Holo Boy - This Is Lorelei Album Review

This Is Lorelei | by Al Nardo

If the past year has proven anything, it’s that Nate Amos doesn’t sit still for long. Between touring his 2024 album Box for Buddy, Box for Star, releasing the critically acclaimed record It’s a Beautiful Place with his band Water From Your Eyes, Holo Boy arrives as a gentle look back. The album pulls together reworked songs from the past decade of Amos’ catalogue, originally scattered across Bandcamp and other early releases, he is able to reframe them with a confidence that wasn’t always there the first time around.

What’s striking is how cohesive it feels for a record built of loose parts. Rather than chasing novelty, Amos lets the songs breathe, leaning into fuller arrangements and stronger vocals that bring the writing to the surface. Where these earlier versions often hid behind murk or irony, these new takes feel warmer and more open, especially on tracks But You Just Woke Me Up and Dreams Away, which gain a new emotional steadiness without losing their low stakes melancholy. The humour is still there, but it now feels less like a deflection and more self-aware.

Holo Boy doesn’t push for big statements or reinvention, and that’s exactly why it works. There’s an ease to the way Amos inhabits these songs now, as if he’s finally comfortable letting them exist. Some moments drift by quietly, others stick around longer than expected, but the record’s strength lies in its restraint. It plays like an artist taking stock rather than starting over, finding something meaningful in revisiting old ideas with clearer eyes. In doing so, Holo Boy quietly cements Nate Amos as a songwriter who knows when to move forward and when to take stock.

Words by Harry Birleson

Listen to lead single ‘Holo Boy’ on YouTube

If You Don’t Know, Get To Know! - thistle.

thistle. | by Lisa Ooijevaar

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! is our weekly dive into the best rising acts you’ll want to discover before everyone else does. This week focussing on Northampton alt-rock trio thistle.

Northampton alt-rock outfit thistle. have carved out a space of their own with a sound that sits somewhere between lo-fi melancholy and guitar chaos, the kind of push-and-pull that feels instantly lived in. Formed in 2023, the trio of Cameron Godfrey (vocals and guitar), Lewis O’Grady (drums) and Judwyn Rushton (vocals and bass) released their debut EP it’s nice to see you, stranger in July this year and followed it with their sharpest work yet in the new single Tied. This release marks their first step with new label REX RECS.

In just over a year, thistle. have gone from newcomers to one of the most exciting young voices in the UK alternative scene. They have just toured the country supporting Humour and have shared stages with acts like Westside Cowboy and Man/Woman/Chainsaw. Their music swings between soft spoken vulnerability and full-on distortion, a balance that makes even their heaviest moments feel strangely tender. What could feel scattershot instead lands with intention, as if they are already assembling their own blueprint. With each release, thistle. sound more assured, more distinctive and more ready to step into the spotlight they are quickly earning.

thistle. are heading out on a UK headline tour early next year as well a headline show at The Lexington in London just before Christmas.

Upcoming dates include:

17th Dec - The Lexington, London

26th Jan - Sunflower Lounge, Birmingham
28th Jan - The Lodge, Manchester
29th Jan - Oporto, Leeds
30th Jan - Zerox, Newcastle
31st Jan - Mash House, Edinburgh
1st Feb - Voodoo Daddy’s, Norwich

28th Mar - Ritual Union Festival, Bristol
11th July - 2000 Trees Festival

Watch the Music Video for new single tied

The 25 Best Albums of 2025

2025 has been a ridiculous year for albums. We’ve had breakout debuts, bold new chapters and long awaited returns. These are the 25 best, according to Release The Cows.

25. Songs For The Spine – The Royston Club

The Royston Club level up in a big way on Songs for the Spine, trading the scrappy charm of their debut for something sharper, heavier and far more emotionally grounded. You can hear a young band realising they don’t have to write about nights out forever, pushing themselves into bigger rooms, bigger feelings and bigger stakes. The early singles feel like checkpoints from the past, but the heart of the album is in the leap forward: songs that treat love, loss and self-doubt with a maturity their earlier work only hinted at, delivered with Tom Faithful’s increasingly heartfelt presence at the centre. Their guitars still bite, but now they make room for tenderness, tension and narrative ambition, culminating in the six-minute closer that finally gives them their first true epic. It’s the sound of a band stepping into their own story, keeping their indie immediacy but refusing to stay small, proving that the scruffy heroes of Shaking Hips and Crashing Cars are now aiming for something lasting.

24. Cutthroat – Shame

Shame return with Cutthroat, a snarling, shape-shifting leap forward that proves the South London band still thrive on volatility even as they sharpen their edges. Working with producer John Congleton has given their chaos a new clarity, turning the title track into a precision-tooled battering ram built from pulsing electronics, serrated guitars and Charlie Steen’s feverish bark, setting the tone for an album that refuses to sit still. The middle stretch thrives on contrast, jumping from the political firestorm of Cowards Around to the ragged pub-punk sprint of Nothing Better, each song pulling at a different thread of the band’s identity without losing the core intensity that made them so compelling in the first place. The singles Spartak, Quiet Life, and Cutthroat hint at the record’s bigger indie ambitions, but it’s the delirious final run of Screwdriver, Packshot, and Axis of Evil that cements Cutthroat as their boldest statement yet, veering from fully locked-in speed to woozy Radiohead-core dread before closing in a blaze of synth-streaked exhilaration. Shame sound more free and fiercer than they have in years, and Cutthroat captures that sense of a band reinventing themselves in real time, daring listeners to follow wherever the mayhem leads.

23. Trash Mountain – Lily Seabird

Lily Seabird has been everywhere these past few years, touring her own songs while lending her bass and voice to artists like Greg Freeman, and her new album arrives with the clarity that comes from living on the road and suddenly stopping. Written quickly after a long run of tours, Trash Mountain pulls her indie folk into its most stripped and vulnerable form yet, trading ornamentation for close-mic honesty and a kind of gentle emotional gravity. The paired title tracks frame the record’s arc, capturing the strange quiet of coming home with harmonicas, soft acoustic guitars and that worn-in, Lucinda-esque croak she bends into something wholly her own. Piano pieces like How Far Away and the wistful storytelling of Albany show just how far her voice can carry a song with almost nothing supporting it, while moments of light like Sweepstake remind you she is just as capable of warmth as she is melancholy.

