Top Five Indie-ish Albums of 2025 for the Saddest Clown at the Political Protest

Another year, another 365 days of pent-up rage and anguish at what we’re watching ourselves become. I hope you’ve found some way to release the pressure, whoever you are. Whether that looks like heading to a demonstration with a cardboard sign, staying home and curling around the leaden ball of your grief or throwing a house party to ring in a (hopefully) brighter tomorrow, I promise there’s at least one indie-adjacent album on this list that can meet you where you’re at and keep you company.

Cryogeyser
Cryogeyser
Lost Music Limited
Street: 02.14.2025
Cryogeyser = Slow Crush + Alvvays

Seamlessly blending grunge’s intensity with glisten of shoegaze, Cryogeyser’s self-titled sophomore record has been my No. 1 album of the year since I listened to it in February. Nothing else stood a chance. From the devastating opening track that is “Sorry” to the shimmery close of “Love Language,” Cryogeyser strums your every heartstring and sends the signal through a dozen pedals all dialed to 11 while singer Shawn Marom sings about her sorrow so sincerely it feels like your own. I also have to mention that I saw Cryogeyser at Kilby Court this spring and learned that the record has a neat little connection to Salt Lake City. Toward the end of her set, Marom paused to look at us all like we were her best friends in the world and said, “We debuted this next song years ago right here at Kilby Court.” The band then launched into “Blue Light,” my favorite track from the new album. It just doesn’t get better than that.

Die Shiny
Glory
Nine Moon Records
Street: 04.25.2025
Die Shiny = Imogen Heap + Nine Inch Nails + Bo Burnham’s Inside

I’m just going to say it: Die Shiny is one of the coolest bands to ever come out of Salt Lake City. On their EP Glory (which I’ve been calling Chill Beats to Fuck the System To), the duo has perfected their patent fusion of dancy electropop and witty polemicism. Callie Crofts’ vigorous, tongue-in-cheek delivery of cerebral lyrics like, “I think it’s time to / Sink the think tank / Of the thoughtless thought leaders / Wannabe dictators / Key Performance Indicator” is perfectly accentuated throughout by Zac Bryant’s exquisite beatcraft, making each song an irresistible earworm as well as a manifesto. With this release, Die Shiny have firmly positioned themselves as the political conscience of our homegrown pop scene, something we desperately needed this year. If you’re still sleeping on Die Shiny but want “I listened to them before they blew up” privileges, I’d suggest you get on that, like, right this second.

Jason Isbell
Foxes in the Snow
Southeastern Records
Street: 03.07.2025
Jason Isbell = John Prine + Neil Young + Gillian Welch

Jason Isbell is at his best when it’s just him and his acoustic guitar, and he takes this minimalist approach for the entirety of Foxes in the Snow. This allows him to lend every gram of poetic gravitas he can muster to the album’s primary subject matter: his divorce from singer-songwriter Amanda Shires, the woman for whom he wrote Southeastern‘s “Cover Me Up” over a decade ago. Knowing this backstory, you’d have to be made of stone to hear him sing “I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today” on “Gravelweed” without being gutted. It’s been years since I’ve come across a breakup album that bleeds so profusely. That said, the record’s standout track, “Crimson and Clay,” has nothing to do with the divorce. Instead, Isbell here sings of the tension between his love for his home state, Alabama, and his disillusionment with the region’s troubled history and culture. It’s a profound introspection of what it means to call a beautiful but problematic place home. As a lifelong resident of Utah, I can relate.

Wet Leg
moisturizer
Cult Records, Domino
Street: 08.11.2025
Wet Leg = PJ Harvey + The Sugarcubes

Between moisturizer’s bizarrely playful cover and its garage-y sound, it’s easy to label the LP an exceptional indie sleaze revival record and call it a day. But there’s so much more to Wet Leg’s second album than that. Here, you’ll find a passionate exploration of sexuality and gender identity (“jennifer’s body”), a punch to the collective face of every boring misogynist at the bar who won’t take a hint (“mangetout”) and a good handful of yearning-heavy love songs (“pokemon,” “liquidize” and “davina mccall,” to name just a few). All of these eclectic modes are held together by singer Rhian Teasdale’s ability to playfully whoop and holler just as well as she can serenade. But thematic depth and variety notwithstanding, moisturizer almost never lets up on the gleeful guitar solos and rowdy drumbeats, making it the funnest rock album I heard all year.

Wolf Alice
The Clearing
Columbia Records
Street: 08.22.2025
Wolf Alice = The Last Dinner Party + Haim

Wolf Alice’s fourth studio record, The Clearing, finds the British alt-rockers forsaking the delicious grunge of Blue Weekend and Visions Of A Life in favor of a silkier sound. This new direction disappointed some of their fans, and the album admittedly suffers from a cozy monotony that leaves something to be desired since, especially Wolf Alice have proven themselves capable of incredible high notes. There just isn’t a single rock and roll banger here as good as “Lipstick on the Glass” or “Don’t Delete the Kisses.” But when you absolve The Clearing of having to deliver on the promises of what came before, it’s actually one of the most pleasant indie rock albums of the year. Despite my initial surprise at the band’s change of course, The Clearing’s earnest lyricism, loungey tone and tremendous vocals from Ellie Rowsell have kept it in my feel-good rotation since August.

Read more Year End Top Fives:
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