What Am I Listening To??

My Top 5 Albums of 2025

In late 2024, I had an epiphany in the form of Geordie Greep’s debut solo album, The New Sound. That album was one of those rare experiences that felt handcrafted just for me, an incredible blend of my favorite things that felt simultaneously fresh yet familiar. It forced me to reckon with the fact that incredible, innovative music is being made today, and I've been missing it. As someone whose personal tastes lie far removed from the current day, The New Sound exposed my inattentiveness to current artists and new music.

This experience set me on a warpath over the past year, voraciously consuming as many new albums as I could, searching for something that could change my preconceptions of music in the same way that The New Sound did last year. Over the past 12 months, I’ve listened to over 115 newly released albums in an attempt to compile a definitive list of my personal Top 5 Albums of 2025. While I wasn’t able to listen to everything that came out this year, truly nobody could, I believe I managed to cover a wide variety of genres and artists, and exposed myself to a veritable avalanche of new and interesting music. Below, I’ll be writing briefly about my Top 5 and my reasoning for their place in my list.

But first, a few honorable mentions.

HM #1: Who’s The Clown?- Audrey Hobert

This album did for me what I imagine Taylor Swift’s music does for a lot of people. As someone who has never connected with Swift’s music, no, not even the classics like “Romeo and Juliet,” I think I get it more now.

Hobert’s debut album paints a portrait of an everygirl, an earnest and oftentimes humorous vignette of a young woman finding her way in the world, navigating social faux pas, shitty dates, and self-doubt. So many of these songs have a razor-sharp wit about them; there’s some really great songwriting and lyricism on display here, especially on tracks like “Sex and the City” and “Sue Me.” In terms of sound, to me, it harkens back to an early 2000s kind of pop sound that seems to be back in vogue in recent years. Personally, I’m all for it.

While it does seem like Hobert is playing something of a character on this album, there’s also a genuineness to her delivery that elevates this above other similar kinds of albums and artists for me. Who’s The Clown feels like it’s from an early-20s-something girl walking the walk of a normal life, figuring out who she is and what she wants out of her life and her relationships, instead of a nearly 40-year-old billionaire singing about prom and her new husband’s penis. (Sorry, I can’t help myself.)

HM #2: Neon Grey Midnight Green- Neko Case

If Hobert’s album is the anxious concerns of a young woman just getting her start in the world, Neon Grey Midnight Green is a confident reflection over a multi-decade career from a hardened songwriter at the top of her game. I’ll admit, I wasn’t very familiar with Neko Case before I listened to this album, and Christ was I missing out!

This album is such an interesting mix of genres and sounds that somehow never feels disjointed or ineffective. NGMG is indie rock, alternative country, Americana, and something else I can’t put my finger on. I am such an absolute sucker for a string section, and when they start to swell on songs like “Wreck” or “Oh, Neglect…,” my freakin’ knees go weak. The band on this album is just stunning, so powerful, and the perfect backdrop for Case’s striking voice and lyrics that cut like a scalpel.

Speaking of lyrics, Case’s cryptic songwriting leaves you with plenty to think on in every track; take, for example, “Winchester Mansion of Sound,” which imagines the object of Case’s affection as a sprawling estate, an unknowable and confusing person to whom she dedicates herself despite her inability to truly achieve understanding or real connection. “In the grip of recognition, you echo back a wilderness.” I also love that she doesn’t shy away from pushing into avant-garde territory with songs like “Tomboy Gold.” There’s so much emotion and creativity packed into each of these songs, it’s almost dizzying.

The writing, both lyrically and musically, reflects an artist so confident in her craft, so expertly refined, that all the listener can do is sit and accept the album as it unfolds. On NGMG, Case has a vision, and she’s going to give it to you regardless of whether or not you’re ready to see it. Out of all my honorable mentions, I think this was the closest to making the Top 5.

HM #3: Deep Country- Bruiser and Bicycle

While not as close as NGMG, Bruiser and Bicycle’s third album, Deep Country, was another strong contender for my list. I don’t know that I’ve ever really engaged with their style, which is essentially progressive folk. As someone who has developed a real fondness for the wacky and zany sounds of progressive rock in recent years, this album felt like a breath of fresh air as far as folk goes. Don’t get me wrong, I love the classic folk sound, but B&B have cultivated this fascinating, frenetic feel that’s just so damn fun.

The instrumentation, unique rhythms, and song structures here really made Deep Country stand out to me. The way they transition from one sound to the next is enough to give you whiplash, though it’s so well-executed that it doesn’t feel jarring in the slightest. The compositions are just so dense, expertly arranged with a wide variety of instruments and vocal work that keep you guessing at what’s around the next corner.

The lead singer’s voice often reminds me of midwest emo, exaggerated vowel sounds in a high, belty, almost whiny chest voice paired with his soft-spoken near-falsetto. All of these vocal styles are used to great effect and manage to blend seamlessly with the rest of the band. The rhyming and lyrics here are pretty great too; there are a few songs that almost feel like Dr. Seuss poems in the absolute best way.

I think they really swung for the fences on this album, and what you’re left with is an album that has extremely high points with songs like “Dance and Devotion,” “Part of the Show,” and “Syd Barrett’s Disaster Picnic.” Overall though, I felt like that quality isn’t quite consistent enough throughout the entire album, to beat out the others on my list.

That being said, the creativity displayed on Deep Country is staggering for a band only on their third project. I can’t wait to see what comes next for them, and I’m really crossing my fingers for a tour that comes through my area sometime soon.