22. From The Pyre – The Last Dinner Party

On From The Pyre, The Last Dinner Party step out from the shadow of their blockbuster debut and into something grittier, heavier, and far more human. Their Windmill roots and baroque pop drama are still intact, but the sheen is cracked in all the right places, revealing a band moving with more intention and emotional focus. Markus Dravs’ production gives the album its punch, sharpening the theatrics without sanding down the edges. Tracks like This Is the Killer Speaking and The Scythe hit with a new urgency, while Rifle and Inferno show the band leaning into atmosphere and catharsis. If Prelude to Ecstasy was their coronation, From The Pyre is what happens after the crown settles: confident, textured, and proof that the group can evolve past the hype and shape something that burns on its own terms.

21. Forever Howlong – Black Country, New Road

 Black Country, New Road’s third studio album arrives carrying the weight of reinvention, yet Forever Howlongnever sounds burdened by it. With Isaac Wood long departed, the band lean fully into a new identity that feels less like a reboot and more like a long-overdue bloom. The anxious, slow-building tension of their early work gives way to something warmer and more theatrical, a collection of songs that sparkle with friendship, self-mythology and odd, deeply relatable anxieties. Tracks unfold like pocket-sized musicals about everyday dread, sudden joy and the kind of emotional knots you only admit to your closest people. The palette is lighter, the storytelling stranger, the band chemistry still enormous. Forever Howlong plays like a group discovering that vulnerability can be as panoramic as angst, turning domestic scenes, surreal character studies and quiet heartbreaks into full-blown epics. It is BCNR’s most generous album yet, proof that a band once defined by unravelling tension can just as easily build an entire world out of tenderness.

20. For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) – Japanese Breakfast

Japanese Breakfast’s For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) finds Michelle Zauner returning with something quieter, more inward and more narratively driven than the sparkling indie-pop heights of Jubilee. Instead of chasing another hit, she leans into the anxieties and reflections that came with that success, writing songs that feel like snapshots of complicated relationships, faltering men, and the emotional labour women carry around them. When the album digs deeper, it really lands, with tracks like Honey Water and Mega Circuit building into dense, jangly walls of sound that carry some of her sharpest and most poetic writing yet.

19. New Threats From the Soul – Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band

 Ryan Davis has always written like someone trying to outpace his own shadow, and New Threats from the Soul feels like the moment he finally stops running long enough to face it. The Kentucky songwriter’s latest project is a restless, post-country sprawl shaped as much by lifelong romantic idealism as by the slow heartbreak of watching those ideals bend under real life. Davis has spent years circling themes of nature, spirituality and self-sabotage, but here he goes inward with a clarity that is both bruising and strangely hopeful. The title points not to dangers waiting in the world but to the ones built into us, the quiet ways we block our own path forward. Across these long, drifting compositions he treats the soul as a place where dreams sour, hopes claw their way back anyway and every small revelation asks for a sacrifice. New Threats from the Soul finds Davis at his most vulnerable and most assured, turning the collapse of youthful idealism into a landscape worth wandering, a record that still believes in the possibility of light even while standing knee-deep in the mud.

18. Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You – Ethel Cain

 Ethel Cain’s long-awaited follow up to Preacher’s Daughter arrives as a slow-burning companion piece, one that pulls the curtain back on the backstory and mythology fans have obsessed over for years. Instead of chasing anything close to a hit, Willoughby Tucker leans fully into Cain’s love of slowcore, dusty Americana and droning ambience, taking ideas from last year’s divisive Perverts EP and folding them back into a more familiar, narrative-driven setting. The record moves at a glacial pace on purpose, letting tracks like Dust Bowland Fuck Me Eyes build from tiny acoustic embers into widescreen, storm-like crescendos. Interludes like Willoughby’s Theme show just how comfortable Hayden has become in world-building, stretching songs into towering, post-rock shapes that make the album feel less like a collection and more like a place. It’s heavier, more immersive and more self-assured than her previous work, even if its hour-plus runtime occasionally feels like a test. But that’s part of its charm.

17. Racing Mount Pleasant – Racing Mount Pleasant

Racing Mount Pleasant are a young Ann Arbor band shooting for the big, orchestral indie-rock moment on their self-titled debut, and they treat it like a full mythmaking exercise. The album loops in on itself with callbacks, reprises, and a sense of grand design that feels inherited from Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and Black Country, New Road. The ambition is undeniable, and when they lock into those huge, panoramic climaxes, you hear why people are already treating them like the next ‘great collective.’

16. Pain to Power – Maruja 

Manchester band Maruja have been circling the underground for years, but Pain to Power is the moment everything finally snaps into focus. After a run of breakout EPs and packed-out shows, the band arrive with a debut that feels volcanic in both scale and intention. Their sax-led blend of post-rock, noise and jazz has never sounded tighter or more confrontational, with ten-minute blowouts like Look Down On Us pushing their politics and their musical ambition to new extremes. It’s an album built on shared chemistry, songs that grow patiently before erupting without warning, and a worldview that channels rage into something pointed rather than hopeless. Even when the record swerves into spoken word or hip-hop inflections, nothing feels gimmicky because the through-line is so strong.

15. Euro Country – CMAT

Irish songwriter and full-blown showgirl CMAT levels up yet again on her third album, EURO-COUNTRY, a record that finally catches up with the scale of her personality. After years of quietly becoming one of the most electric performers on the festival circuit, she delivers her sharpest and most ambitious batch of songs to date, weaving humour, heartbreak, politics and national identity into something both enormous and intimate. CMAT draws on her Celtic country roots and her lifelong flair for camp spectacle, using stories of economic collapse, self-image, celebrity chef rage and messy relationships to sketch a portrait of adulthood in a place that promised more than it gave. What could have been a maximalist gimmick becomes a surprisingly cohesive vision, as her voice carries every big chorus and every wry aside with total conviction. It is a lonely album with a massive heart, a reminder that sincerity and silliness can coexist and that confidence sometimes looks like pure survival instinct. Most of all, EURO-COUNTRY confirms what her live shows already hinted at: CMAT isn't just a great entertainer, she is one of the most distinct and fully realised pop writers working today.

