Another year down and another wave of incredible albums to sink your teeth into, in particular the ones that made the CLUNK list
It’s the end of the year so that can only mean one thing.. time to round up our favourite albums of the year. Across the entire CLUNK team we put together our most comprehensive and diverse list to date, featuring CMAT, Geese, and a LOT more. Have a read through, nod in approval, shake with disapproval, but most importantly.. go and listen to the album and form your own opinion!
Geese – Getting Killed
By Evan McGill
Without a doubt ‘Getting Killed’ by Geese is my AOTY for 2025. It’s the kind of album that suddenly redefines a year; one in which you will look back to in however many years and re-appreciate more than you ever have. The emotion, chaos and uncertainty through every creak of a guitar, every punch of a drum and Cameron Winter’s voice slipping between confession and collapse. What makes this album of the year isn’t just it’s intensity, it’s the way the intensity is earned.
Where most modern rock albums either down themselves with overproduction or ‘fauxstalgia’ trying to fill the void of modern Rock n’ Roll is where ‘Getting Killed’ excels. It feels alive. Violent swings of mood without losing its gravitational pull and the unknown excitement of where each song or even course or drum break is going.
The album opens with ‘Trinidad’. From its first listen it’s a burst of tension and urgency which feels like it might collapse on itself. With Winter sounding a mix of half lost and possessed. It’s a moment where it feels at its breaking point with the band holding it just together. It’s one of Geese’s clearest examples of turning emotion into atmosphere.
“Au Pays du Cocaine” is easily one of the record’s most beautiful pieces. Winter’s vocals are somewhat of a dazed clarity, like someone narrating their own unravelling and feelings in real time. It captures a kind of self acknowledgement and you suddenly see everything for what it is. “Au Pays du Cocaine” doesn’t explode or resolve; it just sinks deeper, the further you listen pulling you in with it. Which is why it is personally my favourite track on this album.
‘Long Island City, Here I Come” is one of ‘Getting Killed’ most cinematic moments. A frantic sprint toward some imagined escape that feels unattainable from the first note. The drums mimicking adrenaline, sharp and cold guitars come in matching the rhythm. Winter’s vocals sounding like someone already halfway out the door. Desperate, defiant and exhausted. It’s a song about movement as a coping mechanism, an escape. Becoming a pivotal moment not because anything is resolved but because the act of fleeing becomes its own release.
Caroline – caroline 2
By George Ward
On ‘caroline 2,’ London folk/post-rock group caroline took the loose improvisation of their debut album, tightened up their song structures and squeezed every last bit of talent out of each and every one of their 8 members. The result was one of the most special albums we’ve heard in years and a huge step forward for the band.
The album is packed with fascinating choices, from the totally unexpected sonic implosion of ‘Total euphoria’ to the muffled techno beat underlying the gentle ‘When I get home’ to the microphone literally moving from one room to another, blending two songs together on ‘Coldplay cover’.
‘caroline 2’ is hugely sentimental but never quite in the ways you expect it to be. On ‘U R UR ONLY ACHING,’ a soft folk buildup tempts you into craving a satisfying rock climax, before cutting out completely to a single acoustic guitar and lone lo-fi vocal line. When the climax does inevitably come, the vocals are now drenched in autotune, jarring for sure, but somehow blending in so beautifully with the distorted guitars and drums underneath.
‘Two riders down’ is so devastating that it’s almost painful to listen to. A reflection on loss, the track is the emotional peak of the album. Underneath the choppy sea of screeching violins, fuzzy guitars and relentless drums scream the vocals, desperate to be heard from under the waves.
If you’ve ever seen caroline live, you’ll already know how special a band they really are. If you haven’t yet had the chance, listen to this album and you’ll get a good idea. An album that is as equally experimental as it is emotional, ‘caroline 2’ is a masterclass in pacing, space and control.
Racing Mount Pleasant – Racing Mount Pleasant
By Julian Laws
Formerly Kingfisher, Midwest Emo, Indie Folk outfit, Racing Mount Pleasant, released their first album under their new name on the 15th August 2025. Their debut album ‘Grip your fist, I’m Heaven Bound’ solidified the bands maturity and was heralded by fans and critics alike as outstanding. The album developed their cult following and showcased their tendency for creating orchestral epics that span far and beyond the subject matters of their songs.
