Shakedown – Double Virgo

A fan of something heavier? Fans of Bar Italia have surely got into Double Virgo already as Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton, the trio’s two guitarists, split off into their own duo. But even if you’re not a fan of Bar Italia, perhaps Double Virgo will still be for you as their new album, Shakedown, at once feels more accessible and more interesting.

Across the tracklisting, the duo seem to transform into several different bands. Sometimes they’re Blur, sometimes they’re MJ Lenderman, sometimes they’re a 2010 indie unit. They’re chameleons where the consistency comes almost entirely from their energy as the two pass the vocals back and forth and were clearly left alone to let their musical fancies and influences run wild.

While Bar Italia can sometimes feel a bit edgy for the sake of edginess, Double Virgo are dedicated to delivering a good time. Even when they’re making bold choices, it’s easy to stick with it and stay with the vibe, keeping the body moving or at least the toe tapping during one of the year’s most dynamic albums so far.

Stand out track: ‘Alarm bells in central plaza’

Nude #9 – Camille Schmidt

Released ten days into the year, Camille Schmidt wasted no time in dropping one of the best albums of 2025 with Nude #9. For anyone who had stumbled across the Brooklyn-based singer beforehand, that fact came as absolutely no surprise. Ahead of her debut record, she’d shared a series of incredible singles and an EP called Good Person, which was the opening remarks of a new rising star.

But on Nude #9, all the potential found there not only came to fruition, but was bright, bolder and more dynamic. Opening with ‘XOXO’, she begins with something glitchy and fun, even as the lyrics are as confessional as always. As the tracks move on, the album’s landscape only becomes more interesting from pure indie with ‘Cult In Denver’ and ‘Stanley’, into Imogen Heap type electro tenderness on the album’s titular track, or more thoughtful, lo-fi moments in the last minutes of the tracklisting. It does it all, and it does it all with the same unflinching introspection and sharp storytelling.

Stand out track: ‘Stanley’

It’s your birthday and you’re gorgeous – Eliza Edens

There is clearly something in the water in New York, or specifically in one friendship group in New York, given that Camille Schmidt is friends with another creator of one of this year’s finest offerings. Regularly playing shows together, anyone who manages to catch a double bill of Schmidt and Eliza Edens is lucky.

In the same vein as the likes of Adrianne Lenker or the modern indie-folk crowd, Edens needs nothing more than an acoustic guitar and their lyrics to make something that stops you in your tracks. This album’s title track does exactly that as its stunning simplicity seems to shut the whole world up. But overwhelmingly, this is the kind of album to listen to in order and float through, enjoying the interludes and the tales along the way of the cosy yet emotional listen.

Stand out track: ‘It’s your birthday & you’re gorgeous’

The Passionate Ones – Nourished By Time

I saw Nourished By Time play in Oslo once. In a packed-out basement, the health and safety codes were definitely being broken as people crowded the stairs and craned their necks around the corner trying to catch a glimpse of Marcus Elliot Brown.

For years now, the Baltimore-born artist and producer has been building a cult following through a series of different aliases at first, and then through a series of incredible bedroom-produced releases as Nourished By Time. Live, there is something graceful and captivating about the way Brown moves and conveys these beasts of songs with so much ease. Sonically, the music it’s dynamic and layered and utterly genre-less.

On this new record, both of those things come together as this record has so much going on, but always feels so natural to the artist. So much effort clearly went into it as everything is done by Brown’s hands, but with the energy and the swagger that carries you through, the listener doesn’t have to try at all to get into it.

Stand out track: ‘Baby Baby’

Paper Doll – Quinnie

On the opening track of Paper Doll, Quinnie asks her lover if they can invent new words for the feeling, or a new phrase to pass back and forth, because “I love you” is not enough. From then on, the album stays that beautiful and that poignant as the artist essentially crafts her own language of unique images and phrasing to translate her feelings.

Go back a few years, and it seems like Quinnie’s viral moment with ‘Touch Tank’ somehow clouded the breadth of her talent in the way that a big hit often can. But she’s one to pay attention to. Her debut after that breakup was already full of magic and potential, as her voice alone is unlike any other. But on this sophomore release, her songwriting becomes even sharper and her sonic world even more dynamic, with some truly interesting musical decisions here and some lines that are sure to stick with you.

Stand out track: ‘Hate Fuck’