DECANTED 2025 - THE SONG SOMMELIER TOP ALBUM PICKS
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DECANTED 2025 - THE SONG SOMMELIER TOP ALBUM PICKS 〰️
Another bumper year for albums, 2025 took a little while to warm up. I found myself listening to a lot of albums from 2024 (and older of course) for the first few months of the year, but then as the summer arrived, the high quality new releases started to flow, week after week. In fact there were just so many really good albums, I couldn’t keep up. 2025 might go down as the year I really had to abandon the idea of keeping up with new music in any capacity other than leaving it to pure serendipity. After all, my pick of the year - most played album - was discovered purely by chance in a record shop.
I wonder what the process actually is for a lot of these “best of year” lists, because in truth, there are so many bands and artists releasing music now, there are probably a few hundred genuinely excellent records each and every year. Can the music press keep up with it all? With decanted, I just pick out 12 (+1, i.e. “a baker's dozen") albums I enjoyed listening to the most, and therefore heartily recommend. Nothing more, nothing less. Having said that, it does take a while to digest my favourite 13. I don’t keep a count exactly of how many times I’ve listened right through to each album - there’s no way of knowing. I spin about half of what I hear on vinyl and don’t keep a log. It’s worth noting that this year, Spotify Wrapped included albums for the first time. That’s progress. In Body of Work: how the album outplayed the algorithm and survived the song economy, I criticise Spotify Wrapped for NOT doing this in the past, and so the flip side is I applaud the service for finally acknowledging that albums are an important enough mode of listening to count. My top five was an interesting take but excluded listening on vinyl, obviously. That said, if you wanted a digest of really good albums, Spotify’s top overall album selections by genre are spot on, these being compiled by the editorial teams rather than data.
Enough about Wrapped, back to Decanted! I’ve gotten to know these records through vinyl purchase, repeated plays or, maybe because I was in the right mood when I first played them through. Some, I had read rave reviews, and sure enough, they connected with me too. Some I had been waiting for, and they didn’t disappoint (whereas other highly anticipated albums did, which is always deflating). It’s a fairly eclectic list I hope but as ever, it reflects my personal leanings towards indie/rock. I love alternative pop, jazz, and even folk these days, but there is something about my beloved guitar-led indie rock that always seems to dominate my ears. I’ve tried not to succumb to any music industry hype with these choices. Inevitably some of them are already well known of course, but I hope others surprise or even serve as a reminder that the artist (still) exists.
It was February of this year that I sat down to write an article about the album format in all its glory, and three months later, resurfaced with about 45,000 words - enough for a book. The process of publishing a book from there is a long one, but exactly 12 months later, it’ll be in my hands - and hopefully yours too. Happy musical 2026!
IDLEWILD: IDLEWILD
The only physical record I’ve purchased having heard it playing in the record shop (since The Longpigs’ The Sun is Often Out in 1996 on CD). I know you won’t, but give it five plays and tell me this isn’t a wonderful album.
Discovery credit: Banquet Records
wolf alice: the clearing
Living up to great expectations with something relatively understated is a major achievement. Loving the 70s sensibilities on this record including the best nod to a Queen song I think I’ve ever heard by any band (other than Queen itself). My pick of the ‘most important’ album of 2025 in my book Body of Work. I might be wrong about that but I just love the way they take the artform seriously but pulled it off with such aplomb.
Discovery credit: Wolf Alice
HAYLEY WILLIAMS: EGO DEATH AT A BACHELORETTE PARTY
Varied, and with song quality turned up to high, this album showcases a global talent on a roll. Williams is rapidly en route to the status of rock legend. On new label Post Atlantic. See what she did there?
Discovery credit: Spotify
Skunk Anansie: the painful truth
An unexpected delight. What a comeback record this is. Varied, brave, and with a couple of belting ballads in “Shame” and “Meltdown”. Expect other lists to ignore it for some, strange reason.
A late career high.
Discovery credit: Skunk Anansie (preparing for the Art of Longevity except Skin has yet to formally accept my offer to come on!)
blood orange: ESSEX HONEY
Beautifully immersive, a record with a personal theme that beds in with repeated listens. It’s been a while since I’ve come across the absurd idea of not wanting a record to end (after all, just play it again) but I did with this.
Discovery credit: The Guardian (review). Again, when are you coming on the show Dev?
Mareba: The Breeze Grew a Fire
Very much my kind of neo soul. Dark, organic, with musicality and accessibility. Mareba has been one of the discoveries of the decade for me and I look forward to hearing what she does next.
Discovery credit: Spotify
Erika de Casier: lifetime
While waiting patiently for another BEA1991 album (and I do mean patiently), Spotify served me a (also, Dutch) counterpart, and I was immediately hooked. I guess the discovery metadata tags do work. The whole album is an earworm. A lush sound that is like a long, comforting swim before getting ready to go to a really cool party. Addictive.
Discovery credit: Spotify
TURNSTILE: NEVER ENOUGH
Undeniably exciting.
Discovery credit: Turnstile
Suede: antidepressants
Continuing their renaissance with the ‘sister’ album to 2023’s Autofiction, the two records now go down as one of those monumental twinned albums, like Folklore & evermore, Day At The Races and Night At The Opera. (A different) class.
Discovery credit: Suede
pulp: more
A return after 17 years and finally, Pulp converted me to fandom with this. It is very very good, you know.
Discovery credit: My wife
the delines: mr luck & miss doom
Another understated, stately, cracker from a band that knows what narrative really means. Willy Valautin’s stories have now reached Netflix (Night Always Comes), but they are still best told in the album format. Well okay, his novels are great too. What a storyteller i.e. a proper one.
Discovery credit: The Delines
MORCHEEBA: ESCAPE THE CHAOS
Ross Godfrey: “We’ve always made relaxing music. You can get home from work on a Friday night, have a glass of wine or smoke a spliff or whatever and play our music”. On the other hand, in the musical mix here are Bacharach, Barry and Morricone but also Brazilian late 60s Tropicalia, and somewhat less obviously, Jimi Hendrix. Meanwhile, Skye Edward’s lyrics speak very much to an antidote to EVERYTHING going on in 2025. Rather great.
Discovery credit: The Art of Longevity podcast!
sports team: boys these days
Recommended by the Auditory Musing clinician Pulin Katari (Daily Records), this album is better than it thinks it is. A grower that, inevitably, will be overlooked in the glut of indie guitar band records being churned out these days.
Discovery credit: Daily Records
AND ONE MORE FOR LUCK…because when albums come out at the end of the year, they get missed off the lists!
still blank: STILL BLANK
Very late in the year release, but on heavy rotation in my headphones for the past few weeks, just a really, really good indie debut. After a great start like this, where can this duo go from here I wonder?
Discovery credit: Pitchfork (I think!)