Conducted chaos, lusciously layered and emotively excellent this album only further propels their ‘outstanding’ status. Rife with authentic melodies, littered with drum parts that set you into lullabic swings and vocal parts that echo that of Bon Iver and Caroline, Racing Mount Pleasant toy with emotions and leave listeners feeling moved and motivated.
The songs are interjected with sound baths of brass parts that seemingly lie underneath the foundation of all their tracks, but burst with vigour and emotion when the songs reach their inevitable climax. This is what Racing Mount Pleasant are so good at, playing with the inevitable, with the pull and push that instruments such as saxophones and strings can imbue. The tones and the parts played with such an organic touch, make every song feel personal and catered to your current state of mind, like you are recognised. That these musicians, so far removed from yourself – complete and utter strangers – have somehow succeeded in encompassing your feelings and, thus the human condition – the ups the downs and how we are all trying to navigate it to try and make sense of it all.
Racing Mount Pleasant is Michigan’s answer to Cambridge’s Black Country New Road. The album, and the band, succeed, by having multiple members, in this case there are seven members all adding their own blend of music virtuosity to the tracks. The band supported Geese earlier this year on the first half of their US tour. So I think it is suffice to say – great recognises great.
Like all great albums, you can shuffle to any song and it will make you feel a different way from the one previous, or the one you may listen to next. There is a security in the album, in which you know anything you stick on is going to entertain, probe you to listen deeper and concrete you as a new fan of the band. I stumbled upon the album purely by chance and it is safe to say it was one of my most enjoyable listening experiences of the year. An album that places you in a moment in time, literally and figuratively. I know whenever I revisit this album, as I am now whilst writing this, I am transported to that time, those feelings and how the songs made me feel better, worse and most importantly, allowed me to tap into and explore those feelings. For me, that is a sign of an amazing album. Personal bias aside, I truly believe any listeners that are fans of Bon Iver, Black Country New Road, Novo Amor and Caroline will have a more than memorable experience listening to this album.
Viagra Boys – viagr aboys
By Matt Wellham
Viagra Boys have taken everything that made 2022’s ‘Cave World’ a success and hit the x10 button for ‘viagr aboys’. It’s funny and downright ridiculous in places, yet it balances that silliness with their punk attitude and sharply relevant lyricism. It feels like Viagra Boys have fully settled into their sonic take on post-punk and the result is infectious.
‘Man Made of Meat’ kicks the record off in full force. The lead single establishes the absurd tone that Sebastian Murphy has become known for, with the line “Overweight freaks ride around on wheelchairs motorised by electric motors made by goblins in a factory overseas”. It’s all topped off with a burp mid-sentence – yes, really. As silly as it sounds, the track is a witty look at the overly online, adrenaline-chasing world we live in: whether it’s buying crap on Amazon, binge-watching Netflix, or “Subscribing to your mom’s OnlyFans”, it’s all here, delivered with the band’s unique charm.
While the album contains several tracks that follow the classic Viagra Boys winning formula – ‘Dirty Boyz’, ‘Store Policy’ and ‘Uno II’ all arrive with thundering bass lines and sharp, poky melodies, there’s also new ground being broken with slow-paced intimate moments. ‘Medicine For Horses’ brings a sombre tone to the record, with Murphy opting to sing rather than scream. While much of the album feels like an end of the week pick-me-up, this track and ‘Pyramid of Health’ offer a late night moment of reflection. Both are emotive in their delivery and may feel tonally fresh, yet they still carry that unmistakable Viagra Boys touch.‘viagr aboys’ is the band’s most cohesive project to date. The production is messy in all the right ways (insert a random flute here and there for a bit of pazzaz), but it’s a genuinely a no-skip album, with each track delivering witty, reflective or downright hilarious lines that will have you coming back again and again. With the critical acclaim and success of the band’s live shows, we expect this album to scoop multiple AOTY awards this year.