14. Double Infinity – Big Thief

 Big Thief’s sixth album arrives from a chaotic but creatively fertile moment for the band, written just as they shifted from their long-established quartet dynamic into a looser, more open-ended trio, bringing a rotating cast of players into the room and letting the songs stretch out like living things. That rootlessness becomes the record’s strength, as these psych-folk jams drift with a sense of discovery rather than definition, carried by Adrienne Lenker’s voice which feels lighter and more instinctive than ever. Double Infinity isn’t trying to recreate the rustic precision of Two Hands or the sprawling ambition of Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, instead it chases something more fragile and spiritual, a kind of emotional weather system where love, doubt and gratitude swirl together without needing to resolve. Tracks like Double Infinity and Los Angeles capture that feeling beautifully, letting half-spoken memories and small images gather meaning through repetition, while the band’s improvised instrumentation wraps everything in this warm, humming glow.

13. viagr aboys – Viagra Boys

Swedish post-punk outfit Viagra Boys return with a ‘sort of’ self-titled record that proves nobody does chaotic sincerity quite like them. Their last album Cave World took internet paranoia and conspiracy culture and twisted it into something funny, bleak and weirdly catchy. This new album steps away from the big social commentary but doubles down on what really makes the band work: they’re the most unserious serious band out there. Songs like Man Made of Meat, Uno II and Bog Body lean into the absurd on the surface, yet all have that undercurrent of self-doubt and self-sabotage that’s kept their writing interesting from the start. The riffs snarl, frontman Sebastian Murphy barks and mutters his way through an existential crisis, and the whole thing swings between satire and vulnerability. It’s scruffy, loud, strangely moving and another reminder that Viagra Boys are one of the few modern rock bands who can be stupid, sharp and sincere at the same time.

12. It’s a Beautiful Place – Water From Your Eyes

 Water From Your Eyes return with It’s a Beautiful Place, a record that instantly yanks the floor out from under you and reminds you why this band has become one of the most unpredictable forces in indie rock. The duo stretches their sound into a loose constellation of glitchy pop, askew guitar rock and bedroom-born weirdness, every track tugging at the next like a homemade solar system always on the verge of collapse. Nate Amos pushes the guitars forward with riffs that smear together nu-metal bravado, math-rock precision and pure gremlin instinct, while Rachel Brown sings like someone flipping between customer-service calm and existential stand-up comedy. Hooks reappear in disguise, instrumentals warp you into new keys without warning and whole songs cut the power just to rebuild themselves crooked on the other side. Even when they sneak in a straight-up banger like Playing Classics, the floor still tilts beneath it, bending dance music into their own offbeat shape. The whole thing feels bigger than it has any right to, stitched together with hiss, hum and mistakes left in on purpose, carried by the band’s gift for turning disorientation into momentum.

11. Sable, Fable – Bon Iver

 Justin Vernon has spent almost two decades reinventing himself in ways that should feel disorienting but never do, moving from the icy intimacy of For Emma to the glitch-spiritual maximalism of 22, A Million without ever losing the emotional core that made Bon Iver a defining force in modern indie. Sable, Fable continues that trajectory with surprising clarity. Built in part from 2024’s Sable EP, the record leans into stripped-back acoustic writing that feels almost old-fashioned for Vernon, yet still folds in the warm synth haze, gospel-tipped crescendos, and quietly psychedelic electronics that have threaded through his work since the 2010s. What makes this album so striking is how seamlessly it moves between those modes. Songs land with a near-religious stillness, vocals hover in that unmistakable falsetto, and production choices feel handcrafted rather than experimental for experimentation’s sake. It is one of his most grounded and emotionally direct projects, proof that Vernon can return to simplicity without abandoning the strange, luminous world he has built around himself.

10. Burnover – Greg Freeman

Greg Freeman’s second album feels like watching a small New England town flicker between past and present in real time. He takes the ghost stories and half-remembered histories of the Burned-Over District and turns them into lived-in rock songs that crackle with place, character, and regret. Freeman’s voice has that Molina-born mix of grit and devotion, but his lens is wider, pulling in local folklore, rust-belt weather, and the quiet strangeness of living far from where you started. The band behind him plays loose but heavy, shifting from rangy indie rock to warm alt-country without breaking the spell. Tracks like “Point and Shoot” and “Gallic Shrug” show how naturally he blends narrative with noise, turning everyday scenes into something mythic without forcing the metaphor. Burnover isn’t flashy, but it builds a whole world around you, and by the time the closer unravels into its slow, glowing sprawl, it feels like you’ve actually been there.

9. The Clearing – Wolf Alice

 Across more than a decade together, Wolf Alice have shapeshifted through shoegaze, grunge, dream-pop and full-on indie rock, but The Clearing finds the band stepping into something calmer and more assured. It feels like the first deep breath after the chaos of your twenties, a record built from reflection rather than reaction, swapping their heavier impulses for slower, layered songs that still hit with emotional force. Ellie Rowsell’s songwriting is as sharp as it has ever been, gently picking apart friendship, love and the strange pressure of ageing while the band lean into warmer Americana touches, soft-focus folk ideas and the kind of widescreen balladry they’ve only brushed up against before. There are echoes of their past work, but all of it feels renewed, lived-in and wiser, the sound of a group completely comfortable in their own skin. Four albums in, Wolf Alice are still getting better, and The Clearing is their most stunning evolution yet.

8.  Never Enough – Turnstile

Baltimore hardcore rock band Turnstile’s fourth studio album Never Enough is the closest 2025 came to having a cultural phenomenon on the scale of last year’s BRAT Summer. ‘Turnstile summer’, a phrase coined by Charli XCX herself, pushed hardcore into the mainstream with an impact the genre hasn’t felt in decades. Never Enough released alongside a visual album directed by members Brendan Yates and Pat McCrory which showed in cinemas across the US, Canada and UK. On Never Enough, Turnstile double down on the dreamy, genre-bending sound they carved out on 2021’s GLOW ON, blending hardcore punch with serene, almost weightless production.

