FEATURE:
The Class of ‘25
IN THIS PHOTO: Rose Gray
The Ten Best Albums of the Year So Far
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WE are over half-way through…
IN THIS PHOTO: Antony Szmierek/PHOTO CREDIT: Charlie Cummings
this year, so I wanted to look back over the past six months or so and collate, in my opinion, the best albums that have been released. It might seem impossible, so I am aware there are going to be some notable albums left out. This is only my personal opinion. Albums that I have really loved and would recommend to people. However, there are other features out there that have their opinions when it comes to the best of 2025 so far. Many people reading this will have their views. Below are ten wonderful albums from this year that I feel are the finest of the year. I would be interested to know if anyone…
IN THIS PHOTO: HotWax/PHOTO CREDIT: Louise Mason
HAS their own top ten.
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Self Esteem – A Complicated Woman
Release Date: 25th April
Label: Polydor
Producers: Johan Hugo/Rob Milton
Standout Cuts: Mother/In Plain Sight/Lies
Review:
“Three years after the release of her Mercury Prize-nominated album Prioritise Pleasure, Self Esteem returns with her highly anticipated third record, A Complicated Woman. But the Sheffield-born artist hasn’t been idle in the meantime. Following the conclusion of her Prioritise Pleasure era, she made a striking West End debut as Sally Bowles in Cabaret, collaborated with Moonchild Sanelly on a new track, and took on a starring role in the Sky series Smothered.
As if a new album wasn’t exciting enough, ahead of its release, Self Esteem teamed up with director Tom Scutt to bring A Complicated Woman to the West End stage – a bold live show that shared its name with the upcoming record. She was joined by a chorus of female vocalists, whose presence is felt throughout the album. Their voices take centre stage on the opening track, ‘I Do and I Don’t Care’ where layered harmonies repeat the title in a haunting mantra before Rebecca steps in with a powerful spoken-word delivery, echoing the style of her breakout hit ‘I Do This All The Time’.
At its core, A Complicated Woman is about taking back control – a theme that comes into sharp focus on the album’s powerful lead single, ‘Focus is Power’. The track stuns from the outset: a graceful, slow-building ballad underscored by gentle piano and enriched by a choir of predominantly female voices. As it unfolds, confidence and determination rise to the surface, reaching a spine-tingling crescendo in a raw, a cappella moment that lingers long after the final note. In a bold display of Rebecca’s versatility, ‘Mother’ bursts forth with an irresistible beat and cheeky confidence that instantly grabs attention. With whispered vocals that playfully chastise a love interest while asserting independence, the wry, house-infused track has fast become a fan favourite, stealing the spotlight during her 2023 live performances.
With a shift to a softer rhythm, ‘The Curse’ unfolds like a quiet confession, exploring Rebecca’s complicated relationship with alcohol. The track’s serene sound contrasts with the depth of its message, highlighted by the powerful line: “Whether I’m sober or drunk, it’s still me in the middle of the problem.” It’s a moment of raw self-awareness, wrapped in a gentle, melancholic haze. Written about her ex-girlfriend, the introspective and string-laden ‘Logic, Bitch!’ explores the enduring presence of certain people in our lives – those who will always hold an irreplaceable place in the heart. There’s a raw vulnerability in Rebecca’s soft, delicate vocals, capturing the quiet acceptance at the song’s core.
The most upbeat moment on the album, ‘Cheers To Me’ is a full-blown anthem. Rebecca has a knack for writing lyrics that are not only clever but deeply relatable – and when she raises a toast to “each and every fucker that made me this way,” it’s impossible not to sing along. With its infectious energy, this track feels destined to be the song of the summer. Set to be massive live, ‘Cheers To Me’ is a tough act to follow – but ‘If Not Now, It’s Soon’, the album’s latest single, rises to the challenge with ease. Like each of its predecessors, it pushes boundaries, seamlessly blending bold pop production with sweeping synths and intricate electronic textures. A raw, personal reflection on Rebecca’s pre-fame years, marked by excess and self-destruction, the song delves into the complexities of self-worth, with Rebecca confronting the way she treated herself during that tumultuous time. Describing it as an exploration of perseverance and patience, she enlisted the legendary Julie Hesmondhalgh from Lancaster to add a powerful touch, delivering the poignant line: “Something will happen because it has to – it’s not just perseverance we need, it’s patience.”
