Kevin Bronson on December 6th, 2023

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Straight from our Bureau of Catchy Things comes this singles roundup, featuring the latest from Livingmore, Hazel English, Polyglam and Joy Downer …

LIVINGMORE, “No Vacation”

After introducing their forthcoming Jeff Schroeder-produced album, “The Garden,” with dream-pop excursions (“At Ease” and “Places”), Livingmore are back with a song that has a little more bounce to the ounce. “No Vacation” finds Alex Moore and Spencer Livingston, along with drummer/co-writer Mike Schadel, dispensing a brisk new waver. The stylistic shifts over the nine-year Moore/Livingston collaboration — they began as a folk duo — have never come at the expense of their songs finding the melodic pocket. “The Garden,” their fourth full-length, figures to be no different. Catch Livingmore on Feb. 2 at the Echo.

HAZEL ENGLISH, “Real Life”

“Real Life” is the latest single (counting a nifty version of the La’s “There She Goes”) from Hazel English, who released her “Summer Nights” EP last summer and continues to work with her go-to collaborator, Jackson Phillips of Day Wave. The follow-up to “Heartbreaker,” the new single is a dreamy lament about a relationship on the precipice of ending. “I don’t know you anymore / Is this a real life,” English wonders, and that’s never good, but at least there’s this song to fall apart to.

POLYGLAM, “Loss”

Speaking of break-up tales, Polyglam’s third single “Loss” ricochets through all the emotions. The indie-pop trio of Allie Stamler, Rachel White and John Sinclair will release their debut EP next year. Of the new single, Stamler says: “As you pick up the pieces, you find yourself rewriting your last chapter, holding on to the possibility this story isn’t over. Was it a loss after all?”

JOY DOWNER, “Alright”

Joy Downer released her solo album, “Paper Moon,” in 2020, and since she’s released “Chain Reaction” (a collaboration with Beck) and gotten a boost from the single “In the Water” (from Netflix’s series “Spinning Out”). “Alright,” like her other music made with her husband Jeffrey, motors merrily through indie-pop’s past, contemplating all the “maybes” about forging one’s own identity. “I don’t know who I am / If I’m not holding his hand / I don’t know yet who I am,” Downer sings airily, ultimately deciding that it’s “Alright” to not know … yet.