7. The Art of Loving – Olivia Dean

 Olivia Dean feels like she’s properly entering the pop-star chapter of her career. After the success of her 2023 debut Messy and a wave of huge moments since, including a Glastonbury breakthrough, a Bridget Jones soundtrack cut and arena shows selling out months in advance, her second album The Art of Loving arrives with the confidence of someone who knows exactly what she does best. Across breezy bossa nova daydreams, Motown-kissed grooves and tender indie-soul ballads, Dean leans harder into the warmth of her voice and the simple charm of her writing. Tracks like Nice to Each Other and Man I Need show her talent for turning everyday feelings into proper earworms, while songs like Something Inbetween and Baby Stepscapture the messier corners of love without losing the ease and glow that make her music feel so instantly inviting. The Art of Loving feels like the moment she stops being a rising star and simply becomes one.

6. BABY – Dijon

 Dijon’s second album BABY finds the singer, songwriter and producer doubling down on the chaotic, soul-splintered style that has quietly made him one of the most intriguing figures in alternative R&B. After years of scattered releases, production work and a recent creative run that included contributions to Justin Bieber’s SWAG and continued collaboration with Mk.gee, Dijon arrives at BABY sounding sharper while still keeping the raw edges that define him. The album unfolds like a single, flickering performance piece, moving from lofi tenderness to explosive, unhinged percussion with the kind of instinctive looseness only he can pull off. Tracks drift into each other like fragments of memory, held together by his wild vocal delivery and emotive songwriting. Even his brief appearance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another feels fitting for a record this cinematic, messy and mesmerising. BABY doesn’t clean anything up; it simply lets Dijon be as vivid and unpredictable as ever.

5. Bleeds – Wednesday

North Carolina’s Wednesday return with Bleeds, their sixth album and their most cohesive distillation of everything that has made them one of America’s most compelling guitar bands. Recorded in their hometown of Asheville, North Carolina with producer Alex Farrar, the record arrives during a moment of transition for the group, with long-time member MJ Lenderman stepping away from touring to focus on his solo career while remaining involved in the studio. You would never guess there was any turbulence behind the scenes, because Bleeds feels like the clearest statement Wednesday have made so far, sharpening the raw mix of alt-rock, grunge and country that first earned them wider attention on Rat Saw God. Lead single Elderberry Winedropped at the perfect time and became an early-summer anthem just as the band’s profile was growing, and the album around it leans further into the strengths that define Wednesday: Karly Hartzman’s vivid storytelling, the noisy yet melodic guitar work, and an instinct for making small-town anxieties feel enormous. There are wilder, heavier moments and quieter country-leaning detours, but the through line is confidence, the feeling of a band completely sure of what they’re building.

4. Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party – Hayley Williams

Redefining the modern album release this year was Hayley Williams with her third solo record Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party. The title track is Williams in full metamorphosis, muttering through self-doubt before throwing the line ‘I’ll be the biggest star at this fucking karaoke bar’ like a dare, while the chorus mantra ‘Can only go up from here’ captures the strange hope threaded through the album’s heartbreak. That ache explodes on Parachute, where she screams about a love that failed her in real time, a rawness that echoes across songs inspired by old films, mixtape nostalgia and the messier corners of adulthood. Even the gloomiest tracks beat with vivid production, heavy percussion, and flashes of sunlight she’s still learning to trust. Perhaps the most important song from the album, True Believer, is essentially a southern gothic diss track about the American south. ‘They say that Jesus is the way but then they gave him a white face, so that they don’t have to pray to someone they deem lesser than them’. Freed from the contract that defined most of her life, Williams sounds louder, braver and more herself than ever, turning grief, humour and reinvention into a record that feels less like an ego death and more like a rebirth.

3. Headlights – Alex G

 On Headlights, Alex G delivers the clearest and most confident version of his songwriting yet. Long past the ‘Bandcamp-era’, he leans into something warmer, brighter and more emotionally open without losing the idiosyncrasies that made him a cult favourite. The record pulls together everything he has learned from a decade of left-field indie, major-label polish, and recent soundtrack work, creating a body of songs that feel both intimate and fully realised. Tracks like Afterlife and June Guitar showcase his newfound clarity as a vocalist and arranger, while moments like Spinning hit with the kind of sincerity only he can pull off. Headlights feels like a culmination rather than a reinvention and stands as one of the most stunning records of the year.

2. Getting Killed – Geese

 Geese have spent the last decade shapeshifting their way through New York’s rock landscape, and Getting Killed is the moment everything truly snaps into focus. Since forming as teenagers in 2016, the band have moved from the sketchy experimentalism of their early A Beautiful Memory era to the tight, angular songwriting of 2021’s Projector, before breaking fully into the public eye with 2023’s 3D Country. With their momentum already high, the band entered 2025 with frontman Cameron Winter also fresh off a critically adored solo debut (more to follow on this in the #1 spot…), and Getting Killed feels like the collision of all that experience. It’s loose, urgent and undeniably feral, driven by a chemistry that has only sharpened from years of playing together in tiny rooms and chaotic live sets. If 3D Country was the bands breakthrough, Getting Killed is the confirmation that Geese are one of the most thrilling American rock bands working right now, and the album’s runaway success suggests listeners are more than ready for a band that embraces noise, risk and genuine unpredictability.

1.        Heavy Metal – Cameron Winter

Cameron Winter’s Heavy Metal arrives as a debut in name only, because anyone who has followed Geese already knows he’s one of the most distinctive young writers working right now. The album opens with The Rolling Stones, a track that quietly sets the emotional stakes before Winter starts dropping lines like ‘Like Brian Jones, I was born to swim,’ turning a tragic rock myth into a metaphor for the pull of self-destruction he can’t quite shrug off. Across these songs he leans fully into his cracked, magnetic delivery, crooning, muttering, and howling through ballads that feel both intimate and unhinged. Nausicaa (Love Will Be Revealed) glows with Geese-esque drama but lands sweeter and more vulnerable, while Love Takes Miles is the closest he gets to a classic sing-along, proving he can write something instantly catchy without sanding down his eccentricities. His voice is strange, funny, raw, and weirdly confident, even when he’s spiralling.