Opening with gentle acoustic guitar plucks, ‘In Plain Sight’ is a striking and unexpected moment. Since her days in Slow Club, Rebecca has carved out a distinct sonic identity – one she continues to evolve and experiment with. This track stands as a testament to that evolution. In stark contrast to Rebecca’s calm, measured vocals, Moonchild Sanelly delivers a powerful spoken-word passage, confronting the disproportionate criticism women face when they dare to speak up in public. It’s a bold, thought-provoking highlight of the album.
‘Lies’ is yet another standout collaboration, this time with Nadine Shah. Serving as a perfect follow-up to ‘In Plain Sight’, the track features a melody with a distinct Bollywood-inspired flair. Rebecca and Nadine share the vocals, with Nadine’s voice beautifully digitally distorted, adding an intriguing layer to the song’s dynamic sound. The song culminates in suggestive, sensual sounds, creating a perfect segue into the next song, ‘69’. Taking Rebecca’s defiance to the next level, ‘69’ sees her tear down the outdated stigma that women shouldn’t speak openly about sex. With fearless, unfiltered lyrics, she boldly reclaims her power, sparking much-needed conversations about female desire and empowerment. Musically, it’s the perfect partner to ‘Mother’ – both a club anthem and an electrifying floor filler, with a driving, irresistible beat that pulses with unapologetic energy.
In a moment that draws from her West End experience, the penultimate track, ‘What Now’, strips away all instrumentation, leaving only a choir of harmonising voices. Their ethereal, unified sound imbues the song with a deep sense of community and connection – echoing the powerful, collective energy that defines Self Esteem’s live performances. This effect is amplified by the fact that the harmonies are provided by a carefully chosen group of Rebecca’s closest friends, including the beloved members of her band. While much of the album delves into struggle – whether it’s navigating relationships or confronting the challenges of being a woman in today’s world – the emotionally nuanced closing track, ‘The Deep Blue Okay’, offers a poignant acceptance of life’s grey areas. Accompanied by uplifting piano, it captures a quiet inner strength, embracing uncertainty not as fear, but as a wellspring of resilience.
With A Complicated Woman, Self Esteem proves once again that nobody else is doing what she’s doing right now – and perhaps nobody ever has. Since stepping out as a solo artist, Rebecca has carved out a space that’s entirely her own: bold, honest, theatrical, and unapologetically feminist. As ever, she isn’t just making music she’s making a statement” – God Is in the TV
Key Track: Focus Is Power
Antony Szmierek - Service Station at the End of the Universe
Release Date: 28th February
Labels: Mushroom Music/Virgin Music Group
Producers: Antony Szmierek/Robin Parker/Max Rad/Louie Fulford-Smith/Yves Jones
Standout Cuts: Rafters/Yoga Teacher/Angie’s Wedding
Review:
“To understand Antony Szmierek look no further than the title of his 2023 EP, ‘Poems To Dance To’, an apt depiction of the ex-English teacher’s rising blend of rhythmic spoken word and dancefloor ready production laying the backdrop for musings ranging from personal relationships to obscure places, and a poignant balance of fantasy and heavy realism. The sci-fi inspired title, a nod to Antony’s childhood favourite ‘A Hitchhiker’s Guide to The Galaxy’ that also spurned his breakthrough track, lays the path for references to home city landmarks, from the looming Stockport pyramid to the North West’s right-of-passage pub crawl, the Didsbury Dozen. It’s indicative of his outlook on his surroundings, an ever-blurred line between the tangible and the intangible, and one that will draw inevitable and not unjustified comparisons to the work of Mike Skinner. It’s prominent in the interlude’s respite found in the service station, a transient place that provides much needed consistency to the protagonist. His understanding of place grounds the otherwise lofty musings, not least the stunning stream of consciousness rising out of highlight ‘Restless Leg Syndrome’. It’s this stark contrast between the emotive and the physical that underpins much of his writing, mirrored further in the record’s pairing of poetry and inherently British genres ranging from acid house to garage and beyond. ‘Service Station…’ glides through this constant push and pull, a timeless portrayal of both the physical and emotional connection to people and place; fundamentally British yet beautifully universal” – DIY
Key Track: The Great Pyramid of Stockport
Lambrini Girls - Who Let the Dogs Out
Release Date: 10th January
Label: City Slang
Producers: Daniel Fox/Lambrini Girls
Standout Cuts: Big Dick Energy/Filthy Rich Nepo Baby/Cuntology 101
Review:
“If you’re in a battle to write your debut album against the clock, do you take a careful approach that involves daily exercise and cooking dinner together, or do you stock up on a hell of a lot of booze and start writing, hoping for the best?
