Single/3 tracks
Boston-based (by way of Cape Cod and Chicago) artist Zion Rodman brings a refreshing authenticity to New England’s music scene. His soulful voice and melodic guitar work knit together a genre-bending repertoire of originals that include introspective acoustic ballads that wouldn’t be out of place in the closing minutes of an episode of “Scrubs” or “Ted Lasso” (“Whatever Happens”/”Everybody That You Know”), powerful songs with a message (“Did Not Wake Up Today”), and up-tempo roots-rock (“Parking Lot at Night”/”Into the Night”) anchored by an excellent rhythm section. The tracks on the 2024 three-song EP/single “The Lives I’ve Kept” add retro nods to alt-pop influences from the early 90s but shorn of the pretensions that relegated Counting-Gin-Blossoms-in-the-Soul-Asylum to nostalgia playlists. The result is an updated and fresh indie-folk sound grounded in good songwriting and yet rooted in tradition. (Jay Jenne)