The real gut punch arrives in the record’s middle stretch, where Winter turns the lens inward. On Drinking Age, he stares himself down with the brutal admission, ‘Today I met who I’m gonna be from now on and he’s a piece of shit,’ a line that hits like a cold slap and anchors one of the album’s most desolate moments. Later, on $0, he erupts into the now-infamous refrain, ‘God is real, I’m not kidding, God is actually real,’ delivered with such feverish conviction it’s impossible to tell if he’s joking, pleading, or genuinely touched by something beyond him. It’s this blend of sincerity and unfiltered chaos that makes Heavy Metal such a thrilling listen. Winter writes like someone with nothing to lose and everything to confess, and the result is a debut that feels fully formed, emotionally volatile, and miles ahead of what most artists reach this early in their careers. It’s the best album of the year not because it’s perfect, but because nobody else is taking swings this wild and landing them with this much heart.

COSPLAY - Sorry Album Review

Three years on from the band’s sophomore record Anywhere but Here, Sorry return with their third genre-defying album Cosplay. Never ones to put themself into a box, the London five-piece sprinkle hints of trip hop, noise, and post-punk into their guitar and electronic driven indie rock. It’s an 11-track experience that goes from high energy, catchy hooks to confessional ballads that only furthers their uniqueness amongst the rest of the British indie scene. The band’s primary songwriters, frontwoman Asha Lorenz and co-lead vocalist and guitarist Louis O’Bryen, are joined on production credits by Speedy Wunderground’s Dan Carey.

The first of six singles released, Waxwing, a synth-driven, electronic banger accompanied by Lorenz’ dreamy and breathy vocals, puts forward the album’s themes of romance in a scathingly sarcastic way. A theme that stays consistent on the repetitively catchy opening track Echoes, and through the witty, irony-laced spoken vocals of Jetplane. The band swap out high energy with vulnerability and atmosphere on track Life In This Body with O’Bryen taking vocal lead over the beautiful, building instrumentation. The band closes the album with JIVE, a track that switches from sincerity to noise that gives one last burst of danceable energy before you find yourself questioning which track you’re going to end up looping for the coming days.

Cosplay is arguably the band’s most exciting and mature album yet. It’s as strange as it is addictive and feels like Sorry have put extra care into creating something that stands out not only in their own discography, but amongst the British indie and post-punk revival scene in general. Undoubtedly a record that will generate hype for future setlists and festival spots.

Words by Aella Bentley

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! - Bighead

Credit: Jeorge Guy

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! is our weekly dive into the best rising acts you’ll want to discover before everyone else does. This week it’s Brighton-based outfit Bighead.

Formerly known as Bighead Tea Drinkers, Bighead have been at this longer than most people realise. Frontman Freddie Brindle and drummer Marshall Tyce formed the band when they were just 13 years old. Now based out of Brighton, they began releasing indie pop tracks in 2022, slowly refining their sound into what became their 2025 EP Submerged, which leans confidently into indie rock and alternative territory.

The band cite Arctic Monkeys as one of their earliest introductions to wanting to make music. You can hear that foundation, but what’s more interesting is where they’ve taken it. Tracks on Submerged push things into grungier, more alternative territory without losing the immediacy that defined their early releases. The EP keeps the themes and energy of their older material but adds a heavier, more urgent edge. It’s no surprise that The Land Is Hers has become their most streamed track so far.

Watch the music video for The Land Is Hers

Other highlights include Conva, a feel-good indie tune practically built for a sunny Saturday at Reading Festival. Their progression places them among the modern guitar bands making noise right now; fans of Been Stellar, Overpass and The Royston Club will find a lot to like, but Bighead are clearly shaping an identity that stands on its own two feet.

With new single Oh, Lover set for release on December 4th and a (free!) London headline show on December 6th, now feels like the perfect time to get to know Bighead before they move into their next chapter.

Bighead are Freddie Brindle (vocals), Ellie Hart (guitar), Kian Ramsey (bass) and Marshall Tyce (drums).

You can pre-save new single Oh, Lover here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/bighead12/oh-lover

Watch Bighead (Bighead Tea Drinkers) Live on The Beach House Sessions

The Orchestra (For Now) – Live at The Exchange, Bristol

It was one of those cold November nights where the city feels half emptied out, except for Old Market Street where everyone clearly had the same idea. The pub across the road was overflowing, and The Exchange wasn’t far behind. Inside the venue, clusters of people lingered around the bar near the heating before shuffling into the tightly packed room, which felt about half the size it actually is.

Ebbb began the night by pulling the crowd into a space that felt slightly unreal from the first note. Genre-blurring barely covers it. Walking in felt like stepping into The Roadhouse as the credits rolled on an episode of Twin Peaks: The Return. A mix of eerie electronic pulses and abrupt melodic changes that land incredibly well. It left the room off balance in the best way and set things up perfectly for the main act. Definitely catch them live if you get the chance.

This run of shows finds The Orchestra (For Now) right in their element. If their newest EP Plan 76 hints at controlled chaos, the live show makes it unmistakably clear. Seven people onstage, countless strings, abrupt shifts in tempo and sudden crescendos. There is precision in the way they build tension. At one point, frontman Joe Scarisbrick casually took a hit of his vape before launching into the next section, a strangely perfect detail for a band this unbothered by convention. The whole group move as if they’re following some connected internal wavelength, and the crowd absolutely eats it up.

This show came straight off the back of a sold-out hometown headline at London’s Scala two nights before, yet TO(FN) showed no signs of slowing down and looked sharper than ever. By the time the final song, Wake Robin, arrived, the room was completely locked in, riding every swell and collapse as if the whole place were breathing with the band. It was the kind of finish that leaves a room suspended for a second before anyone remembers to clap.

The band casually walked offstage after an hour-long set of pure chaos. They reappeared moments later at the merch table, chatting with fans and keeping the night alive long after the last note faded.

More Upcoming The Orchestra (For Now) shows:

December 4th - Portland Arms, Cambridge

December 5th - The Shackwell Arms, London

January 24th - KOKO, London

Sam Fender releases important new single ‘I’m Always on Stage’

Sam Fender has returned with a new single, I’m Always on Stage, taken from the upcoming deluxe edition of his Mercury-Prize-winning album People Watching. The track drops ahead of the deluxe edition’s release on December 5th, after previously featuring on his 2025 Record Store Day vinyl-exclusive EP Me and The Dog.