If you’re Lambrini Girls, you do both. Comprising Phoebe Lunny (vocals and guitar) and Lilly Macieira (bass), the Brighton duo wrote debut album ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ in two quick bursts, before it was recorded with Gilla Band bassist Daniel Fox.
The result is something that’s raw and fuzzy but also very catchy throughout, darkly funny and full of acerbic wit, and – above all else – important.
There are songs fans already know well from Lambrini Girls’ live shows, like the opening triple whammy of ‘Bad Apple’, ‘Company Culture’ and ‘Big Dick Energy’, which take aim at the police, workplace misogyny and toxic masculinity. “I’m onе of the nice guys/So why won’t you have sex with me?” snarls Lunny on the latter, tongue firmly in cheek.
When it comes to their political beliefs, they’re happy to put their money where their mouth is, too. Lunny was quoted in a 2023 interview as saying, “I will scrap any TERF [trans-exclusionary radical feminist], any day, in person, with my fists,” leading to an onslaught from anti-trans commentators, while their pro-Palestine stance caused them to withdraw from The Great Escape festival last year.
They’ve been compared to IDLES, who they’ve supported on tour, Riot Grrrl staples like Bikini Kill and Huggy Bear, and punk pioneers X-Ray Spex, but their sardonic humour and noise rock riffs set them parallel to, not directly adjoining, the acts they’re often likened towards.
And it’s not solely political commentary here. “I like your face, but not in a gay way,” Lunny deadpans on ‘No Homo’, with lyrics anyone who was at school in the 2000s could recognise from the playground, while ‘Special, Different’ takes a look at neurodiversity with a tenderness that belies its garage punk sound and ‘Love’ is a breakup song at its heart, Macieira going “bonkers mode” on bass.
Closer ‘Cuntology 101’, meanwhile, is the punk lovechild of Toni Basil’s ‘Mickey’ and Daphne & Celeste’s ‘U.G.L.Y.’, and revolves around a cheerleader-style chant of “C-U-N-T” while promoting self-care and, erm, shagging behind bins.
