It’s easy to break down songs in terms of their lyrics and melodic hooks but sometimes there’s something else going on that evades simple description. I’m going to call that heart. It’s the stuff in the song that gives you shivers and allows you to listen again and again, often finding new shades of colour hidden behind your first impressions. Today’s featured acts have definitely got heart and then some.

Eclectic Music Lover covers a broader range of music than yours truly but our Venn diagram has plenty of crowding in the overlap. Like Wons Phreely’s new single “The Faithful Heart.” EML put me on to the song and I can’t stop listening to it. The track opens with a classic bit of Springsteen piano melancholy before shifting to something more reminiscent of Feist’s winsome “!,2,3,4.” There’s something insistent about the delivery, almost march-like in a meditative way. Overall, the sonic wash of the performance reminds me of Family of Year. The accompanying video is worth taking in too, featuring the band’s singer/songwriter Justin Wonsley being guided through dance-moves like a human marionette against a backdrop of a spartan laundromat.

Vienna, Austria’s Good Wilson ease us in with “Bats From the Buffet” seemingly marking-time tune-wise before blowing things out on the feels-like-a-rush chorus. It’s a subtle transition but notable. Another remarkable feature of the tune is the use of pedal steel guitar. For the most part the song is carried by a delicious lead guitar hook but three-quarters in that distinctive country music instrument surfaces but in no way acts as a lazy signifier of genre. Mixed with the seventies McCartney-esque guitar trills and background vocals you’ve got a track that roots you in place and practically demands a replay or two. The song is one among many pre-release singles from the band’s soon-to-be released new album It Is Done (Album).

Heart is the undefinable something a great artist adds to what they’re doing. You won’t find it noted down on the sheet music, you can only feel it, connect with it, and make it a bit of yourself.