NoSo - When Are You Leaving? (2025) When Are You Leaving?, singer/songwriter/producer Baek Hwong’s second LP as NoSo, finds Hwong  trading fantasy for reality. Previously, Hwong (they/he) sang about longing for “straight hips” and  “simple limbs” in advance of their transition. Their debut Stay Proud of Me was an album-length  daydream about what it would be like to fully embrace their transmasc identity, written mostly  under quarantine restrictions. They released that record in 2022 to critical acclaim, with praise  from NPR’s All Songs Considered, Paste, The Guardian, Notion, a performance at Tiny Desk and much  more. But it’s one thing to wistfully yearn for transition, and another to actually do it. So what happens after? What happens when you get what you've always wanted, and it comes with a new  set of problems? Even if you do everything in your power to feel more comfortable in your skin,  it’s hard to tell who sees you and who doesn’t. When Are You Leaving? tenderly but directly  explores the internal effects of those relationships with a witty, mature lens. The aching from  their past work has itself moved into something more thoughtful and measured, showing a more  fully-formed, complex Hwong in the process. Originating from Chicago before studying guitar and songwriting at the Thornton School of Music,  and now based in Los Angeles, NoSo’s music deals with the alienation that comes at the intersection  of his different identities. The stage name of NoSo itself comes from a question he’d get growing  up in a largely white neighborhood (“North or South Korean?”) While he became known in LA for his  talent with guitar, he ultimately decided to pursue writing his own deeply personal music. This is  as personal as anything else he’s made. He clarifies about the album: “While it’s intense in terms of lyrical content at times, it’s still  triumphant, but in a more grounded and realistic way.” The joy doesn’t come from daydreaming, but  from tangible, smaller victories like leaving toxic relationships and painful situations. That title, When Are You Leaving? comes from the mental fortitude required to deal with or exit those  dynamics altogether. The music gives those small successes the scale they deserve. The album  glistens with spacious arrangements accompanied by the occasional saxophone and strings. A song  like “Nara” could have been a 80s new-wave ball; the chorus where Hwong twists that name into a  rhythmic chant is a crowd sing along in waiting. As with Stay Proud Of Me, Hwong largely self-produces, increasingly comfortable with expanding the  scope of his music. All the instruments were recorded remotely, but the cumulative effect is far  from Hwong’s bedroom pop roots. The album shows Hwong’s diverse taste; “Dad Made Toast!” is an  explosive experimental house-influenced track, while the piano- led opener “A Believable Boy” is  quietly stunning in the vein of the best Boxer-era National songs. On “Sugar”, a co-production with  Jack Tatum of indie project Wild Nothing, Hwong’s lush harmonies soar above a smooth disco groove,  the negative space leaving room for the frustrated lyrics to really take root. Two songs later,  there’s the genuinely heavy distorted guitars of “Don’t Hurt Me I’m Trying”, making good on Hwong’s TV on the Radio influence. When Are You Leaving? finds Hwong coming into his own as a master songwriter. Themes of mental  illness, platonic heartbreak, interpersonal + professional power dynamics are brought to life with  vivid and specific imagery in a way that feels universal to listeners across genre, age, and  orientation. On “You’re No Man” he’s in bed with a woman, but isn’t seen as himself; on “Nara”,  he’s seen as himself, but doesn’t feel loved. We’re never really sure whether these are projected  insecurities or what the other person really feels, but that just adds to the discomfort underlying  the record’s lyrics. That’s until the partner on “But You Want Him”, beneath the saxophone and  gated drums, confirms his worst fears: “I’m reminded of/How you missed white men/So simple and  tame/Eyes dilating.” Unconventional one-liners throughout the album like “I still find you  in/demeanors and tones” and “When you hurt me you listen/Therefore it could not be you” are bound  to stick in the brain – just one example of Hwong’s clear strength of turning a phrase. Few  songwriters are articulating such experiences as precisely as Hwong is. The polished sound and the thornier lyrics don’t exist in opposition, instead complementing each  other and creating a fuller picture of who Hwong is. The acoustic “Who Made You This Sweet” gently  glides, interweaving countermelodies as Hwong playfully describes trying on masculinity, puffing  their chest out. Yet that doesn’t fit either, as they put it: “I’ve realized my energy is still  pretty feminine, but there was this period of time where I felt like I was trying to embody these  stereotypes for masculinity because of the way I present.” At the core of the album is a longing to  feel understood; the seeming contradictions aren’t really contradictions at all, just different  parts of a complete human being. That knack for nuance makes When Are You Leaving? a unique  achievement in detailing the minutiae of life’s complexities – and all the better, you can dance to it.  

JayWood is the enigmatic, artistic outlet for boundary-pushing musician and singer-songwriter Jeremy Haywood-Smith. JayWood fluidly navigates the blurred lines between genres such as Alternative Hip-Hop, Indie, and Neo-Soul—all territory where he feels completely at home. This is evident in his self-produced Polaris Music Prize nominated album "Slingshot" (2022) and the follow-up EP "Grow On" (2023), which, combined, garnered praise from KEXP, KCRW, CBC, Paste, FLOOD, Exclaim!, The FADER, among others, and saw him performing at international festivals such as SXSW, The Great Escape, and Reeperbahn. As displayed on the recently released, genre-blending singles "BIG TINGS" feat. Art-pop duo Tune-Yards and "UNTITLED (Swirl)," JayWood can't be pigeonholed, and his upcoming single "ASSUMPTIONS" is no exception to that rule. As trippy and in-your-face as the forthcoming album (September 2025), the hip-hop production here is laced with psychedelic flourishes and braggadocious, neo-soul energy, owing as much to Tyler, the Creator as it does Stereolab and fellow Québécois indie darlings Men I Trust.