As raw and energetic as ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ is, it’s over after a breathless half-hour. There’s enough variety to keep attention firmly on this exciting duo, who might just be one of the best up-and-coming British bands. 9/10” – CLASH
Key Track: No Homo
Victoria Canal – Slowly, It Dawns
Release Date: 17th January
Label: Parlophone
Producers: Victoria Canal/Eg White/Kevin Farzad
Standout Cuts: Cake/Vauxhall/swan song
Review:
“For anyone familiar with Victoria Canal’s earlier discography - which, after sharing her first EP all the way back in 2016, is already plentiful - the opening chimes of ‘June Baby’ might come as a bit of a surprise. Where her most recent releases (2022’s ‘elegy’ and last year’s ‘WELL WELL’ EP) dwelled in the more introspective corners of life, there’s a sunny warmth to the opening track of her debut full-length ‘Slowly, It Dawns’ that feels unexpected but still well-worn. It’s this spirit that’s carried into the first half of the record via the flirtatious strut of ‘California Sober’ and the thrumming, hedonistic vibrations of ‘Cake’, proving Canal has many more strings to her pop bow. For those more enamoured with her intimate, stripped back songwriting, never fear; ‘Slowly, It Dawns’’ second half is as powerful and devastating as ever, with ‘Barely’ standing out as a particularly raw but striking highlight (“We’re all solar systems,” she sings, in an almost whisper, “we’re so fucking small”). That she chooses to close proceedings with the one-two of her previous stand-out singles ‘Black Swan’ and ‘swan song’ makes perfect sense in context, too; the tracks that helped introduce her to the world now become the poignant final notes of her newest era. A gorgeous debut” – DIY
Key Track: California Sober
Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment
Release Date: 7th february
Label: Speedy Wunderground
Producer: Dan Carey
Standout Cuts: In the Beginning/Jacked/Warplane
Review:
“If you dare to enter the void, expect to hear Heartworms soundtracking the journey. Jojo Orme has set the UK DIY circuit aflame with her singular performance style, while NME hailed her as “your new favourite band of the year” upon the 2023 release of her debut EP ‘A Comforting Notion’. Now, teaming up again with Speedy Wunderground producer Dan Carey, Heartworms has unleashed her tightly written, pulse-raising debut album, ‘Glutton For Punishment’.
In this survey of man’s most masochistic impulses, Heartworms expands on the gothic dance-punk that first garnered her acclaim. Let’s be clear, she can still absolutely rip a riff like she did on ‘A Comforting Notion’ – the sheer physicality of the guitar on ‘Jacked’ will have you thrusting in no time. But Heartworms also pulls some new cards from her sleeve: ‘Just To Ask A Dance’ opens with a buccaneering string section, while an acerbic Kraftwerkian synth cuts through rippling trip hop on ‘Extraordinary Wings’.
Heartworms’ spoken word delivery is also a cut above many of her post-punk peers. At various points throughout the record, she inhabits girlish innocence, weary gravitas, and even a dash of deviousness. ‘Warplane’, the almighty anthem of the album, demonstrates this best: Heartworms’ prophetic whispers gradually build, reaching an operatic cry in the chorus. And yet, among the various facades, Heartworms maintains a genuine rawness that pulls you in each time.
Perhaps that’s also down to the Cheltenham native’s idiosyncratic lyricism, which feels exposed without giving away too much. The grungy ‘Smuggler’s Adventure’ descends into a toxic concoction of isolation, hopelessness and hypervigilance, as Heartworms narrates memories from a tumultuous childhood: “Head straight to a war / That’s just how I feel”. The title track closes the album with an unsettling moment of intimacy. Over an unexpected acoustic guitar, Heartworms repeats the plea she began the album with: “All I want to do is dance, dance, dance…”
It is rare to see artists come bolting out the gate with such a strong identity, but here is someone who knows exactly who they are, what they want, and still daring to achieve more. It’s no surprise Heartworms has taken off in recent years, but ‘Glutton For Punishment’ proves she can stick the landing” – NME
Key Track: Extraordinary Wings
Sam Fender – People Watching
Release Date: 21st February
Label: Polydor
Producers: Adam Granduciel/Markus Dravs/Sam Fender/Dean Thompson/Joe Atkinson
Standout Cuts: People Watching/Chin Up/Arm’s Length
Review:
“Ever since Sam Fender emerged at the tail end of the noughties to begin a journey that now sees him begin 2025 as a bonafide stadium star, comparisons with Bruce Springsteen have followed the prodigious Geordie star at every turn.
It’s evident in the sax-flecked stadium songs capable of bringing crowds to their knees every night, but more deeply in his emotional stories about the reality of growing up in a Tyneside fishing town where the locals directly feel the impact of being left behind by those at the top of the tree. Rock anthems about ruinous benefits assessments don’t come along very often, but that’s exactly what Fender achieved on ‘Seventeen Going Under’ – the title track of his second album.
That fire in his belly continues to burn brightly on his third album People Watching, although the tempered observations of individual lives and people refusing to be knocked down feels acutely like late ’70s Springsteen. To put it another way, it’s Fender’s very own Darkness on the Edge of Toon.