Oklou – choke enough
By Frankie Austick
It’s been a whirlwind of a year for French-born musician Oklou, a genre-bending visionary who this year gave birth to both her first child and her third album – ‘choke enough’. The LP received universal claim from critics and fans alike, with the record propelling her to new heights thanks to the virality of the album’s unique, digitally surreal album imagery.
The soundscape of the music is similar; narrated by storylines that know no bounds to their curiosity, led downstream by a range soothingly sharp synths + digitally born ticks. Oklou uses her voice often as an instrument as often as she does as the protagonist of the track – resulting in pieces like ‘thank you for recording’ and ‘family and friends’ that are some of the softest sounding tracks we’ve listened to this year.
“Anyway, what’s the name of your ship again?” a rhetorical album opener that goes unanswered but stays fresh in the forefront of your mind as you navigate the record, all thanks to it’s child-like whimsy; something so easily lost with our innocence. Tracks like ‘harvest sky’ and album highlight ‘obvious’ do such a good job at depicting the emotions that they encapsulate; they sound exactly like the situations they entail.
Closing with a beautiful ode to her late grandmother, ‘blade bird’ deals with loss through the vessel of reincarnation and acceptance of the turbulence we cannot shy from as adults. The album is a stellar display of Oklou’s talent as an artist in being able to turn the emotions of life into song, and as she closes the year with a SOLD OUT world tour in support.
5 Seconds of Summer – EVERYONE’S A STAR
By Alisa Fridman
With “Everyone’s A Star”, 5 Seconds of Summer (5SOS) deliver the most unruly yet fully realised version of themselves — a loud, neon-soaked reclamation of identity that pulls from every past work, the textures of their solo projects, and the chaos of their public narrative, stitching it into something unexpectedly seamless. What could have been a genre pile-up instead becomes their most cohesive work yet: glossy pop, jagged pop-punk, glam-rock flamboyance, electronic maximalism and touches of indie melancholy and yearning remain at its core as the band leap somewhere entirely new.
The rollout alone felt like performance art, with pink limousines, mannequin stunts, alter-egos, and fake press conferences. It was absurd, clever and entirely intentional, a satire of the boyband stereotype. After years of rejecting the label, the band finally weaponise it, reshaping it on their own terms.
The opener, “Everyone’s A Star”, sets the tone instantly with a dizzying mix of layered vocals, atmospheric synths and big-room chaos that nods to N.E.R.D., Gorillaz, and the ecstatic pulse of Fatboy Slim or The Prodigy. Hypnotic and overwhelming in a deliberate way, it’s an existential take on “main character energy” that frames fame as a perpetual performance rather than a static state. It’s easily the strongest introduction the band has ever put on a record.
From there, the album ricochets through angst, satire, and emotional clarity without losing focus. “NOT OK” doubles down with snarling, half-spoken vocals over a skeletal beat that ruthlessly collapses to just drums before exploding again. “Boyband” leans into humor while dissecting the infantilisation 5SOS have endured in their early years, skewering the stereotype while reclaiming it boldly. “Telephone Busy” throws the rulebook out the window entirely, the filtered vocals slipping in and out of consciousness like a bad dream you’re strangely having fun inside.
Then comes “No. 1 Obsession”, the album’s north star: a punchy punk-rock surge that blends early-era 5SOS with their sharpened, more experimental production. Its adrenaline mirrors the dopamine hits of social media culture, turning fame into a funhouse mirror for both the band and their fans. “istillfeelthesame” follows in similar spirit, a frantic, video-game-bright panic attack of synths and drum machines.
The emotional core sits with tracks “I’m Scared I’ll Never Sleep Again”, a dreamy pop-rock ballad awash in The 1975-esque guitars and reverbed drums, and “Ghost”, all haunting synths and shoegaze-leaning crescendos. “Start Over”, one of four new tracks part of the “Everyone’s A Star (Fully Evolved)” version, is gentler still: airy, melodic, and painfully earnest, and is a love song terrified of its own fragility. “The Rocks”, recorded on an eight-track tape machine, injects raw pop-punk grit reminiscent of 5SOS’s “Sounds Good Feels Good”, only tighter and more refined.
