Back when we launched Hit Refresh, the Fiery Furnaces had just released their fifth album, "Bitter Tea." In the time since, the duo has toured relentlessly. And the band's primary songwriter, Matthew Friedberger, found the time to write and record two solo albums and collaborate with his sister Eleanor on the material for the Furnaces' latest full-length, "Widow City." Though the band has hardly abandoned its distinct, idiosyncratic style, the songs on "Widow City" largely avoid the extremes of their past three records, and rank among their most energetic, engaging and accessible work to date. "Ex-Guru" is especially perky and catchy, bouncing along from a cartoonishly funky verse to an understated yet anthemic rock chorus.

Junior League is most certainly playing a country/bluegrass song on the opening track of its debut album, but it all comes out sounding rather skewed, without actually seeming obviously weird. "Charm" is gorgeous and light, and hovers along with the effortless grace of a butterfly gliding through the air on a clear day. Though the song's floating effect is mainly achieved through careful, delicate playing by the band's fiddler and rhythm section, the star of the piece is singer Lissy Rosemont, whose voice carries the sweet melody without getting too bold or saccharine.

White Williams' debut album sounds remarkably confident and self-assured, as if it just fell out of time, fully formed. The textures of the album are warm, but the feeling is a bit aloof, as though even the catchiest, most outgoing songs are stumbling around in a daze. Williams deliberately borrows riffs and hooks from famous songs by David Bowie, T-Rex, Brian Eno and Neu!, but his record somehow manages to avoid feeling like yet another retro pastiche. The music feels slightly disconnected from reality, and gives the sense that Williams has opted to groove out in the present tense rather than dwell too much on the past or the future.