The pitch: The beloved DJ further embraces electro indie pop songcraft. The story: After years of building a following in the dance music world with her adventurous techno sets (first in San Francisco’s warehouses, then in Berlin’s Panorama Bar and on festival stages), Avalon Emerson was chosen by !K7 Records to command the 72nd edition of its DJ-Kicks series. That compilation was released during the first year of the COVID pandemic, when much of the nightlife world was shuttered and mass gatherings were verboten. Amidst the shutdown, unsure about her future, Emerson taught herself traditional songwriting, got comfortable with her singing voice, and released the airy album & The Charm in 2023. In the ensuing years, Emerson returned to DJ gigs and making tracks designed to satisfy hungry dance floors, but Written into Changes proves that her electronic indie pop aspirations are a parallel path, not a diversion. Written into Changes is her first full-length on Dead Oceans and features production assistance from former Vampire Weekend-er Rostam Batmanglij and Emerson’s previous collaborator Bullion. The music has a deeper groove and the songwriting is more assured. But the key to Emerson’s elevation might be found on that DJ-Kicks compilation, which featured the first vocal track she released: a cover of “Long-Forgotten Fairytale” by The Magnetic Fields. Like Stephin Merritt, Emerson’s skills shine the brightest when she incorporates the directness of 1980s synth-pop, the sly phrasing of country music, and a knowledge that the romantic thrill of love can offer a brief respite from the inherent sadness of our earthly reality. Focus track: You can hear all those ingredients come together perfectly on the song “Jupiter and Mars,” where she sweetly sings through the cosmos, “And a light-year or two down the line/When it all collapses on itself, folding time/And our dust finds each other in the thin/I’ll understand if you leave me again.”