The deluxe version of People Watching brings a handful of additions worth paying attention to. There’s the Elton John collaboration Talk To You, released last month, plus the Olivia Dean version of Reign Me In, and previously issued tracks Tyrants and Me and The Dog. New tracks Fortuna’s Wheel, The Treadmill and Empty Spaces will be released for the first time.

People Watching (Deluxe Edition) out 5th December 2025

In I’m Always on Stage, Sam pulls back the curtain on the effect of being in the public eye and the relentless touring cycles that come with the job. The lyrics explore exhaustion, expectation, and the unlikely solidity of the stage as both refuge and pressure cage. It’s a deep song that highlights an important issue in an industry that’s often overlooked. The spotlight can look glamorous from the outside, but it often hides something much less tidy.

Off the record, Sam’s work with the Music Venue Trust has made headlines as he recently donated his Mercury Prize winnings to the charity. The MVT works to protect and improve grassroots music venues around the UK. “I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing today if it wasn’t for all the gigs I played around the North East and beyond, when I was starting out,” he said.

In a period where music feels increasingly incremental, Sam Fender stands out as one of the most important artists around at the moment. His willingness to say something real and actually back it up is rare in a mainstream landscape that usually avoids it.

Words by Harry Birleson

Listen to ‘I’m Always on Stage’

Man/Woman/Chainsaw sign to Fiction Records and release new single ‘Only Girl’

Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Credit: Charlie & Charlie

South London art rock sextet Man/Woman/Chainsaw have today announced their signing to Fiction Records, home to The Cure, St. Vincent and Billie Marten. The news of their signing is followed by the release of new single ‘Only Girl’ with a debut album expected to follow in 2026. Lead vocalist on this track, Vera describes it as ‘our playful love song. Built around a ripping violin top-line and birthed from a grungy guitar jam’.

The new single and signing news follow a sold-out London Scala and UK tour in October, live sessions on KEXP and Steve Lamacq’s BBC 6 Music show and a first trip to Austin, Texas’ SXSW where they found themselves at the forefront of the new wave British bands.

Man/Woman/Chainsaw upcoming live shows:

Tue 02/12 - London, Omeara (free show)
Wed 14/01 - Groningen, Eurosonic Noorderslag
Fri 30/01 - Southampton, So Young Weekender, Suburbia
Sat 31/01 - Bedford, Ceremony 5.5, Esquires
Wed 18/02 - Hebden Bridge, The Trades Club 
Thu 19/02 - Edinburgh, Cabaret Voltaire
Fri 20/02 - Liverpool, O2 Academy 2 
Sat 21/02 - Dublin, Borderline Festival, Workman's Club

Man/Woman/Chainsaw are:

Billy Ward (vocals, guitars)
Emmie-Mae Avery (vocals, keys/synths)
Vera Leppänen (vocals, bass)
Clio Harwood (violin)
Lola Cherry (drums)
Billy Doyle (guitars)

Watch the visualiser for ‘Only Girl’

Watch Man/Woman/Chainsaw live on KEXP

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know - MORN

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! is our weekly dive into the best rising acts you’ll want to discover before everyone else does. This week, it’s Welsh newcomers MORN.

Emerging from South Wales, MORN moved to the capital last year and wasted no time. Made up of two sets of siblings, they’ve already sold out headline shows across the city and built a following off the back of a sound they describe as “doom over beautiful chords.”

MORN, Credit: Freya Evan

Earlier this month, MORN played their biggest show yet, opening for Bastille at the Utilita Arena in Cardiff. Playing an arena this early into a bands career is a serious statement and from everything we’ve seen so far it won’t be a one off.  

The band released their first single ‘Modern Man’ back in May via Speedy Wunderground, a label whose track record with emerging talent speaks for itself. It lands as a tense, melodic introduction that tackles the pressures of modern masculinity.  

What stands out most about MORN is the confidence. Despite forming relatively recently there is no sense of a band figuring out who they are. Their sound already feels lived in, their choices feel deliberate and it gives them a presence far beyond their short timeline. 

MORN are Oliver Riba (vocals, guitar), Robert Riba (vocals, guitar), Mae Ryder (vocals, bass), and Noah Ryder (drums).

Watch the music video for Modern Man

Florence Road release new single ‘Storm Warnings’

Florence Road, Credit: Jan Philipzen

Irish band Florence Road have released their new single Storm Warnings, following on from Miss and Break the Girl, both released after their June EP Fall Back. The track arrives as the band tour across Europe supporting Wolf Alice, before joining them for UK and Ireland dates at the end of the month.

2026 is shaping up to be a big year for them. Florence Road will support The Last Dinner Party across the US in March and April, and they’re also confirmed for Primavera Sound Barcelona. With momentum building this quickly, more live dates presumably on the way; is it time for a debut album?

Florence Road are Lily Aron (vocals), Emma Brandon (guitar), Ailbhe Barry (bass) and Hannah Kelly (drums).

Upcoming Florence Road Tour Dates:

Europe (supporting Wolf Alice)

• 15 Nov — Le Bikini, Toulouse, France

• 17 Nov — Palladium, Cologne, Germany

• 18 Nov — Columbiahalle, Berlin, Germany

• 19 Nov — Tonhalle, Munich, Germany

• 21 Nov — Den Atelier, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg

• 23 Nov — AFAS Live, Amsterdam, Netherlands

• 24 Nov — Forest National, Brussels, Belgium

• 25 Nov — Le Zénith, Paris, France

UK & Ireland (headline shows)

• 30 Nov — The Academy, Dublin, Ireland

• 2 Dec — King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut, Glasgow, UK

• 3 Dec — The Lodge, Manchester, UK

• 4 Dec — Colours Hoxton, London, UK

• 7 Dec — Oh Yeah Music Centre, Belfast, UK

USA (supporting The Last Dinner Party)

• 27 Mar — ACL Live at The Moody Theater, Austin, TX

• 28 Mar — The Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX

• 30 Mar — White Oak Music Hall (Downstairs), Houston, TX

• 1 Apr — The Midland Theatre, Kansas City, MO

• 3 Apr — Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI

• 4 Apr — The Salt Shed, Chicago, IL

• 6 Apr — Agora Theatre, Cleveland, OH

• 7 Apr — The Anthem, Washington, DC

• 8 Apr — Stage AE, Pittsburgh, PA

• 15 Apr — Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia, PA

• 17 Apr — College Street Music Hall, New Haven, CT

• 18 Apr — Roadrunner, Boston, MA

• 20 Apr — State Theatre Portland, Portland, ME

• 21 Apr — MTELUS, Montreal, QC

• 23 Apr — Massey Hall, Toronto, ON

• 25 Apr — Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, NY

The Great Escape announce ‘First Fifty’ acts for 2026

The Great Escape has earned its reputation as the UK’s most reliable place to find new artists before everyone else catches on. Every May, Brighton’s small venues open their doors to fans, musicians and the traveling mob of music industry professionals making the journey down the A23. It’s busy, chaotic, and always worth it.

