On the title track to his new album, Tenderness, T. Thomason centres the emotions that shape this collection as a whole: fear, courage and resolve. Amid change, about which T. writes in exquisite and intimate detail, what remains the same is that love and trust must light the way. A song that first name checks, and then features, indie rockers Stars, “Tenderness” is the culmination of the album’s major revelations and sonic tendrils in soaring chamber pop form.

In “The Sound of Christmas,” William Prince puts an ingenious twist on classic themes, celebrating the role that music and the real-life sounds of Christmas – laughter, clinking of glassware, skates carving ice, bells carrying through the air – play in our memories and festivities.