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Star Moles is the “sci-fi DIY wi-fi band” of Emily Moales, a New Hampshire native posted up in Philly. Last week she followed up her lo-fi 2025 mini-album Snack Monster<\/a><\/em> with a more produced offering called Highway To Hell<\/em> that merges ’70s folk-pop aesthetics with 2020s Bandcamp sensibilities. Friend of the site Josh Terry recommended it in his No Expectations<\/a> newsletter, and now I’m recommending it to you.<\/p>\n Moales writes with the melancholic whimsy of Joni Mitchell. You can tell she’s put a lot of thought into her songs \u2014 the clever lyrics, the interesting arrangements \u2014 but they’re loose and playful in a way that makes them feel like she’s coming up with them off the dome. Sometimes the words are silly in an almost Friedberger-esque way: “You just messed with the postmaster general\/ The four-star postmaster general.” Just as often they’re plainspoken and poignant: “Sometimes I think I’m making a friend when I see a smiling face\/ But then it comes to an end\/ They get whisked away\/ And I never get a name\/ I’ll have to wait and hope we meet again.” I especially like “Overdog,” the one where she sings “I need you like I need a hole in my head\/ I need a hole in my head\/ How else could I sing?” and “What does the underdog know about what overdogs do?”<\/p>\n