“I promised her I’d get her out of the care home, the place was fallin’ to bits,” he offers on the soaring title track. It’s ostensibly a rock anthem, but it packs an extra punch when you learn that it’s a tribute to the late Annie Orwin, a woman described by Fender as his surrogate mother.
Similarly, ‘Crumbling Empire’ will invite you in with warm classic rock sounds, but – as the title suggests – its all too familiar tales of people facing the struggle of living in a land where nothing works have the ability to impressively blindside you.
There’s a new sonic palette of sorts to be found here too. If Seventeen Going Under saw Fender grabbing our attention at breakneck speed, this third album is more considered, with stadium rock being pitted against slower, but still impactful moments. The whirring rhythms of ‘Wild Long Lie’, a song about returning home, and ‘Rein Me In’ feel strangely indebted to Lindisfarne – the Geordie folk icons who Fender loves so much he made a documentary about them. Elsewhere, he’s pulled in help on production from The War On Drugs’ Adam Granduciel – a man no stranger to playing the biggest of rooms and who has no doubt helped hone the overall feel that this is bigger than anything than Fender has ever done before.
These tales reach their apex on the closer ‘Remember My Name’ – a deeply personal ballad written from the perspective of Fender’s grandfather while he was looking after his grandmother when she was battling dementia. It’s a slow-burning epic and a strong contender for the most heartbreaking song Fender has ever written. So much so, in fact, you’d reasonably suggest that the strongest of flood barriers are installed outside his stadium gigs this summer.
All considered, it’s an album that reflects Fender’s incredible skill of, err, People Watching, and turning what he finds into songs that can subtly – and broadly – break your heart. “I’m not preaching, I’m just talking,” he offers on ‘Crumbling Empire’. That’s true, but when what he’s saying is as frequently impactful as this, you’d be a fool not to listen. He may be one of the biggest stars in the UK, but on the showing of this album, it absolutely cements his position as one of our greatest too. The big leagues are where he truly belongs” – Rolling Stone UK
Key Track: Little Bit Closer
HotWax- Hot Shock
Release Date: 7th March
Label: Marathon Artists
Producers: Catherine Marks/Steph Marziano/Stella Mozgawa
Standout Cuts: She’s Got a Problem/Lights On/Chip My Teeth for You
Review:
“Back in 2023, snotty breakout single ‘Treasure’ saw HotWax deservedly championed as the next great guitar band to come out of Britain. Plenty of big moves followed, including a couple of urgent, riff-tastic EPs and support slots with childhood heroes Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Royal Blood and The Libertines, not to mention an NME Cover. The Hastings trio have put all of those expectations and their time on the road into their blistering debut album ‘Hot Shock’.
Opening track ‘She’s Got A Problem’ kicks things off with a hammering assault of guitars, drums and bass while ‘Hard Goodbye’ starts scuzzy before morphing into something more polished but no less vicious. Straddling the worlds of grunge, punk and swaggering rock & roll, every track on ‘Hot Shock’ is a ferocious, unruly beast that’s allowed to stomp around.
A lot of the venom comes from vocalist Tallulah Sim-Savage, who delivers every sneering lyric with surgical fury. She tears into herself on the riotous ‘Wanna Be A Doll’, throwing her own destructive traits into the fire, while her tendency to spill her guts gets a kicking on the rapid-fire ‘Hard Goodbye’. There’s plenty of attitude from drummer Alfie Sayers and bassist Lola Sam as well though, with slinking breakdowns delivered with pummeling passion and precision.
That blatant chemistry is nothing short of joyful – despite the menace that can be felt across ‘Hot Shock’, the band don’t shy away from playful rock’n’roll excess either. A giddy, reckless abandon fuels ‘In Her Bedroom’ while the relentless ‘One More Reason’ comes complete with a whirring ray gun guitar solo. Add in the sleek groove of existential crisis anthem ‘Strange To Be Here’ and the smirking bite of ‘Dress Our Love’; HotWax clearly know how to turn uncomfortable angst into an excuse for a good time.
