Fall With Despair

The new single. Put it on when the street is empty. It doesn't chase you, and it still catches up.

• MVMaraLeave the vocal in front. The rest of the song already knows its job.

Five minutes that don't fill every corner. This is the one I play when the loud songs are done talking.

• ICInezI would hold this under a shot of a window. Don't cut it early.

The title track that actually earns the name. Start here if you want the band, not a sample of the band.

• TMTheoIf someone asks what they sound like, I send this before I send a paragraph.

Under four minutes and it doesn't waste one. Good for leaving the house faster than you meant to.

• SOSableThis one survives a bad speaker. That's a compliment.

Short, blunt, and finished before you negotiate with it. Turn it up or don't bother.

Hear it twice. The first pass is the punch. The second is the reason it stays in the crate.

• JPJunThe drums don't decorate the riff. They answer it.

The title already did the hard work. The song doesn't decorate it. This is the record I hand people.

• AQAdaIt sounds like a decision, not a mood. I respect that.

Seven minutes, and I wouldn't trim it. This is the long cut. Let it become the scene.

From Healed. Smaller room, same band. I play this when the album feels like too much weather.

• MVMaraThe vocal sits closer here. That's the whole reason I come back to the EP.

A direct title and a song that doesn't flinch from it. On Healed, this is the one I don't skip.

Off the self-titled. Softer name, not a soft song. Good company on the drive home.

A picture before it's a riff. I can see the coast even if the song never describes one.

• RSRenThis is the deep cut I play after Wherever You Are, not instead of it.

Healed again, but this one wants a body in the room. Don't save it for headphones only.

Last one on the EP for a reason. It doesn't resolve just to be polite.