Indie Insider Ryan Michele

Canadian producer Ryan Hemsworth has buzzed about the avant beat-making scene since 2010, when he began producing tracks for an assortment of underground emcees and remixing the likes of Kanye West and Grimes. His second album is his most whimsical; its playful textures recall The Postal Service as much as Drake. "Snow in Newark" is melancholy cloud rap with an understated chorus, while "Surrounded" bounds between wily drum and bass and slinking ambience. At once languid and restive, the tracks flit this way and that, their ranging influences flying by like billboards out the window of a speeding car.

While the cordial indie pop that singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Ryan Pollie makes under the Los Angeles Police Department banner belies the project's authoritative name, his command of sleepy melodies and miniature orchestrations take a front seat on his sophomore LP. The Philadelphia native first appeared as L.A.P.D. in 2014 with a self-titled released on the Forged Artifacts label introducing a style the merged the half-whispered earnestness of Sufjan Stevens with the hazy soundscapes of the lo-fi bedroom pop scene.

This album is the follow up to 2019's This Is The Sound, which received the Independent Music Award for Best Indie/Alt Rock Album. Nowhere To Go But Everywhere was written on a cross country road trip in the wake of Ryan's divorce, creating a deeply personal connection with the songs. Wicked Cool Records is owned by Stevie Van Zandt (E Street Band, Sopranos, Disciples Of Soul).