What ultimately makes “Everyone’s A Star” so striking is its balance of spectacle and sincerity. In an era of safe, beige indie-pop, 5SOS chose distortion, humour, theatrics, and vulnerability, and in doing so, deliver their most authentic and most exciting chapter yet.
Dead Rat Society – Reflecting Light And Causing Chaos
By Charlie Pinhey
‘Reflecting Light And Causing Chaos’ is the perfect title for Dead Rat Society’s debut album. How else do you describe a band whose lead singer will emerge from the crowd wearing a boiler suit and a giant rat mask?
The London-based dance punk outfit come at you fast and this album is no exception; the ten tracks have a total runtime of just twenty six minutes. However, each track feels like a significant journey irrespective of its length. From Bounce Back, where indie-sleaze melds unexpectedly well with a hip-hop backbeat, wiring vocals and uptempo jazz flute, to ‘Leave With Care’, a bedroom anti-pop howl, Reflecting Light… pulls from a truly mad dystopian tapestry.
‘Reflecting Light And Causing Chaos’ is also peppered with moments of levity in unexpected places, whether it be the sarcastic swipes taken during ‘Needed The Sun’, or snippets of Chancellor Palpatine’s dialogue from Revenge Of The Sith in ‘Shoplifters Welcome’.
This record is punk in length and in the subjects it tackles. It’s unforgiving at times for sure. But there’s so much more to explore with ‘Reflecting Light And Causing Chaos’ for fans of grunge, hip-hop and EDM. It’s impossible the try to unpack the surprising emotional heft of this album after a few listens, but that’s where ‘Reflecting Light…’ shines, in the fun of trying to put the pieces back together.
Addison Rae – Addison
By Hannah North
Addison Rae by no means sprang up out of nowhere, nor was she an overnight success, with her millions of followers on Tiktok, a netflix film or two under her belt, as well as a past in competitive dance. Yet, when lead single ‘Diet Pepsi’ dropped last year, many of us were stunned at Rae’s vocal and musical chops.
The self-titled project floats on synths, club beats, and siren-like vocals to create something at once nostalgic but fresh. You can hear the influences in the music, Addison points them out herself in the single Money is Everything ‘DJ, play Madonna.
‘Wanna roll one with Lana, get high with Gaga.’ Its unabashedly pop, with ear worm choruses and grand key changes, but there’s a confidence to Miss Rae that takes the album to unexpected places. This has a lot to do with writer-producer duo Elvira Anderfjärd and Luka Kloser, who worked with Rae on all 12 tracks on the project. The collaboration between the three women created a sound that feels fuzzy and ethereal which is at times euphoric, and at others fuelled by melancholy. It’s an entire world built from scratch, with femininity at its centre.
Big Thief – Double Infinity
By Susie Long
Big Thief’s sixth studio album, and a natural transition from Adrianne Lenker’s ‘Bright Future’, ‘Double Infinity’ feels like the perfect poetic, introspective start to the new year. Seeming like an expansive, somewhat emotionally eclectic addition to the band’s discography, this record is a brilliant study of the vastness of spirituality, gender, existentialism and connection through an incredibly micro-focused lens.
Opening with ‘Incomprehensible’, the listener is instantly transported into the magical, metaphysical space that only Adrianne Lenker’s songwriting can create. Discussing the conversations which society perpetuates about ageing, femininity and beauty, this track sets a beautiful tone of dreaming of escape from the confines of daily society: to cease being perceived and to live authentically and naturally.
‘Double Infinity’ has such a cleverly instilled sense of nostalgia that all experiences feel almost universal. The poignancy and intimacy are displayed no better than in ‘Los Angeles’. Encapsulating longing, loyalty and a gut-wrenching feeling of something missing, Big Thief transform the city into a soul-tied lover slipping away. Tying emotion to place and anthropomorphising locations, the band captures memory and devotion to another in a light which I think is entirely unique to them.
I could pick out every single song on this album and say why it’s utterly wonderful, but I’ll just focus on one more: the closing track, ‘How Could I Have Known’. A wistful, reflective and heart-churningly innocent love song, it speaks to falling in love slowly and entirely. Once again drawing on nature and place, it is a soaring ode to opening yourself up to others whilst remarking on the temporary nature of the world. Transcending time, this track is a brilliant conclusion in that, whatever may end or change or cease, love continues to exist.
