The formula that seems to work for the husband and wife duo Patrick Riley and Alaina Moore is to set out to sea and become inspired to make a record. Their first, Cape Dory, was conceived after a seven-month sailing excursion on a boat they bought together after college.

Laurence Galpin has long been appreciative of the agency of sound vis á vis imagery. He grew up with traces of the John Martin and Nick Drake records his parents would play following after him on his walks through the panoramas of Sussex, England.

Alynda Segarra, aka Hurray for the Riff Raff, returns to her Bronx roots in The Navigator. The album opens—on a track titled “Entrance” no less—with what sounds like the bustle of a subway train running through the tunnels of the NYC transit system.

It’s been five years since James Mercer and co. debuted new music to The Shins’ vast fanbase. On their fifth studio album Heartworms, the (now) six-piece shows them going a long way from their folky indie-rock beginnings crooning “Caring Is Creepy” and “New Slang” on the idolized indie soundtrack from Garden State.

After their 2010 debut Astro Coast became a much deserved breakout indie hit, Surfer Blood hit some unexpected and tragic stumbling blocks. Their 2013 major label debut and sophomore LP Pythons was widely viewed as a disappointment and 2015’s 1000 Palmsdidn’t do much to dissuade naysayers and retrieve their lost momentum.

With Graveyard Whistling, Old 97’s frontman Rhett Miller is his most comfortable self, mic-slinging in the stirrups of a rowdy, fleshed-out sound.

Tim Kingsbury has done pretty well for himself as the bassist (amongst other things) for reigning champions of indie rock, Arcade Fire. With a new Arcade Fire record due, you’d expect time to be at a premium.

Following last year’s sophomore LP Welcome the Worms, this brand new Bleached EP continues in a similarly slick but not too slick power-pop/pop-punk vein, although it’s unclear whether these are outtakes from those sessions (they sound like it) or brand new recordings.

Resignation isn’t hinted at in the words sung here by WHY?‘s Yoni Wolf—one of indie’s most under-celebrated lyricists—but woven extensively throughout.