created to be enjoyed live. On the band's YouTube channel, there are live versions of all 16 songs from the album, recorded in Campell Creek.

The band has refined their storytelling throughout the album, which is written as an expansive love letter. Longing and self-reflection are explored in the songs, as a follow-up to On The Train Ride Home from 2018, where the same themes were addressed. The protagonist loses their great love in "Marietta," and the subsequent songs deal with the resulting self-reflection until hope reemerges in "Darkness at My Door." The latter closes the album with the accompaniment of a gospel choir.

Rosie Carney is an English/Irish singer-songwriter who most recently released her LP i wanna feel happy in 2022. Born out of the anxiety of pandemic-amplified social media pressure, the LP explores Rosie's personal mental health struggles against the backdrop of a musical career in 2022.

In the three years since her debut LP Bare, which NPR described as "the weary grace of a survivor who has found the source of her strength", Rosie has continued to raise her profile with select collaborations with the likes of Lisa Hannigan and The Paper Kites.