This year’s First Fifty announcement is already packed. Westside Cowboy stand out immediately — fresh off a huge summer that included four Glastonbury performances after winning the festival’s Emerging Artist Competition. SLAG also appear, a band we featured early on in If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! and who’ll be playing a hometown show. New Welsh rock band MORN, who will feature in next week’s IYDKGTK!, are also on the list. Other early highlights include Ain’t, Sean Trelford, and Canadian punk outfit PISS.

The festival’s 2026 Spotlight Show will be headlined by rising Irish prospects Kingfishr, performing at Brighton Dome on 14th May. Their debut album, released in August, reached #1 in Ireland and #7 in the UK

If you’re paying attention to new music, this is a festival you’ll want to put in your calendars. It’s a solid snapshot for the future of indie and alternative music.

You can see the full lineup below (alphabetical):

Ain’t
Annie-Dog
Ashaine White
Au/Ra
AVA Joe
Bean Magazine
Becky Sikasa
BED
Big Long Sun
Carpetman
Clothesline from Hell
DC3
Dermot Henry
Elsa
Gareth
Girl Group
Girl Tones
Isak Benjamin
Jack Devlin
James Emmanuel
Kellan Christopher Cragg
ladylike
Lily Moore
Little Grandad
Madra Salach
Marlon Funaki
Max Baby
Meltt
Morn
Mustbejohn
Ngaiire
Persia Holder
PISS
Really Good Time
Ringlets
Saint Clair
Sean Trelford
SISTRA
SLAG
Sophia Thakur
Tanzana
Teenage Joans
The Itch
THE OBGMs
Tommy WÁ
Truman Sinclair
Tukki
Wah Wah Wah
Westside Cowboy
Yndling

Plan 76 - The Orchestra (For Now) Review

The Orchestra (For Now), Credit: Molly Boniface

Aptly named, Plan 76 follows its predecessor (Plan 75) with the same sense of purpose that has made The Orchestra (For Now) one of the most intriguing names to come out of London’s Windmill scene. This scene has been behind some of the UK’s most important names when it comes to guitar music in the past few years.

They share DNA with The Windmill scenes biggest export, Black Country, New Road, not through imitation but the same collective mindset. Theres a sense of something bigger being built throughout the EP, organised chaos that isn’t asking for approval. All seven members are tapped into that same strange wavelength, sharing the energy which gives Plan 76 it’s weight. It manages to be theatrical without being performative, you can tell this is a band that values tension over a resolution.

So, what is the plan? That’s kind of the point. Plan 76 doesn’t interest itself with explaining. There’s a deliberate unease that runs through the EP, where each track feels as if it’s seconds away from falling apart but somehow holds itself together. Impatient opens with soft vocals and a fragile guitar line, this combination lures you in before the track erupts into chaos. Hattrick folds violin and percussion into something you’d expect in a theatre rather than a rock song while Amsterdam buries tension beneath its upbeat pulse.

The Administration takes the tension scattered through this EP to its breaking point. It’s a slow unravelling of everything that makes Plan 76 so great. There’s something unsettling about how uncontrolled it feels, like the band are testing the limits of their own composure. Closing track Deplore You / Farmers Market feels like a natural release, letting all the pressure fade through a long spiralling finale. The kind of song that feels bigger than the room it’s in.

If there is a plan, it’s clearly working. The Orchestra (For Now) don’t need to explain what they’re doing, the EP speaks loud enough on its own.

The Orchestra (For Now) UK Headline Shows:

13th Nov - Sheffield, UK - Hallamshire Hotel,
14th Nov - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint,
15th Nov - Live at Leeds In the City, UK
16th Nov - Manchester, UK - YES Pink Room
18th Nov - London, UK - Scala
20th Nov - Bristol, UK - The Exchange
21st Nov - Southampton, UK - Heartbreakers
22nd Nov - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store
4th Dec - Cambridge, UK - Portland Arms

Plan 76 Cover Art

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know - Bleech 9:3

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! is our weekly dive into the best rising acts you’ll want to discover before the rest of the world does. This week we’ll be looking at Irish rock band Bleech 9:3.

The noise around Bleech 9:3 has been getting louder over the last few weeks, and for good reason. The Dublin-born, London-based group have quickly marked themselves as one of the most exciting live bands, already releasing two singles that sound every bit as sharp and restless as the scene they’re emerging from. 

Frontman Baz Quinlan and guitarist Sam Duffy first met at an AA meeting, where Quinlan became Duffy’s sponsor. In 2024, the band relocated from Dublin to London to focus fully on the project, and that move seems to have paid off.

Bleech 9:3 are the rope in a tug of war between post-punk and grunge, constantly pulling from both sides. Their newest release ‘Jacky’ captures that perfectly: a tense, anxious track which pulls you in from the first note. The debut single ‘Ceiling’ nods to 90s grunge and written about a friend from a recovery meeting in Dublin who sadly passed away before he got the chance to get better.

The band are currently supporting Shame across several dates, including their hometown of Dublin, Cork, Leeds and Southampton, then joining Sports Team for shows in Portsmouth and London. After that, they will play three sold-out headline shows at The Blue Basement in London. Not bad for a band with just two tracks released.

