New Music Friday: 3/29/24

Here are the rules: I listen to all 100 tracks of Spotify's New Music Friday playlist, except for anything that rhymes the n-word with itself more than three times, any screamo or screamo-adjacent stuff, any CCM that reveals its true intentions in time for me to hit the skip button, and any egregiously corny modern country music, typically performed by a dude with two first names. Having sifted through this week's playlist, here's what I actively enjoyed:

"Split Screen," Kings of Leon
During Kings of Leon's early career, I (perhaps unfairly) lumped them in with what felt like a bunch of young rock acts who seemed to be content with serving up reheated platters of stuff that had been done — better — countless times before. They've obviously broadened their sound quite a bit over the years, but old habits die hard, and I've never really bothered to investigate their catalog — all of which is to say that the subtle, moody strains of "Split Screen" caught me a little by surprise when I heard the song in the context of this week's New Music Friday. I like what I hear here; perhaps now's the time to dig in.