By WDCE Music Directors

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:: The MDs are bringing you a lucky 7 this spooky season

:: October 25, 2026

:: Fenne Lily — Win Win

Genre: Folk

Release Type: Album

Release Date: October 23, 2026

Recommended Tracks: “Uh Huh,” “Sleeping,” “Two Ways”

Fenne Lily’s newest album, Win Win, contains tales of heartbreak, uncertainty and loss without ever resorting to hopelessness. Though it’s a lot more melancholy than its name indicates, this album is comforting and supremely personal. It feels like Lily is sitting right next to me as she sings about trying to move on from what she thought was the love of her life. The show-stealer is her voice, which is world-weary, delicate and beautiful. It wouldn’t be crazy to say her voice has some Joni Mitchell in it (she’s not Canadian though). My favorite track is “Sleeping,” a forceful song soaked in regret about taking someone for granted and losing them. If you love old-school folk and want to stay hip to new music, listening to this album is a win-win.

— Declan Devilbiss

Michael Nau

Genre: Indie Rock

Release Type: Album

Release Date: October 23, 2026

Recommended Tracks: “Popfly,” “New Slack,” “And Welcome Back”

If you think Michael Nau is just another mustachioed millennial indie rocker, think again. His newest album, Popfly, is soft, groovy and works in some jazziness to make for a pretty engaging listening experience. On top of laid-back baselines and drums, Nau throws in violins, twangy electric guitar and wind instruments. The standout track, “New Slack,” employs fuzzy saxophone accents to add some really nice warmth to the instrumental. He’s clearly a talented singer, but across the album, Nau often uses a conversational tone that’s closer to talking than singing. This is music you can get lost in, and sometimes that works against Nau. The middle of the album drags a bit, and I had to start multiple tracks over when I found myself drifting away mentally. But maybe that’s what Nau has in mind. Popfly will lull you into a bit of a dreamlike state, and if that’s what you’re looking for, this is the album for you.

— Declan Devilbiss

Dad Hats — wash.rinse.repeat.

Genre: Pop Punk

Release Type: Album

Release Date: October 23, 2026

Recommended Tracks: “december song,” “i tried,” “fine, anyway”

Dad Hats’ third album is no “boom-clap, quirky”  millennial garbage, instead “wash.rinse.repeat.” feels like a love letter to something between post-grunge and third-wave-emo. It really has that late nineties, early aughts vibe. Where the Nashville-based four-piece excels is in keeping those old formulas fresh. The lyricism is genuine without feeling performative. The struggles of adulthood come through without feeling like a fetishization of youth. Each track is in all lowercase. It feels like a deliberate creative choice, something that fits the album as opposed to something being done to play on nostalgic trends.

— Jonathan Sackett

ANORAK! — FINGERS CROSSED

Genre: Midwest Emo

Release Type: Album

Release Date: October 20, 2026

Recommended Tracks: “BRITE,” “SUMMER TOUR,” “WE GREW”

The third album by Tokyo, Japan’s ANORAK! is an alternative, indie musical melting pot. “FINGERS CROSSED” incorporates math rock, midwest emo, garage rock and even indietronica, like on “DA BOYS.” The guitars are crisp, the tone is immaculate, and each riff feels like a brain massage. The vocals are angsty, and beats are danceable. Despite its ALL CAPS in-your-face presentation, you can enjoy “FINGERS CROSSED” regardless of your mood. I’ve got my fingers crossed, hoping you’ll give ANORAK! a listen.

— Jonathan Sackett

soft siren — 4AM

Genre: Dream Pop

Release Type: Album

Release Date: October 23, 2026

Recommended Tracks: “4am,” “Dethereal”

I don’t wanna make any assumptions here, but soft siren appears to me as a band who received the majority of their popularity from a TikTok song. I’m not saying that’s inherently a BAD thing, but it’s worth mentioning. Their most streamed song is “4am.” Their second most streamed song is “4am (slowed + reverb).” They have two albums released so far. Their titles: “4AM” and “4am (edits),” with the latter being SEVEN versions of the same exact song. This is how things are. As for this newly released album, it’s soft and dreamy and not much more. The band describes themselves as “shoegaze” and “trip-hop” meets “psychedelic indie rock,” but doesn’t achieve any of these to a satisfactory degree. “Low” is the closest they get to trip-hop, but lacks the interesting percussion. “Dethereal” is the closest thing to shoegaze, but never tones up the guitar distortion or drum complexity. To me it seems like soft siren is trying to combine the sounds of Massive Attack, My Bloody Valentine, and Cigarettes After Sex, but as a result, leaving their music indistinguishable among the flood of recent dream-pop records out there. “4AM” is inoffensive, but also not a great display of any one musical technique.

— Jacob Bennett

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