A wonderfully lush and layered debut, Mole is awash with ideas. Maryam Said’s Poolblood project arrive with a truck full of ideas and a reverence for pop rock. Said’s religious upbringing offered little access to secular music, though Yusuf Islam’s (née Cat Stevens) gentle folk rock managed to slip through. A later embrace of artists like Fiona Apple, Nick Drake and Apples in Stereo, however, left an indelible imprint of the songwriting that populates this first LP. It’s an album about relationships, and learning to lean into inevitable discomforts. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.