Five songs from 2025 that sound like they came from the past
The further we go on in time, the more of a taste for nostalgia we seem to develop for things from before our time.
As a child of the 1990s, it feels unusual to stumble upon people half my age who are still fascinated by everything from Oasis to the Spice Girls in 2025, but given how I was brought up on David Bowie and The Beatles, who am I to question this?
Because of how far popular culture has developed in the last 60-70 years, we’re bound to have more of a fascination and interest in trends that were popular before our time, and the rapid acceleration of trends is something that will only increase the more available the media we consume becomes. With a wealth of popular music from the 1960s available to us in both digital and physical formats today, it shouldn’t be a surprise that modern music takes as many cues from older generations as it does.
This can often work in reverse too, with many people of older generations complaining that modern music has gone down the drain in terms of its quality, and that they’re getting a hankering for something that evokes the same sense of excitement that you had as a kid when you first laid ears on Bob Dylan or Leonard Cohen as a young nipper.
Well, fear not, because there’s a wealth of good music beneath the surface that is still channelling the same styles from half a century ago, and while you may be wary of some of it coming off as a pastiche, all of the artists mentioned below are not just simply plagiarising the works of their predecessors, but convincingly emulating what they achieved and even building upon the foundations that were laid out before them.
Here are five choice cuts from 2025 that hark back to the old days, but all do so in a way that feels impeccably novel and refreshing despite having their roots in music from at least 50 years ago.
Five songs from 2025 that sound like they came from the past:
Cory Hanson – ‘I Love People’
Wand frontman Cory Hanson has something of a chameleonic tendency about him, and on any given album with his main project or as a solo artist, it’s hard to predict exactly what direction he’s likely to take.
On I Love People, his fourth outing under his own name, the Californian multi-instrumentalist leans into a love of ‘70s songwriters, with odes to Lou Reed, occasional forays into Neil Young territory, and a title track that has a certain air of Randy Newman about it. Based upon a foundation of buoyant piano and horns, Hanson takes his lyricism in a far more satirical direction compared to the storytelling style that he adopts on much of the rest of the record, with every line starting with “I love people” as his lists of loved ones become increasingly more hollow and facetious.
This may well be the only time we ever get to hear Hanson in this particular mood given his propensity for redirecting his sound on every release, and given how he’s been adept at virtually all of the genres he’s tried on for size in past, it’s likely that the next one he attempts to work into his repertoire will be delivered with just as much panache. However, for now, his jaded ‘70s crooner impersonation is one that’s worth several more dives into, and a fine example of a track that delivers the sounds of the past into a modern era.
Picture Parlour – ‘Neptune 66’
In our review of Picture Parlour’s hotly anticipated debut album, I declared that the band’s singer, Katherine Parlour, is “like if Robert Plant was born in the body of a Gen-Z scouser” – and I stand by that.
I’m not quite sure what the musical version of ‘iPhone face’ is; where actors simply look too modern to ever be convincing in a period piece. But Parlour could not be further from it. Both live and on tape, her voice felt transported direct from the ‘60s and ‘70s as she roars like one of the greats. That alone could make the entirety of The Parlour qualify.
But on this track, it’s Ella Risi’s power that tunes through like a beacon or like a time machine. In under four minutes, she sounds like Keith Richards, like Jimmy Page, even like Tony Iommi. She’s absolutely shredding in moments, but each time the song twists and changes, their experimental power is proven more and more. It sounds like one of those jaw-dropping ‘70s tunes where it felt like the artists were fully inventing someone new, or like they were basking in the creative freedom to just flow into some place wild. ‘Neptune 66’ would have been a classic back then, and it should be a classic today.
Matt Maltese – ‘Anytime, Anyplace, Anyhow’
Have we lost the art of a simple and pure love song? It often seems that way as the masters used to be so good at it, wearing their heart on their sleeve and not being scared to pour out grand gestures in beautiful ballads.
If there’s one person in 2025 bringing that back, it’s Matt Maltese, who released Hers, an entire album devoted to love and heartbreak. As the opening single for the era, and the tenderest track of the entire record, ‘Anytime, Anyplace, Anyhow’ feels like a spiritual sibling to Paul McCartney’s ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ as both songs weave perfectly between the poetic and the casual, all while being characterised by complete and utter devotion.
Maltese has always been the king of a ballad, but on this latest record, and especially on this song, his lean into that feels so timeless and so classic. There is nothing trendy or fleeting about a song this beautiful, meaning that it will still shine forever, never to rust.
Brian D’Addario – ‘Till the Morning’
If there’s been any band you can count on in the last decade for bringing the pop flair of the ‘60s and ‘70s back in full swing, it’s The Lemon Twigs.
The brotherly duo of Brian and Michael D’Addario have made five albums together, channelling everyone from The Beach Boys to Big Star, and while some may call it a kitschy rehashing of out-of-date sounds, there hasn’t been another act to do this in a more authentic fashion in the 21st century than the Long Island pair in their band. However, following on from the success of 2024’s A Dream Is All We Know, the elder Brian has chosen to release his first collection of solo songs, and boy, is he rolling back the years on this release.
The album’s title track, ‘Till the Morning’, opens the record with an amalgamation of sunshine pop and Laurel Canyon-esque songwriting in a true throwback style, and it couldn’t be a better invitation into the retro influences that have always guided D’Addario throughout his career. For someone still only in their twenties to be consistently churning out material that evokes classic songwriting with such ease is remarkable, but for all of the touchstones that Brian D’Addario leans upon, there’s something truly unique about him that makes him stand out in today’s crowd.
Hutch – ‘Rustle’
Imagine pulling up with the whimsy competition and seeing that your opponent is Hutch – terrifying.
Brighton’s Hutch have never once sounded like a modern act. Instead, they turn the seaside town’s various venues into sun-soaked California, or the cool air of San Francisco in the early ‘60s, just before pure and optimistic rock and roll was replaced by something angstier.
Some of that comes down to their tight Beach Boys-esque harmonies, crafting layered tunes that Brian Wilson would be proud of. But honestly, I think a lot of it comes down to the willingness to go all in on fun. The band typically wrap up their live sets with the world’s cutest psychedelic song about snails, or are joined in a sing-along about a radiator shop in town. But on ‘Rustle’, they’re imagining a sweet creature that represents their friendship, singing a song so joyous and cute that it’s impossible not to get pulled into it. Willing to get twee and drop into a world of make-believe, it also takes them out of the anxiety of the modern day.