‘Double Infinity’ feels therapeutic in its uncensored perspective on emotional vulnerability. While interspersed with metaphor and poeticism, it is fundamentally a stripped-back embodiment of the expanses of feeling: of what it means to be human.
CMAT – Euro-Country
By Susie Long
A third instalment from Dunboyne’s powerhouse CMAT, ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ is a fiery and well-rounded album that seems to have revealed the singer’s full potential. It is no small feat to combine national angst, socially-constructed eating disorders, comments on capitalism and femininity in the 21st century in one record, but CMAT manages to make it feel grounded, intentional and brilliant.
Amounting to a musical manifesto, CMAT instils a deep political anger and intensity into her trademark lilting pop songs. Opening with a spoken-word excerpt and seaside recordings in ‘Billy Byrne From Ballybrack, The Leader Of The Pigeon Convoy’, before transitioning into the Irish-language intro of the title track ‘EURO-COUNTRY’, it is clear that we are being fully immersed in CMAT’s world. Expressing her ever-present national identity, economic uncertainty and how colonisation led to the neglect of the Irish people, to describe this song as simply powerful would be a gross understatement. To then take that topic and turn it into a radio hit? It takes an exceptional talent.
This album is packed full of incredible tracks, but few shine as bright to me as ‘Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’. At its simplest, this song is an expression of frustration at seeing the constant presence of a celebrity chef but, at its core, it’s an exploration of hate and loathing with nowhere to go. It speaks to unnecessary judgement, of not concerning yourself with other people’s business and letting go of control, but naturally is packaged as a catchy, playable tune. While she sings that “this is making no sense to the average listener”, I think it in fact applies perfectly to a huge number of people.
Many of the songs on ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ feel reflective of the search for perfection, particularly in the face of a socially constructed ‘perfect’ world. Both ‘Take A Sexy Picture of Me’ and ‘Ready’ achieve this in different ways. The former is a sort of tongue-in-cheek commentary on the demands on women to perform, and of seeing appearance as a mark of value or worth. The latter, however, beautifully debunks this, saying that there is no point waiting and being “afraid to fall” when greatness can be achieved at any moment.
Overall, ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ is a wonderfully oxymoronic album, viewing laments of generational pain and struggles of femininity through a sequin-wrapped indie pop lens. It feels like a real, tangible advancement for the singer, and I think she has executed it perfectly.
Hayley Williams – Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party
By Mia Lambdin
First released as 17 singles onto her website in late July, ‘Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party’ by Hayley Williams was made to question what is an album, a record label, fate and what to do when they’re not around anymore. Not only did the album harbour community through sharing website passwords and download links before the singles released onto streaming – and eventually as three album versions with the final tracks individually came out a little while later – but it subverted the standard album rollout in the wake of creating independent label, Post Atlantic. In a time of fleeting trending TikTok songs, a release like this was refreshing, feeling like a secret to be part of.
The title track is one of a few that covers the current climate in Nashville, where Williams grew up, showing her disappointment in the gentrification and tourist culture of the city, with the opening lines shamelessly calling out a certain ‘racist country singer’s bar’. The chorus shows her hope in Nashville’s eventual redemption, as it ‘can only go up from here’. These themes also follow in ‘True Believer’, shining light on the hypocrisy and oppression still found in the church. Although you can feel Williams’ disdain for the state of these organisations, the overarching message is the love she clearly feels for the religion and city she grew up with, feeling hope more than anything that change will come around one day – ‘I’m the one who still loves your ghost, I reanimate your bones with my belief’.
