As we settle into the new year, your Online Music Editors thought it would be the perfect time to look back on 2025. It’s been a great year for music, and we wanted to highlight our standout releases.
Maya’s Honourable Mentions:
Ichiko Aoba – Luminescent Creatures
Jim Legxacy – black british music (2025)
They Are Gutting a Body of Water – LOTTO
Jennifer Walton – Daughters
Jane Remover – Revengeseekerz
Amelie’s Honourable Mentions:
This Is Lorelei – Holo Boy
Loyle Carner – hopefully !
Big Thief – Double Infinity
Alice Phoebe Lou – Oblivion
Greg Freeman – Burnover
Maya’s #5: Water From Your Eyes – It’s a Beautiful Place
Water From Your Eyes is the project of This is Lorelei’s Nate Amos and vocalist Rachel Brown. It’s a Beautiful Place is their art-pop, alternative seventh album, teeming with wicked instrumentals and disaffected lyricism. Lead single “Life Signs” starts with sleek, sprechgesang verses before erupting into a jagged, sweeping guitar solo. “Playing Classics” is rhythmic and synthy, imploring you to, “Practice, shake it, you’re free.” It’s a Beautiful Place’s soundscapes range from smooth electronic to muddy shoegaze to classic pop, but the album yields an immersive command over you wherever you turn.
Amelie’s #5: Parcels – LOVED
A project all about connection, the only way to describe Parcels’ 2025 album, LOVED, is joyous. Their electro-pop, funky sound is guaranteed to get you dancing, yet they manage to tune into themes of vulnerability and emotional presence which give the record a real human core. Opening with the upbeat energy of “Tobeloved”, the album progresses from the feeling of first love right through to the complications of human relationships. It culminates in one my favourite tracks, “Yougotmefeeling”, a groovy and infectious tune before slowing down into tracks like “Summerinlove” which feel more nostalgic than the euphoria of previous songs. To me, they truly are the perfect band to add to your summer playlists while we all implore the rapid arrival of better weather.
Parcels truly are the perfect band to add to your summer playlists while we all implore the rapid arrival of better weather.
Maya’s #4: Pinkpantheress – Fancy That?
Pinkpantheress has solidified herself as a production guru with Fancy That? and her subsequent remix album, Fancy Some More? From sampling Underworld on “Illegal” to Panic! at the Disco on “Tonight,” she is an expert at transforming tracks with her artistic vision. The mixtape blends genres seamlessly, using jungle-inspired basslines to create consistently fun electronic pop. Her attention to detail on the record shines with how tracks meld into each other. “Stateside” is a personal favourite, with its relentless bass and instrumental breakdown. You may have heard Pinkpantheress before, but never like this, operating with a truly single-minded musical precision.
Amelie’s #4: Prewn – System
The debut album of Izzy Hagerup, AKA Prewn, unfolds like a deeply personal diary, marrying abrasive alt-rock textures with eerie strings to create a restless, dissonant atmosphere. It is an incredibly exciting project which offers a refreshing perspective on self-doubt, frustration and depression. There is something haunting about tracks like “System” and “Dirty Dog” that creep up on you unexpectedly and plant their roots in your head. Vocally, Hagerup embodies the confrontational and honest tone similar to that of Fiona Apple and PJ Harvey, littering her music with lyrical gems like ‘I was sniffing a flower but I snorted a bug’ in opening track, “Easy”.
System unfolds like a deeply personal diary, marrying abrasive alt-rock textures with eerie strings to create a restless, dissonant atmosphere.
Maya’s #3: caroline – Caroline 2
caroline are a band I can only describe with the unfortunately inadequate word interesting. Caroline 2 is an album I return to when I want to be wrapped up in music that is challenging, that resists prediction yet crashes together when it needs to. Opener “Total euphoria” sets up the album with beautiful precision, whose distortion melds into a sweeping climax. “Tell me I never knew that” featuring art-pop High Priestess Caroline Polachek, at whose altar any vocalist prays, is a heart wrenching track densely layered with ethereal vocals. The emotional heart of the album, “Two riders down,” is teeming with intensity and the sprawling post-rock structures the band are known for. Caroline 2 expounds on their debut’s sentimental experimentation, creating a record that is incessantly captivating.