It can be tough to capture the energy of an electrifying guitar band on record, but a stellar production team consisting of Catherine Marks (boygenius, Wolf Alice), Steph Marziano (Picture Parlour, Hayley Williams), and Warpaint’s Stella Mozgawa have found a way to bottle HotWax’s chaotic, cathartic rage without dulling the edges. And even when they slow things down, HotWax don’t let up. The rumbling ‘Lights On’ lets the tender poetry of the lyrics shine (“I wanted it all and I wanted it for me”), there’s rampant desire and prickling uncertainty behind ‘Chip My Teeth For You’ while the closing ‘Pharmacy’ is pretty and fearless. “I cannot take this softly,” sings Sim-Savage as HotWax once again go hard.
Like Queens Of The Stone Age at their party-starting best, HotWax’s debut album is full of filthy rock’n’roll that’s made for dancing. That next great guitar band has arrived” – NME
Key Track: In Her Bedroom
Little Simz – Lotus
Release Date: 6th June
Labels: Forever Living Originals/AWAL
Producer: Miles Clinton James
Standout Cuts: Flood/Free/Lion
Review:
“Little Simz has begun a legal battle over allegedly unpaid loans against longtime friend and producer Inflo; for as masterful as Little Simz’ and SAULT’s discographies are, and for how intertwined they have been, this is a musical lose-lose for the listening world. Simz announcing this dispute and releasing an album in tandem is certainly the most chaotic rollout of 2025, one which could have seen a catastrophe of personal drama cascade through her craft. Instead, Lotus is an affirmation representative of her talent: the best revenge is just being better.
Lotus comes after the defiant run of Grey Area, SIMBI, and No Thank You, all produced by Inflo. With these records, Little Simz harnessed vulnerable shit-talking and defiant sensitivity like a therapeutic Avatar; no emotion was too taboo and no pit was inescapable. It’s a slew of instant classics now welcoming a fourth. Lotus toes the line between disparate emotions, ripping apart betrayal, mourning loss, and celebrating Simz as the revenant messiah of Conscious Rap. In the spirit of stamping out modern anti-intellectualism, where we must put up picket fences around emotionally compelling or lyrically profound music, I’ll just say she’s the messiah of all Rap. Get in line, world.
The runaway success of the gritty, pretty Grey Area in 2019 saw Simz embraced on a newly global stage, one that coincided with Inflo announcing his presence as a powerhouse of the murky and melodic. The glorious soundscapes of Lotus are more or less Simz’s previous work with Inflo with a fake mustache under its nose, complete with a dead ringer Cleo Sol-adjacent vocalist on “Peace.”
Between the distorted bass, semi lo-fi production, soulful backing melodies, and cinematic sheen, I had to look up new producer Miles Clinton James every four minutes; are you sure you’re not Inflo? Is this an outlandish TV episode where Inflo got amnesia in a car wreck and now thinks he’s someone else? It’s more of a mirror episode where the main crew meet nearly identical versions of themselves; for as wondrous as Lotus is, its aesthetic has been rebuilt from someone else’s ashes. There’s even a song entitled “Free,” which, in SAULT terms, accounts for 40% of the song titles in their catalogue.
