The music of Washed Out has always levitated over a timeless frontier. You can sense it in his immersive, amorphous vocals, the expansive soundscapes, the wistful storytelling. It's a sweet spot where, says its creative force, Ernest Greene, "any sort of association or memory from the past can transport you instantly. I love that." Greene's transcendent output has earned him the moniker of "Godfather of Chillwave" by Pitchfork and a co-sign from Portlandia, which borrowed his track, "Feel It All Around," for its utopian theme song. His latest, Notes From a Quiet Life (out June 28, Sub Pop) arrives after delivering more than a decade of distinct and disparate creative re-imaginations at a remarkably high level (five albums, two EPs). Notes is bold in its intuitiveness: Greene has left the treadmill of music-as-a-business, instead letting his artistic interests lead the way. "Each album," says Green, who also paints and sculpts, "is a world-building exercise."

Casey MQ is known for his 2020 breakthrough album babycasey, which gave voice to songs seen through the lens of childhood, various film score work, and collaborations with artists such as Oklou, Eartheater, and Shygirl. His gifts as a producer and songwriter are rooted in textural world-building and the excavation of personal truth. Casey also co-founded Club Quarantine, a queer virtual club that has hosted artists such as Charli XCX, Lady Gaga, Tinashe, Pabllo Vittar and others. His new album for Ghostly, Later that day, the day before, or the day before that, came about as Casey spiraled into subconscious-led writing sessions at the piano. With the new material he questions what is true entirely, understanding our mind's tendency to bend and project onto pictures of the past. Across vivid, baroque pop balladry, Casey reorients his recording project and point of view under the notion that memories are malleable. All the joy, pain, love, and loss housed within remembrance is open to interpretation and deconstruction, which he does deftly, with curiosity and complete artistic freedom. On Later that day..., Casey combines his electronica expertise with his love for piano compositions to create an atmosphere, giving Casey's more spacious, minimal arrangements a distinct luster and sheen. The textures and tones shift from song to song as if mirroring the way our minds constantly recontextualize, remember, and forget.