“I’m gonna try some good living.” It’s the refrain in a new song by indie folk band The Paper Kites, setting the hopeful tone of the whole album with “hope” in its name: “If You Go There, I Hope You Find it.” 

There is hope in that song title as well — “When the Lavender Blooms.” I’ve returned to it over the winter, smelling the flowers to come. Another favorite on the album: “Change of the Wind,” which has a way of turning a cold gust into a warm breeze. The song seems to suggest peace amid madness: “‘Cause I can’t change it all/But I can change my mind.” 

— Seth Boster