Kevin Bronson on December 10th, 2021

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Variety pack: In which we round up recent singles from Vinyl Williams, Conway, the Walks of Life, ASHRR and La Poré …

VINYL WILLIAMS, “Exopalace”

Indefatigable psych-pop warrior Lionel “Vinyl” Williams — making the world a sonically more wondrous place since his debut album in 2012 — has been busy since releasing his fifth album, “Azure,” in 2020. He teamed up with longtime pal Craig Murray in a project called the Emerald Isle, releasing its self-titled album. His visual art (paintings, interactive music videos and websites) continues to be mind-blowing. His new single, “Exopalace,” is a metaphysical marvel, too. “We are to find what is unseen,” indeed.

CONWAY, “Goddamn”

Mercurial pop singer Kessia Conway — just Conway since she started her “Big Talk” — returned with two mesmerizing singles this fall, each backed by drummer, producer and Grammy winner (for Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”) Amy Wood. They’re part of a forthcoming EP, “Kessia Monday,” which the duo fashioned during the lockdown. “The pandemic forced us all to sit with ourselves,” Conway says. “To think about what is important. What we actually do and do not need; what others need, what the world needs. It was like facing a thousand Mondays of reality. The proverbial weekend was over and it was time to figure out what we are really doing inside and out. The songs were inspired by what came out of that experience for me … which was a need to tell more of the bare truth and a desire to be more accepting of and connected to the idea of vulnerability personally and in humanity in general.”

THE WALKS OF LIFE, “On or Out”

After releasing “Here All Night” and then a collaboration with the Morning Yells titled “The Other Side,” singer-songwriter Sam Marine is back with another dose of classic rock finery. “On or Out” is a road trip-worthy jam from the Walks’ of Life’s self-titled album, coming next year.

ASHRR, “Same Way”

The follow-up to last spring’s “Otherside,” “Same Way” finds the trio of Steven Davis, Ethan Allen and Josh Charles engaging in post-punk-tinged New Wave — it’s a hard-charging song about resilience: “We fall apart, but not alone / Finding our way out of a burning home.” Says Charles: “‘Same Way’ is a very personal song that deals with the struggles we all face in our lives and more importantly how we grow out of them into a better place, finally able to see the situation with some clarity.”

LA PORÉ, “Headphones”

Cleveland transplant Nick Samson — aka La Poré — has dropped three singles of spacious synth-pop since kicking off 2021 with “All We Have Is Us.” Written and produced with frequent collaborator Kyle Kanzigg, the latest song is the first from La Poré’s debut EP, arriving next spring. The new single, perfectly ’80s/glossy for, yes, headphones listening, salutes the power music wields as an escape: “I’m locked up in my headphones / Filter out the noise. It’s the only way.”