Fresh Cut Flowers by Taylar Elizza Beth

Taylar Elizza Beth doesn’t need to scream to get your attention. All she has to do is whisper. The Seattle MC “raps,” but not in the traditional sense—her breathy, muted delivery is akin to a friend telling a ghost story over a campfire. There’s intrigue and power in that quietude, which Elizza Beth began to unleash with a string of excellent one-off singles last year, like “Daisies” and “Managing.” Fresh Cut Flowers, her upcoming EP, will likely cement her rightful place as one of Seattle’s best, unique new artists—a talent to watch for in the coming years. Estimated release date this spring.

A Crow Looked at Me by Mount Eerie

Four months after Phil Elverum’s wife, fellow artist and musician Geneviéve Castrée, gave birth to their first child, she was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. A little over a year later, in July 2016, she passed away at age 35 in their home in Anacortes, leaving Elverum alone with their newborn child. “Sweet kid, what is this world we’re giving you? Smoldering and fascist with no mother,” he sings with plainspoken devastation in a new song, “Crow,” from January. A Crow Looked at Me will be Elverum’s first new album since Castrée’s death, written and recorded in the room in which she died. “I make these songs and put them out into the world just to multiply my voice saying that I love her,” Elverum wrote of the upcoming record. “I want it known.” Out March 24 from PW Elverum & Sun

Sincerely by Dude York

Seattle’s Dude York has always walked the line between scrappy DIY shredding and full-blown power-pop anthemics, but on their Hardly Art debut, Sincerely, it sounds as if they’re fully committing to the bombast. The album’s singles, “Black Jack” and “Tonight,” are exuberant, soaring assertions of self-worth and connection in the face of anxiety and self-doubt, couched with a refreshing introspection that keeps things from getting too syrupy-sweet. To help ratchet the energy as high as possible, the band enlisted the help of local loudness experts like Sleater-Kinney/Bikini Kill producer John Goodmanson and the Blood Brothers’ Cody Votolato. Out Feb. 24 from Hardly Art

TYTHBAVFE by Bujemane

Federal Way’s Bujemane is making a name for himself in the booming Tacoma hip-hop scene by flexing his creative muscles in all sorts of directions—producing his own understated beats, rapping with a witty command of the language, and designing his own streetwear under his Red Zone brand. His I Quit EP from November bumps a dusky, nighttime vibe that zeroes in on a mature minimalism we hope carries over into his follow-up, TYTHBAVFE. Or, given the wacky album title, maybe he’ll just get weirder—another welcome outcome. Out Feb. 14, self-released

Drink Champagne by Sisters

Sisters is only a two-person band, Andrew Vait and Emily Westman, but the music they make is anything but minimal. The formally trained pair wield all their talents—harmonizing, drumming, playing synth and God knows how many other instruments—often all at once. Their live shows are an athletic, expertly choreographed, octopus-limbed spectacle. The tunes shimmer with an ’80s-pop opulence, full of Phil Collins drum fills and triumphant keys that could easily soundtrack the end credits to any of your favorite feel-good movies. Drink Champagne is something of a coming-out party for the group, its first LP and new release since 2014’s funky but short Diamonds of Gold EP. Out Feb. 14, self-released