Amelie’s #3: Wednesday – Bleeds
A raw and emotionally unguarded record, Wednesday’s latest album is, in my opinion, a triumph. It reveals a collage of indie rock sounds and random textured noise, allowing harmony and dissonance to exist side by side; they do not run from discomfort, but embrace it. The beat drop in the opening song “Reality TV Argument Bleeds” is such a momentous gem in the album and sets the tone for the chaotic distortion that lies ahead. Lyrically, the songs appear observant and intimate whilst reveling in a playfulness such as “you saw a pitbull puppy pissin’ off a balcony.” Bleeds feels like an open wound and a confession all at once: messy, cathartic and stubbornly alive.
Wednesday do not run from discomfort, but embrace it.
Maya’s #2: Black Country, New Road – Forever Howlong
BC,NR’s journey as a band has been endlessly chronicled, and the loss of Isaac Wood mourned by pretentious Windmill-goers everywhere (myself included). But Forever Howlong proves the individual strengths of each member of BC,NR, which culminate in a freak-folk, baroque-pop album. “For the Cold Country,” the centerpiece of the record, is a dazzling ballad with a furious breakdown, telling the story of a medieval knight after a battle. It’s followed by “Nancy Tries to Take the Night,” an intricate, folk-y piece reminiscent of Joanna Newsom. Forever Howlong is whimsical, virtuosic, and deceptively complex, and shows just how far BC,NR have come from being the world’s second-best Slint tribute act.
Forever Howlong is whimsical, virtuosic, and deceptively complex, and shows just how far BC,NR have come from being the world’s second-best Slint tribute act.
Amelie’s #2: Wolf Alice – The Clearing
Anyone who has happened to read anything else I have written for the music section will know that I will mention Wolf Alice at any possible opportunity. Their latest album arrived four years after their last release and marks a slight change in direction, sacrificing some of the teenage angst indie rock sounds they are known for in favour of a more melodic, perhaps matured sound. The Clearing leans into subtlety with shimmering guitars, patient and precise rhythm sections, and melodies that unfold gradually, rewarding close listening. When moments of intensity arrive, they feel intentional rather than impulsive, as if the band is choosing their battles carefully. This restraint might surprise fans who fell in love with Wolf Alice’s rawer edges, but it also highlights their growing confidence as arrangers and storytellers. Ellie Rowsell’s astonishing vocal ability acts as an emotional anchor throughout the record and she will forever be an indie it-girl in my eyes.
Maya’s #1: Geese – Getting Killed
I considered leaving Geese off this list because I’ve already reviewed this album, and this will surprise no one, but my favourite album of 2025 was Getting Killed. Geese’s growth has been exponential, evolving out of the plucky, slightly derivative post-punk of Projector to the indulgent, gimmicky 3D Country, to finally their methodically experimental third album (or fourth; if you know, you know). Getting Killed is feverish and chaotic (“Getting Killed,” “100 Horses,” “Long Island City Here I Come”), heart wrenchingly tender (“Cobra,” “Au Pays du Cocaine”), and showcases a deep love for music and all that it can do. Cameron Winter’s distinctive vocals spiral into ever-evolving melodies grounded by Max Bassin’s endlessly captivating drumming. Emily Green’s sparse, almost-lyrical guitar lends the perfect balance to Dominic DiGesu’s steadily grooving basslines. Getting Killed is Geese at their most creative, most in-sync, and easily at their most successful.
Getting Killed is feverish and chaotic, heart wrenchingly tender, and showcases a deep love for music and all that it can do.
Amelie’s #1: Dove Ellis – Blizzard
Dove Ellis is one of the most compelling new voices in indie music and his album Blizzard is an exemplary debut. He balances fragility with force, transforming his voice from a whisper to a roar in any one moment. Lyrics appear more like poetry than a formulaic song, weaving truly beautiful images throughout the sounds such as ‘(Love is) the sweeping hair that is protecting your sleep tonight/ (Love is) the snow pooling around your shoes.’ Sparse, acoustic passages sit alongside lush arrangements that fold in cello, winds, and percussion with cinematic grace. Tracks such as “Jaundice” add unexpected bursts of energy, while more contemplative moments like “Away You Stride” strip back everything but voice and guitar. Dove Ellis uses his debut not only to declare his place in the industry but to announce himself as the voice of a generation.
We hope you give these albums a listen, and can’t wait to see what 2026 has in store for music!
