Silence & Sound's 2025 Wrapped
- katiehillier
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
From ‘Britpop Summer’ and Oasis’s reunion, kiss cam chaos at Coldplay, Wicked taking over stan culture, and Charli XCX’s ‘Brat’ wedding, to another year of stacked festival line-ups, and not to forget Silence & Sound’s fifth birthday, 2025 has been packed full of iconic pop culture moments.
In one of the most “bloggy” blog posts I’ve ever posted on Silence & Sound, here’s a round up of all my favourites from the year…
Spoiler: I really love Pulp, the city of Bristol, and my friends.
Silence & Sound’s Albums Of The Year
More - Pulp
The Clearing - Wolf Alice
Euro-Country - CMAT
From The Pyre - The Last Dinner Party
Blizzard - Dove Ellis
A Pulp comeback is everything I could’ve dreamed of for 2025. Easily one of my favourite bands, More was the perfect release to end a 24 year Pulp drought - a more mature version of the band with reflections on ageing, yet still in keeping with everything that made Pulp’s classic albums so iconic. And there are plenty of classic Jarvis-isms throughout the record (“Screwing in a charity shop / On top of black bin bags / Full of donations / The smell of digestive biscuits in the air”). Pop perfection.
The other big comeback of the year (other than that one) was arguably from Wolf Alice, who have once again reinvented their sound on The Clearing, a more sultry, gentle take on their sonics which proves Wolf Alice to be one of the most vital indie-rock bands of the past decade.
CMAT’s Euro-Country provided all the chaos in pop culture, marking her as one of the most exciting break-through pop acts of 2025, yet her third-album also consists of some of the most heartbreaking, but still perfectly witty and self-deprecating, songs she’s written (see Lord, Let That Tesla Crash). The Last Dinner Party released The Pyre, their hotly anticipated follow-up to 2024’s Prelude To Ecstasy, with all the melodrama and theatrics you could want from an album. And a last minute addition to the list for me, Dove Ellis’s Blizzard, an album I was shamed for having not listened to on the day of release, and instantly regretted putting it off once I’d heard it. With folk sonics and a voice resonant of Jeff Buckley, Thom Yorke and Damien Rice, Dove Ellis is an artist I can’t wait to hear more from in the coming year.
Silence & Sound’s Songs Of The Year
Cariad - The Royston Club
The Sofa - Wolf Alice
Spike Island - Pulp
Take A Sexy Picture Of Me - CMAT
Pint Of Blood - Treemask
Cariad by The Royston Club was another song recommended to me by so many people, and I (stupidly) refused to believe the hype until an early morning train commute where I listened to it 5 times in a row whilst staring out the window. The raw emotion of the sonics paired with frontman Tom Faithfull’s vocals and introspective lyricism is addictive, and makes for the perfect soundtrack for yearning out of public transport windows. I’m completely obsessed and cannot wait to be screaming every word during their Truck set in the summer.
Wolf Alice’s single The Sofa was easily another song that completely blew me away this year, particularly down to how extraordinary frontwoman Ellie Rowsell’s vocals are. It’s intimate, emotional and gentle, yet full of catharsis, and even on album four, a cornerstone number for the London quartet.
Lead single from More, Spike Island is an obvious contender on this list. With its catchy, upbeat melody it’s the most ‘Pulp’ Pulp has ever sounded, and really wouldn’t feel out of place on Different Class or His ‘n’ Hers. Similarly, CMAT’s Take A Sexy Picture Of Me was the perfect soundtrack to summer with crowds internationally joining in for the “Woke Macarena” (I did the butcher / I did the baker…).
Finally, Pint Of Blood is the debut single from exciting Bristol experimental post-punk band, Treemask. Blending the sonics of contemporary influences such as Black Country, New Road, Maruja and Black Midi, as well as drawing from elements of Radiohead, Echo & The Bunnymen, and The Velvet Underground, Treemask deliver ethereal, uncompromising, dark, sinister sounds which stand out against their peers, and the saturated music scene which surrounds them.