Bleech 9:3 UK & Ireland Tour Dates: 

November 9th – Southampton, 1865 (supporting Shame)

November 10th – Leeds, Project House (supporting Shame)

November 12th – Dublin, National Stadium (supporting Shame)

November 13th – Cork, Cyprus Avenue (supporting Shame)

November 14th – Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms (supporting Sports Team)

November 15th – Londo, Electric Brixton (supporting Sports Team)

December 3rd – London, The Blue Basement

December 4th – London, The Blue Basement

December 5th – London, The Blue Basement

Watch the music video for Ceiling on YouTube

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! - SLAG

If You Don’t Know, Get to Know! is our weekly dive into the best rising acts you’ll want to discover before the rest of the world does. This week, we’re looking at Brighton band SLAG.

Brighton’s newest noisemakers SLAG are the kind of band you hear once and immediately want to tell your mates about – partly because you know they’re bound to break through soon, and you’ll look effortlessly ahead of the curve when they do. Their sound sits somewhere between math-rock, shoegaze and indie rock, bursting with noise, attitude and potential.

Fronted by Amelie Gibson, SLAG make music that thrives on tension. Their songs twist and turn in unexpected directions, packed with guitar lines that jolt against the grain and vocals that jump between the calm and the storm itself. There’s a sense that each track could fall apart at any moment, yet it never does. The term controlled chaos has rarely felt more fitting.

Singles Ripped and Heaven show the band’s knack for balance, layering restless energy with a melodic touch beneath all the grit. The hooks sneak up on you, the rhythms pull in every direction, and by the time you think you’ve figured them out, they’ve already moved on. The bands newest release Legs gets off the mark with Gibson’s rapid-fire vocals before she pleads, “Please wake up, I love you, I love you,” as the noise fades. It’s a flash of sincerity before the track kicks right back into motion, ending in an outro that begs to be shouted back in a packed, sweaty room.

For now, SLAG remain one of Brighton’s best-kept secrets, but probably not for long. Their music is raw, loud and full of potential: the sound of a band too interesting to stay underground for much longer.

Watch SLAG perform Heaven and Ripped on The Beach House Sessions

From The Pyre - The Last Dinner Party Review

The past couple of years have been a whirlwind for baroque pop breakthrough The Last Dinner Party. We’ve seen them go from London’s Windmill scene to a Mercury Prize nomination and a Number 1 album with Prelude to Ecstasy. Now, just over a year later, they rise from the flames with From the Pyre, a record that trades divine grandeur for something more grounded and cathartic.

If their debut was the coronation, From the Pyre is the sound of what comes after the crown is placed. The band still lean into their dramatic side, but there is a new sense of grit and self-awareness in their sound. Produced by Markus Dravs, known for his work with Florence and the Machine and Arcade Fire, the album builds on the ornate baroque pop of their debut, expanding it with rich textures and a sharp emotional focus.

The lead single This is the Killer Speaking opens with power and intent. It is theatrical yet unfiltered, driven by pulsing percussion and Abigail Morris’s commanding vocals. The Scythe continues this energy, mixing poetic fatalism and strong rhythm to create a track that encapsulates The Last Dinner Party at their best, a definite highlight on this record. Second Best captures their flair for melodrama and emotional sincerity, while Rifle stands out as one of the record’s most atmospheric moments. The closing track Inferno lives up to its name, finishing the album in a swirl of heat and release, a final burst of grandeur before it fades to ash.

Dravs’s production keeps everything slick and expressive, highlighting the band’s evolving musicianship. The Last Dinner Party expand on the baroque pop world they built on their debut, creating something confident and rich in detail. For a group once accused of being over-polished, this album feels alive and intentional. It may not excel in the same way as Prelude to Ecstasy, but it burns with conviction. From the Pyre proves that The Last Dinner Party have not only survived their own hype, they have reshaped it into something real and unique.

Watch The Last Dinner Party perform The Scythe Live From The Pyre

BBC Radio 1’s New Music Live 2025

BBC Radio 1’s New Music Live returned for another year this time at Cardiff’s Tramshed last night, for an evening to celebrate new and upcoming talent across the UK and Ireland. The lineup brought together a mixture of rising acts, each offering their own take on what the future of indie and alternative music has in store for us. 

Leicester’s Jools opened the night with a storm of intensity, instantly setting the tone for what was to come. The post-punk outfit managed to create an impeccable atmosphere, jagged guitar riffs cut through the room as both vocalists delivered powerful, passionate performances. What stood out most was the tightness among the band, every member locked in with one another as well as the crowd. The chemistry and energy on stage were undeniable, each song coming across with urgency and conviction makes Jools a formidable live force. They are a live band you simply cannot ignore.

London-based Keo brought a cool shift in pace after Jools explosive opener. There was an effortless calm to the chaos that they bought on stage, the kind that comes from complete confidence in what they do. Comparisons to Wunderhorse have followed Keo since their emergence, and they seem perfectly aware of it. The words ‘Rip Off’ were displayed on front man Finn Keoghs guitar, perhaps a playful nod towards these accusations. It summed up their performance perfectly: cool, confident and defiant.

Hometown heroes Panic Shack took to the stage, immediately turning Tramshed into their playground. With the release of their self-titled debut album this summer, the band provided punk ferocity and tongue in check humour. Every song hit with intent, but the way that they commanded the crowd was what truly set them apart, cementing them as one of Wales most beloved live acts.

Closing the night were Florence Road, an indie pop four-piece from Wicklow, Ireland who have been steadily gaining attention across the country as well as globally. The band who blew up from posting on TikTok and signed to Warner Chappel Music less than a year ago, brought a cinematic sweep to Cardiff, filling Tramshed with soaring guitars and heartfelt vocals delivered with precise emotional control. Fresh from supporting Oliva Rodrigo at BST Hyde Park, Florence Road stood out amongst an already stellar lineup. As the final notes rang out, it was clear that Florence Road are on the verge of something huge.

BBC Radio 1’s New Music Live proved why it is one of the most exciting showcases for emerging talent coming out of the UK and Ireland. From Jool’s post-punk ferocity to Keo’s formidable cool, Panic Shack’s homegrown chaos and Florence Road’s cinematic polish, the night served as a reminder of just how strong the next wave of artists merging from this scene are. If this lineup is anything to go by, the future of indie and alternative music is in very good hands.

Florence Road performing at BBC Radio 1 Live 2025