I Don't Hear A Single 10 Best EPs Of 2025

 

The final list before I go for a lie down. We celebrate our 10 favourite EPs Of 2025. Let normal service begin!

 

1  Hexham Heads - Hexham Heads      IDHAS Review

2  Secret Molecules - The Strawberry Sun      IDHAS Review

3   Elena Rogers - Always Trying      IDHAS Review

4   Janus 4-14 - Ghosts From Your Past      IDHAS Review

5   Skittish - Ugly Makes Pretty       IDHAS Review

6  Borderlines - Repair Kit      IDHAS Review

7   Rocket Rules - immediately and without hesitation    IDHAS Review

8   Slow Motion Film - Eastman / Untitled # 1     IDHAS Review

9   Fara San - Fara San     IDHAS Review

10  Spencer Pope - Dang       IDHAS Review

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Skittish - Ugly Makes Pretty EP

 

You are about to read words describing what will possibly be the best EP of 2025. This and some upcoming stuff that has yet to be released will reveal what rude health Indie Pop is currently in. There's also a cautionary tale for both reviewer and artist here.

I was initially sent a song for the Listening To This Week Playlist which I thought was a little mellow for it. I was wrong and would have discovered so if I had listened to it a bit more. But with so many weekly submissions for a 25 song playlist, decisions can be too quick.

Rather than going off feeling down or, as some do, telling me how wrong I was, I got a reply saying I think this song may suit your place more. That song was Kicking In and it opened last week's LTTW playlist. I wanted to listen to more and bizarrely discovered that I had reviewed the Skittish album from 2023 here. Blame my aging memory, but to be fair, I do listen to more music than I should do.

These five songs are all different. Again the male / female vocal split works wonderfully. The latter provides a more Pop feel, at times a little more commercial. There is also a bigger Electric Guitar vibe to the EP than previously, particularly on the songs sung by Jeff Noller.

Kicking In remains a wonderful listen. Beautifully arranged that sort of marches as it builds and builds, it is an absolute joy. Piece Of Heaven is much rockier and pacy, instrumentally a little Housemartins with a better arrangement, less simplistic than they would offer up. It is a reminder of those glorious Indie Guitar Pop days of the second half of the 80s.

Present Tense is more brooding, kind of epic, with a wonderful Brass arrangement. Mother Nature is a more straight ahead ballad, more Modern Melodic Pop built around Piano and Organ and yet still splendidly arranged.

My Day Of Revenge is built a mesmerising keyboard riff that is a little Toytown, but just wait for the poptastic chorus. Sassy and again beautifully arranged and written. Five great songs that sort of reinvigorate your faith in the magic that music brings into your life.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. You really really should give it a go.

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skittish - Midwest Handshake

 

It still irritates me that people think of I Don't Hear A Single as a Power Pop site. That was our roots and we still cover some, but over the 7 years we've moved on and we cover what we want. True it is centred around Indie Pop Rock, but we are as comfortable reviewing Prog and Psych and something as wonderful as this album.

Skittish is essentially Los Angeles based Jeff Noller who is a Minnesotan and spent two months writing Midwest Handshake. The influence of the state framed the songs in the mid 1950s, but the musical styles were very different. 

You'd expect some Americana or Country and you get a little of that, but this is essentially a Pop album, a great Pop album. Noller adds the angelic lead vocals of Gracie Huffman on three of the songs which ups the Indie Pop vibe and there is some wonderful orchestration courtesy of Chris Lahn.

The songs are very descriptive, both lyrically and instrumentally. The subjects covered in the words reveal that the concerns were not that different in the mid 20th Century to now, although the mess we are in now is covered admirably.

Noller's vocals are ideally suited to the material, he is as at home with an Acoustic vibe as the Pop Rock and the arrangements are gobsmackingly wonderful. There is also one of the best Pop Rock songs that you will hear this year contained within. 

That song is Mannequin, a melodic wonder of a song sung in a style not a million miles away from Slacker and including a killer chorus and an awesome Riff. Are We There Yet is very Brill Building Piano Pop and Home Team is a cracking opener, moving at quite a pace with some splendid Cello from Jacqueline Ultan and some soothing Brass.

Huffman's vocals are amazing. She gets sassy on Second Act with gentle attitude and handles great Pop Rock on Lowlifes. True Believers is top notch winsome Indie Pop with another killer chorus. All three are a testament to the quality of Noller's songwriting.

Magic Catfish even trends Vaudeville with more arrangement depth, particularly the Brass which dominates the song. Come Around is a great 1970s Piano Ballad and even though I'm not particularly a fan of Country, Easy On Me could just easily change my mind.

I could say more, but will end with one word and that is Magnificent. Midwest Handshake is an easy listen, but don't let that fool you. That easiness hides a mastery of what it takes to make an all encompassing album that is hard not to play again and again.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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