There is so much to be said for the remaining 18 tracks on the album, especially those covering heartache and yearning, but some standouts to mention are ‘Disappearing Man’, grappling and trying to find reason for why they left, finding acceptance in the fact it’s not up to you to fix them – ‘my final act of love was surrender’. ‘Whim’ is a hopeful track grounded in the simple guitar line interweaving with Williams’ vocals, ‘I Won’t Quit On You’ is a melancholy promise to wait for her other half, no matter the distance or changes that happen between them. ‘Good Ol’ Days’ explores the feelings of the bad points in your life in hindsight being the place you wish you could go back to, just to still have them with you – ‘I just want to love ya, but you won’t let me’. Album closer ‘Showbiz’ follows that theme of wanting to rewind time, the performance of her past relationship onstage and wanting to freeze that moment in time. The final line captures the entire essence of ‘Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party’ – lifelong love and devotion, with the hope and assurance that it will come back to her, in whatever form; ‘still here baby, flailing in the fog light’.
White Reaper – Only Slightly Empty
By Charlie Pinhey
2025 saw Turnstile bask in the limelight, bringing hardcore and punk slightly further towards the mainstream, Meanwhile, White Reaper came along in late September and dropped their fifth studio album, Only Slightly Empty. This album is White Reaper’s first release via Blue Grape Music and sees them return to their DIY roots after a stint with major label Electra Records. Yet, despite the DIY set up, this record’s production feels expensive and just shows how if a band is left to their own devices, they can kick out their most powerful brand of surf-punk to date This album is the perfect starting point for those who haven’t yet sampled alternative rock from down under and are fans of blazing riffs, stretchy vocals and plenty of kicks.
After the album’s sub-two minute power-pop introduction in the form of ‘Coma’, ‘Only Slightly Empty’ leaves no time for dissection. ‘Blink’, ‘Honestly’, ‘Freakshow’, and ‘Eraser’ come one after the other like a spiraling half-pipe that you have no choice but to drop in and see if you emerge on the board ok.
All of the above tracks could be standouts in their own right and, with more listens under your belt, it’s fun to try and pick your own favourite but the highlight of ‘Only Slightly Empty’ has to be ‘Blue 42’. This track was recommended to us at CLUNK during an interview with Hockey Dad where we asked the duo what they were listening to at the moment and I haven’t been able to stop listening to it. Vocalist Zach Stephenson recommended Water From Your Eyes’ latest album It’s A Beautiful Place (which we love), but when drummer Billy Fleming spoke about ‘Blue 42’ he spoke about it with such urgency saying, ‘This song has only just come out, but I adore it. It’s by our friends White Reaper called ‘Blue 42’ and the production is so nice; the kick just punches you when you’ve got subs going. It just punches through to the skin, it’s so epic!’
And it really is epic. The vocals hiss, each hit on the bass drum goes right through anything you listen to it on, as if you’re dodging punches and guitars follow, seamlessly moving through the song until they open up into a sonically untethered solo.
The beauty of ‘Only Slightly Empty’ is the spider-diagram of bands you’ll find yourself listening to once you’re done with this album: Bass Drum Of Death, Hockey Dad, Feeder, Radkey, Blink 182, Dinosaur Pile Up, Local H and maybe Turnstile.
Stella Donnelly – Love And Fortune
By Charlie Pinhey
For those already familiar with Stella Donnelly, you’ll likely already be aware of how her jangly guitars and airy vocal style combine with her razor sharp wit to cut through the bullshit. For those unfamiliar with her lyrics, “Your personality traits don’t count if you put your dick in someone’s face,” her 2019 song ‘Old Man’.
I recently reviewed this album and gave it five stars and my opinion hasn’t changed. ‘Love And Fortune’ is so interesting as it shows another side to Stella Donnelly entirely. ‘Love And Fortune’ shows Donnelly at her most vulnerable, taking us back to 2023 as she began to reevaluate her relationship with music and touring. Opening track ‘Standing Ovation’ is heartwrenching in places, “I’m looking at the pressure gauge/To see where you end and I begin”, as is ‘Year Of Trouble’ a few tracks later, where her vocals climb higher to drive to the heart of broken love. Similarly poignant are the two vignettes that beautifully punctuate this album in ‘Baths’ and ‘Friend’.
Yet the album closes out with ‘Laying Low’ with quiet assurance. The track is the perfect ending where the listener and Donnelly can slip away and begin to come to terms with the album as a whole.
It’s a lot to unpack and you might not be back for a listen for a few days, but this album holds a mirror up to your face and, through Donnelly, asks, “How do you feel?”
