POP/ROCK

Caroline Rose, "Superstar" (New West)

Rose used to be an earnest Americana singer. But on 2018's "Loner," she figured out there's much more fun to be had making perky, unabashedly upbeat, synth-powered pop music. "Superstar" carries on that mission, embracing a surface-level gloss, with tongue only partly in cheek.

The album follows a loose narrative about a "Freak Like Me" caught up in the American fame and fortune complex. The album succeeds so well because the songs are so crafty and grabby. And while its protagonist gets carried away by fame and its complications, the music never succumbs to seriousness or forces the fun. It's a high-wire act that doesn't take a wrong step.

Dan Deluca, Philadelphia Inquirer

David Lynch featuring Jack Cruz, "True Love's Flame" (Sacred Bones)

As explained in press notes, the two love songs just issued by filmmaker/songwriter Lynch are sung "by the primate star crooner of yesteryear, Jack Cruz." One of these ballads is featured in Lynch's new short film, "What Did Jack Do?" The 20-minute black-and-white noir on Netflix stars Lynch as a detective questioning Cruz, who is a talking capuchin monkey and lead suspect in a murder. The capuchin crooner busts into the wildly beguiling ballad "True Love's Flame."

The torch song sounds as if it were discovered in the dusty attic of an abandoned farmhouse, with eerie, wobbly orchestral strings backing Cruz (who sounds suspiciously like Lynch). "True Love's Flame" has the feel of a Rosetta Stone with Lynch's realm. Sung by a monkey.

Cruz performs "True Love's Flame" in Lynch's film, but the sessions did generate a second song. A midtempo piano ballad, "Dancin' in the World of Love," lives and dies through the monkey's wobbly, occasionally creaky tone. Highly recommended for your next midnight rendezvous.

Randall Roberts, Los Angeles Times

new releases

• Niall Horan, "Heartbreak Weather"

• Boomtown Rats, "Citizens of Boomtown"

• Peter Bjorn and John, "Endless Dream"