John Ross verses build little worlds, and Still Coming Down offers glimpses into the characters who pop up in his liner notes—thieves on the lam, immigrants starting over in a new land, notorious assassins, strangers with problematic tattoos in convenience store aisles, fishermen floating off the coast of New England. These vivid scenes play out alongside the inner monologue of Wild Pink’s vocalist and guitarist, who tackles everything from mortality to a parent’s new love on the New York indie outfit’s sixth studio album. Given everything Ross has faced in recent years, it’s easy to see why Still Coming Down finds a calm amid the distorted guitars and comforting pedal steel, an assurance that comes with hard-won perspective. He weathered (and beat) cancer, a life-changing diagnosis and treatment that informed 2022’s ILYSM and its follow-up, 2024’s Dulling the Horns, and he became a father for the first time. These songs reflect Ross’ ease with condensing complicated thoughts into pointed missives, from “Plates Keep Spinning” (“Swear to God, I’m gonna be pissed/If Heaven and Hell are real places/If there’s more to do after this”) to the raw title track (“I used to be pure/I just try to be good now”) and “Simple” (“I got grief that could compete in the big leagues/And I know I lost my mind like a brick in the weeds”). Still Coming Down implores the listener to tell themselves the truth about the tough stuff, because epiphanies don’t always have to be pretty, convenient, or feel-good—but they can sound good, especially with Ross at the mic.