Just Mustard – WE WERE JUST HERE
By Niamh Rogers
After a 3-year break from releasing music, Just Mustard are back, and back with one of the standout albums of the year, ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’. From the moment they released their first single and album opener ‘POLLYANNA’ in June, it was clear the band had evolved. Stepping away from the more traditional shoegaze textures of their earlier work, this record pulses with tension and urgency paired with a low hum of anxiety throughout, which feels reflective of the current world climate. An industrial darkness lingers from beginning to end, creating the sense of being suspended in place while the world rushes past, with even the title making you feel like time is already moving past you.
The Dundalk 5-piece pushed boundaries with their new album, fusing familiar shoegaze elements with fast, dance-driven drums, warped guitars and an uneasy euphoria. ‘ENDLESS DEATHLESS’ bursts with adrenaline, its kinetic rhythm intertwined with Katie Ball’s trance-like vocal delivery. It feels like with every album, Just Mustard are growing more and more into their own distinctive identity, becoming instantly recognisable within seconds of a track starting.
The second half of the album sharpens this evolution. ‘THAT I MIGHT NOT SEE’ brings their new direction into full focus with Shane Maguire’s drumming as the engine of the track – quick, insistent and propelling everything forward with a breathless momentum that the rest of the song strains to keep pace with.
‘OUT OF HEAVEN’ closes the album on a more haunted note. Its gloomy opening and the ghostly layering of Ball’s and Noonan’s vocals nod back to their earlier work, while still firmly situating themselves within this darker, more expansive era. Each track carves out its own space, yet the album feels entirely immersive. A cohesive world you step into. It’s no surprise that ‘WE WERE JUST HERE’ stands out as one of the year’s most compelling releases.
Dove Ellis – Blizzard
By Niamh Rogers
Although only released on December 5th, ‘Blizzard’ instantly stood out as one of the albums of the year to me. Dove Ellis’ debut is gothic, tender and crafted with intention. After seeing his first London headline show at the Horse Hospital in October, this release felt especially anticipated.
Ellis’ voice carries a haunting softness, a quality that makes his songs immediately resonant. ‘Little Left Hope’ opens the album quietly and intimately before swelling into something larger, his lyrics shifting between hope and despair – closing with the striking lines “Now everybody be here in the room/ Now is the fake/ The real is the word”. The track flows seamlessly into ‘Pale Song’, which meditates on memory and the way the past can only be used as a guide, never changed.
To me, ‘When You Tie Your Hair Up’ is one of the album’s standouts – a song that finds beauty in the mundane, in the lived. The first verse lingers in those dim, quiet spaces before bed, then erupts into an all-consuming longing with lines like, “Said, Annie, won’t you come back into my home again?”. It captures that heavy, late-night loneliness perfectly. The mood shifts dramatically with ‘Jaundice’, which nods to Ellis’s West of Ireland roots through the use of accordion and cello, which form the backbone of the track.
There is no doubt Ellis is a strikingly gifted singer, often compared to Jeff and Tim Buckley, but his distinctive style comes from more than his falsetto. It’s in the blend of wind instruments, drifting percussion and raw lyrical honesty. Though ‘Blizzard’ feels dreamlike and elusive, it’s grounded by lyrics that are sharp, unflinching and deeply human.
‘To The Sandals’ is, to me, one of the best songs released this year. The quiet saxophone, the way Ellis drags each syllable, the religious connotations – it’s hauntingly beautiful, transporting you to a small, still corner of the world. Lines like “Thought must I really lust?/ Or knelt at the furless pulpit, The harrying, carrion” give the track an almost liturgical weight, even as it recounts the story of a failed shotgun marriage in Cancun.
The album closes with ‘Away You Stride’, an intimate track that feels like a warm embrace, showcasing the full range and emotional depth of Ellis’ voice. “See, I’d even go blue to have you beat my heart soft/ I’m spilling my blood on your knees” – lyrics like these suggest a wisdom and vulnerability beyond his years. ‘Blizzard’ flows blissfully from beginning to end.
Having recently supported Geese on the US leg of their tour, Ellis seems poised for a well-deserved rise. If this debut is any indication, the momentum around his name won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
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