Silence & Sound’s EPs Of The Year
Faces In The Crowd - The Pavilion
Siren - Keo
unsettling - Lara Rxse
Dependent - overpass
We All Feel The Same - Fletchr Fletchr
Faces In The Crowd is a slightly biased favourite EP for me, considering I helped with a lot of the PR and admin bits behind the scenes, but having known The Pavilion for 2 years, and been working alongside them on this EP since September 2024, it’s been a pleasure to see them grow the beginnings of such a dedicated fanbase and get to play in various cities across the UK. And considering how many times I’ve listened to Against The Tide this year, it’s only right for Faces In The Crowd to make it onto my EPs list this year.
One of the most exciting breakthrough bands of recent times is London’s Keo, who take the emotional resonance of Jeff Buckley and Radiohead and pairs it with more contemporary sonics reminiscent of Wunderhorse and Fontaines D.C. On Siren, the band cement themselves as The Next Big Thing, showcasing their distinctive sound, completed by urgent and cathartic vocals paired with soaring, distorted guitars, sitting somewhere among 90s grunge, shoegaze and alt-rock. Their headline set at The Louisiana back in November was also one of the most memorable sets I’ve watched at the venue. 2026 is sure to be Keo’s year.
Unsettling is the debut EP from one of my lovely friends, Lara Rxse, a Bristol-based folk-jazz singer-songwriter with a stunning voice, and song themes taking the ubiquitous and turning it into delicate, metaphorical, poetic lyricism paired with whimsical soundscapes and intricate, catchy melodies. If you’re in the Bristol area, Lara’s gigs are one to check out in 2026.
overpass returned this year with their second EP, Dependent, a cohesive, introspective five-track EP, which appears sonically much more mature, yet still incorporates big, anthemic sing-a-long moments that make overpass’s sound so distinctive. And if you’re a fan of the midlands quartet, Fletchr Fletchr is another band to be keeping a close eye on. Packed with anthemic hooks, raucous guitars and introspective lyricism longingly portraying a search for feeling amidst the mundane, the band’s debut EP, We All Feel The Same is a stand out for me this year.
Silence & Sound’s Gigs Of The Year
Pulp - The O2 Arena, London 14/06
Wolf Alice - Utilita Arena, Cardiff 01/12
Keo (& Brooki) - The Louisiana, Bristol 27/10
Inhaler - Brighton Centre, Brighton 15/02
Richard The Fourth - Jeff Buckley Tribute, The Gallimaufry, Bristol 16/12
Seeing Pulp live was not a gig I ever thought I’d get to see considering their last release was 24 years ago. But Pulp’s second night at the O2 Arena back in the summer was the best show I’ve seen this year. Each song was introduced with a little anecdote, and between songs, Jarvis Cocker reaches into his blazer pockets, bizarrely throwing grapes and sweets into the audience, and later asking everyone to hype him up as he attempts to catch a grape in his mouth (he misses, dusts it off, then eats it anyway). When you find a frontman who brings this level of chaos to a show, please let me know. Bonus points for charity shop blazers.
Wolf Alice have always been an arena band, and their set at Utilita Arena Cardiff only solidified this. A tour-de-force show marking Wolf Alice as one of the UK’s most vital bands. Despite undeniably always being destined to be an arena band, it was beautiful to see Wolf Alice finally getting the recognition they deserve. I danced, I cried, I still want to be Ellie Rowsell when I grow up.
Keo’s set at The Louisiana, with support from rising band Brooki, revived my faith in indie gigs at grassroots venues, with two high-energy sets which left me speechless (a rare occurrence). It was a novelty to see a band so hyped having to push their way through the crowd to get to the stage they’re performing on, especially when a band is receiving such critical acclaim. Yet it also served as a reminder that the bands we love all start out somewhere, venues such as The Louisiana playing such a vital role in the music industry. If you haven’t got onto Keo and Brooki yet, make it your new year’s resolution.
