SLOW PULP Melodie (Anti-) — On their third album, Melodie, the Madison-founded and Chicago-based band Slow Pulp make a few key shifts. They bring in Elliott Kozel to co-produce, they first time they’ve had an outsider come in to help in that area (frontwoman Emily Massey and guitarist Henry Stoehr also have producing credits), and the songwriting process was designed to be more collaborative. None of this results in transformative change. Instead, Slow Pulp tightens the joints on their already sturdy structure. The songs on Melodie are smart and sweet and melancholy. There’s a wealth of sonic textures on the album, and Slow Pulp repeatedly stretches their songs to see what they can do. Just bask in the fiery dreaminess of “Better Man” and or the woozy headlong energy of the title track. They can certainly fit in with their peers: check “Yellow and Green” and its indie-acoustic warmth or “Up to You,” where Massey masters the Bridgers-ish murmur. Even so, there’s just often enough a disarming quality that’s all Slow Pulp’s own. To that end, “Entertainer” stirs a reaction that’s like skin reacting to static electricity. Go fast to get to the following cuts: “These Days,” “Red Car,” “Spill.”

STARLING Plexus (broke) — The thrummy, buzzy sound of shoegaze comes across bright as a ray of sunshine on Plexus, the new EP from Starling. The Los Angeles quartet have been pleasingly prolific in their short existence, release new music on a steady cycle. The release is comprised largely of singles that preceded it, which doesn’t really blunt the pleasure of hearing it all come together in a cohesive statement of artistic purpose. Kasha Souter’s vocals help the material stay grounded and soar at the same time. The spare, experimental “Of Today & Canon” sits right in the middle of the five tracks, the fulcrum on which Starling’s rich, inviting pop teeters. With shoegaze and dream pop ascendent in a way that rivals or even exceeded the nineteen-nineties heyday of the subgenres, there’s a sense that Starling is uniquely positioned to stay aloft. Fly, fly, fly with these tracks: “Sunbeam,” “See the Water,” and “571.”