The Boston trio's slow, syrupy rock befits the shortest days of the year: It's heavy and dark, with occasional shimmers like the glare off a snowbank.

Reo's sprawling, vocoder-based ode to numbness is accompanied by a video that similarly bewitching. It's a "visual representation of the many ways you can become trapped by your own mind," she says.

Natasha Jacobs' band mixes the warm, human sensibilities of folk with off-kilter electronic elements. This song is a testament from someone who knows how to escape the feeling of being held back.

Have you ever fallen so hard for a crush, you gross even yourself out? Lisa Prank's new video recreates the Singles scene where Debbie Hunt searches for love via video dating.

An earnest, twee melody evokes, in the words of songwriter and producer Emma Witmer, a "mid-conversation daydream."

Frontwoman Jess Abbott says the song is about "getting curious about your own darker side [and] flirting with evil," seductively personified in the video by Speedy Ortiz's Sadie Dupuis.

The Philadelphia band finesses its double-sided, brawny pop-punk approach as lead singer Marisa Dabice lets tenderness bleed into her commanding delivery.

PWR BTTM uses familiar pop-punk sounds as a Trojan horse to inject inclusive, campy identity politics into rock stereotypes. No matter who you are, it's easy to feel like you're in on the joke.

Songwriter Johanne Swanson splits the difference between dreamy and dirge in a track rich with moments of intimacy.

Two fixtures of Philly power-pop — Sam Cook-Parrott and Michael Cantor — come together for an atmospheric and melancholy track anchored by carefully executed harmonies.

Don't let the gentle intro fool you: This song pulses with frustrated energy and demanding rhythm as Rachel Browne rages against a wrongdoer.

The British electro-pop singer's newest song is a high-energy plea to a crush, and its video is replete with kitschy-sweet moments of teen affection.

The lush dream-pop gem is a testament to Michelle Zauner's ability to layer mourning and beauty seamlessly. The video features bearded studs, "an invitation to my own personal heaven," she says.

In an audibly collaborative, thoughtfully layered track, Hannah Mohan and company zero in on what happens when a tight-knit group gets a little too close.

With a quick wit and a feminist punk ethos, T-Rextasy offers a perfect anthem for anyone who finds joy in hate-reading travel blogs and punching up at privilege.

Opposites attract in the Danish band's music. "This one," frontman Mikkel Holm Silkjær says, "is dedicated to bad things and good people."

Mitski closed her set at our SXSW showcase with a no-holds-barred song for a scorned ex-lover.

With bravery on display, Mitski performs an aching love song at our SXSW showcase.

At our SXSW showcase, Mitski played the explosive first single from her upcoming album.

Mitski sang this simple, yet intense song with controlled passion at our SXSW showcase.