Silence & Sound faves, Inhaler, put on one hell of a show at the Brighton Centre back in February, despite battling seasonal colds. It would simply be wrong for me not to include the Dublin indie-quartet in an end of year list on the blog. I’m only my true self at an Inhaler gig.
And finally, a last-minute contender and local gig I went into expecting… well nothing. I’ve always held the strong belief that nobody can cover a Jeff Buckley song, but when I saw The Gallimaufry in Bristol were hosting a Grace tribute night from a Bristol super-group, led by Richard The Fourth, I was intrigued, the album being one of my favourites of all time. And I have to take my previous statement back because the band genuinely sounded exactly like Buckley’s original recordings, the vocals immaculate. It was such a moving performance and one, which again, left me speechless. No small feat.
Festival Moments Of The Year
CMAT at Green Man
Blossoms at Truck
Fat Dog at Dot to Dot Bristol
Watching CMAT’s Saturday night set at Green Man this year, standing on the hill overlooking thousands of people dancing along to her chaotic and wholly entertaining set was a core pop culture moment (and Green Man all time moment) for me. With her charisma and catchy songs, she didn’t put a foot out of place. Having pulled one of the biggest crowds at the festival to date, there is no denying CMAT should’ve headlined this year.
Similarly, Blossoms’s set at this year’s Truck festival was one of the most feel-good performances I’ve watched this year. Everybody crouching down before jumping up and singing the instrumental to Gary, during sunset, with an 8ft fibreglass gorilla named Gary onstage with the band? Yes please.
Dot To Dot is one of my favourite days of the year in Bristol, and this year’s festival was no exception. With performances from TTSSFU, Cardinals, and many of my lovely friends, it was a perfect celebration of the rich grassroots scene the city has to offer. Seeing out the best day was Fat Dog at the O2 Academy, a high energy, frenzied performance that now feels like a fever dream. I fell down the stairs midway through. Sober.
Most Visited Venue Of 2025
The Louisiana - Bristol
Gigs Attended
51 (??)
Times I Watched One Direction’s X Factor Viva La Vida Performance
More than 10
Search it up, and I promise you you’ll have to rewatch it 5 more times to pay close attention to each member’s dance moves. A favourite amongst my flatmates and I.
Hero Of The Year
CMAT
It’s CMAT’s world, we’re just living in it.
Villain Of The Year
Wunderhorse
If you told 2024 Katie that this would be my answer in 2025, she would be shocked. 2025 Katie is shocked to be writing this, but hear me out: Jacob Slater is easily one of my favourite songwriters of the past decade and Wunderhorse is still a band I’m incredibly excited about. The issue for me is more I spent MONTHS hyping up Wunderhorse to everyone in the run up to this year’s Green Man. All 10 of us who go together each year got to their set on the Mountain Stage early to secure a good spot in the crowd, only for the band to manage half an hour of their set before smashing everything up and storming off stage. I then had to explain to 10 people that, yes, that’s what I’ve been hyping for months. Lost my indie music street cred that weekend. Cheers Wunderhorse for showing me up xx
Most Anticipated Albums For 2026
overpass’s debut album
The 1975 - Dogs
Louis Tomlinson - How Did I Get Here?
I’ve been championing overpass on Silence & Sound since 2022, and a lovely email on their mailing list that came through the other day has made me very excited to see what 2026 has in store for the band! I’m also very excited to see whatever The 1975 are about to do next, seemingly an album titled dogs yet I’ve been a fan of the band for the past decade and now know you can never trust these things 100%.
An album we do know for certain will be released next year is Louis Tomlinson’s long awaited third album How Did I Get Here?, which judging by the singles so far, channels his indie-rock influences even more. It should also be noted 2026 will mark Silence & Sound’s first time seeing Louis live, which makes me so excited that I feel 13 again.
2026 Pop Culture Predictions
Harry Styles’s comeback
I don’t need to say anymore. This would fix me.
KATIE HILLIER
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