Understand where Lotus falls for Simz, and you can rebuild it note for note; it’s Grey Area (Simz Version), redone on different terms to expunge herself from its past connections. Its highs are higher, its lows are non-existent, and it has the government mandated Obongjayar feature, or it wouldn’t be a Simz project. She infuses the record with breathless anger, some of it excruciatingly centered around her anger and betrayal toward her past friends, yet this turmoil is never the focal point of her message. There is no narrative to spin or extract for the tabloids except the most bare, most vital piece. Forget the headlines, Little Simz is the greatest rapper alive. What else is there to talk about?” – The Line of Best Fit
Key Track: Young
Pulp – More
Release Date: 6th June
Label: Rough Trade
Producer: James Ford
Standout Cuts: Spike Island/Slow Jam/My Sex
Review:
“This time I'll get it right," Jarvis Cocker sings on More, an album that appeared nearly a quarter-century after the band's presumed swan song We Love Life. Though that album's brooding acoustic panoramas were gripping, as a final statement they were anticlimactic. Cocker and company give fans more of what they want on More, but they choose what they revisit wisely. They'd already figured out on We Love Life that a reflective tone and slower pace was what suited them best post-Britpop, and that remains true as they contemplate the difference between aging and maturity. The band broached this topic on This Is Hardcore's "Help the Aged" (which Cocker wrote at the ripe old age of 33), but the passage of time has only imbued their thoughts with more humor and pathos. And while More's sound leans into influences that suggest the autumn of one's years -- We Love Life producer Scott Walker, Serge Gainsbourg, even Frank Sinatra -- its songs were road-tested on Pulp's electrifying 2023 and 2024 tour dates and recorded in three weeks, so things never get too sedate. On This Is Hardcore and We Love Life, Pulp attempted to put as much distance between themselves and Britpop as they could; on More, they bridge that gap with integrity. Named for the venue of a 1990 Stone Roses concert, the celebratory "Spike Island" begins the album with a burst of nostalgia, albeit tempered by Cocker's chronic self-awareness ("I was born to perform, it's a calling/I exist to do this, shouting and pointing"). When they confront More's midlife crises, Pulp come into their own. Cocker's magnetism as a storyteller is at a peak -- he's still revealing the sleaze in posh surroundings and the romance within the mundane with unerring aim, and if his characters are a little different two decades later, they're still true to form. On "Grown Ups," he finds out just how strange it is when we're all fully grown (people "stress about wrinkles instead of acne" and move near the motorway for commuting). While "Tina"'s lonely fantasies and novelistic details feel directly descended from His 'n' Hers, there's a newfound tenderness around the song's edges. Pulp's wit is still razor-sharp (particularly on the irony-drenched finale, "A Sunset"), but their heart is the biggest it's been since Different Class. "Farmers Market" suggests that the dream-spinning magic of love at first sight can be even sweeter later in life; conversely, the ordinariness of fading love on "Background Noise" makes it all the more gutting. More might be Pulp's most impassioned album, with an urgency that courses through "My Sex" and the zealous disco centerpiece "Got to Have Love," where Cocker urges his audience to "wake up and face the consequences." He and the rest of the band may be older, but they never sound as weary as they did on This Is Hardcore and We Love Life. This time, they do indeed get it right -- More is classic Pulp, aged to near perfection” – AllMusic
Key Track: Tina
Rose Gray – Louder, Please
Release Date: 17th January
Label: PIAS
Producers: Pat Alvarez/Zhone/Sur Back/Joe Brown/Alex Metric/Rob Milton/Sega Bodega/Ryland Blackinton/Vaughn Oliver/Sam Homaee/Frank Colucci/Shawn Wasabi
Standout Cuts: Wet & Wild/Hackney Wick/Louder, Please
Review:
“Rose Gray’s ‘Louder, Please’ is a mission statement for life from an artist with a laser guided focus on ecstatic dance floor abandon and the transcendent power of dance music’s energy rush.
Hedonism and the desire to have more, more, more permeate the whole record. Opening track ‘Damn’ sets the tone with its rough and dirty groove while ‘Free’ is warm and enveloping in its blissed out expansiveness. The lyrics often have a spiritual and inspiring quality to them that harkens back to the prime era of late 80s dance discovery when anything seemed possible
The thing that makes the album so engaging is it’s not just a parade of beats and poppers o’clock bangers. There’s depth, feeling and rich emotion from Gray’s skilful songwriting, a testament to the years she spent honing her craft as an artist and writer. All this is highlighted in stunning fashion on the spoken word memories and reflections of ‘Hackney Wick’, nostalgic and stirring it’s a track that evokes The Streets ‘Weak Become Heroes’ and feels like something Gray has waited all her life to say.
The album is a sonic journey for head, body and soul to soundtrack all your partying needs for 2025” – DORK
Key Track: Angel of Satisfaction