Laetitia Sadier
Silencio
(Drag City)

Best known as the singer for ‘90s indie band Stereolab, Sadier sticks to her guns on her second solo album. Where her 2010 solo debut The Trip focused on more personal issues, most notably her sister’s suicide, which took place shortly before the recording of the album, here the French-born singer turns her focus outward to topics such as politics and the universe as a whole. Opening track “The Rule of the Game” name-checks fascism, the ruling class and disarmament, while “There is a Price to Pay for Freedom (and It Isn’t Security)” employs distant sleigh bells in a verse discussing the societal roles individuals are forced to take on. If these sound like heady topics, they are. Yet Sadier still finds time to match her weighty lyrics to an upbeat strum on “Auscultation to the Nation,” and “Moi Sans Zach” even features Latin rhythms. —Michael Cimaomo

Young@Heart Chorus
Now
(independent)

Clichéd as it may sound, listening to the Young@Heart Chorus really will reach places inside you that most of modern existence has been plastering over with bitter cynicism for decades—it’s disarming, but also reassuring. There are “senior” moments on Now that make you chuckle and others that might choke you up, thanks to the nakedly genuine performances of Y@H’s members and the selection of songs, which ranges from cheekily ironic (The Band’s “The Shape I’m In,” J. Geils’ “Musta Got Lost”) to deep (John Lennon’s “Nobody Told Me,” Jackson Browne’s “These Days”). Jim Armenti, Ken Maiuri, Alex Johnson and Co. (the backing band) are dead on, and embellishments by Tom Mankhen’s horns and Dave Trenholm’s string arrangements are equally scrumptious. Put this album on while you’re sitting next to a fire sipping hot cocoa on Christmas Day, and you will feel something transcendent. —Tom Sturm

Maker 
Maker EP 
(Asbestos)

Springfield’s Maker offers a highly melodic brand of indie music with significant doses of punk edge. Vocals range from strangely canted downtempo musings to rough-edged near-shouts backed by solid slabs of overdriven guitar. Somehow all of this adds up to an atmosphere with a large dose of melancholy. Maker sounds young, full of energy and angst (the lyrics often reflect that) and the youthful edge keeps the proceedings rollicking ahead. The well-harmonized ballads sound heartfelt, and the rocking tunes manage to sound hard without resting too often on easy cliches. Overdrive or no, Maker’s EP offers the kind of laid-back energy that seems to call for getting behind the wheel of a car and watching the miles go by. —James Heflin