Last week we shared albums 50 – 26 in our albums of the year list, today we reach the end of our countdown. This eclectic list features returning legends, exciting new finds and GIITTV favourites, it was compiled by our writers with input from our editors. What’s your favourite album of the year?
As always we urge you to support the artists you love in whatever way you can, it’s more important than ever. Thank you for reading. Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
25. Enjoyable Listens – Trapped In The Cage Of A Hateful Bird
27 minutes. 8 tracks of baritone croon, pop charm, synth flourish, melodic wonderment and songwriting genius.
What can never really come across on wax is the showmanship. The craft, the owning of the stage, the interaction with the audience. The raconteur in the lyrics is only part of the story. A live album would be the obvious option. For instance, the forever evolving preamble for ‘Italy 11’ is important to get the full impact of the song. I cannot do it justice. It involves his mother-in-law, his wife and a bout of tummy trouble. I won’t say anymore. You must experience it yourself. (Jim Auton)
24. Mount Eerie – Night Palace
Night Palace feels like a whisper in a world that won’t shut up. Across 26 tracks, Mount Eerie’s Phil Elverum unravels memory and time with the gentlest of hands—songs so fragile you feel they might disappear if you listen too closely. Named after a Joanne Kyger poem, it drifts through grief, love, and the delicate beauty of impermanence, never forcing a point but letting the weight rise and fall naturally, like fog dissolving on a winter morning.
Tracks like I’ Walk‘ and ‘Broom of Wind‘ strip everything down to its essence—Elverum’s voice barely there, a ghost in the room. It’s what he doesn’t say that lingers, the aching pauses where silence does all the heavy lifting. Yet, just when it feels unbearably still, Agathe, his daughter, appears—a flicker of light, a small voice of hope cutting through the darkness.
Ultimately, Night Palace is in this list because it demands nothing but your attention. It is refreshingly free of any ‘cohesive narrative’ or gimmick. It’s a meditation, a quiet reckoning, and perhaps Elverum’s most transcendent work yet. (Trev Elkin)
23. Ynys – Dosbarth Nos
With 2022 debut album Ynys, Dylan Hughes and his band enjoyed the notion of ‘more is more’, yet Ynys (Welsh for island and pronounced “unn-iss”) pushed on even further with that theme on Dosbarth Nos. The album, ultimately, leaves us with the feeling how love and hope are the things to focus on, if we can, in amongst the mess that is life. The record sounds glamorous, shiny and glossy, very much a ‘here I am’ album but with tinges of melancholy and nostalgia. Dosbarth Nos won GIITTV’s Neutron Prize this year, was shortlisted for the Welsh Music Prize and The Manic Street Preachers’ James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire picked songs from the record as their personal faves of 2024. Read our interview with Dylan Hughes here (Cath Holland)
22. Camera Obscura – Look To The East, Look To The West
Look To The East, Look To The West is a ‘comeback’ album, but it doesn’t really feel like one. Part of the reason for that is Tracyanne Campbell, who has lost none of her prowess when it comes to writing captivating melodies or lyrics with a strong message that makes you either want to punch the air or crumble in a heap. ‘Liberty Print‘ falls into the latter category; a song about Campbell’s brother, who died tragically young at 34. ‘We’re Going To Make It In A Man’s World‘ is the polar opposite; its defiant lyrics are self-explanatory and swathed in Campbell’s captivating vocals and given a kind of ’60s feel. Again, it’s a wholly irresistible composition with one of the strongest hooks that Camera Obscura have put out to date. Look To The East, Look To The West is sorrowful yet happily nostalgic, uncertain yet full of intent, and easily one of the most tenderly affecting albums you’ll hear in 2024. I’d say it’s a must-have. (Loz Etheridge)
21. Cindy Lee – Diamond Jubilee
If David Lynch had a late-night radio show, it would sound like Diamond Jubilee. Patrick Flegel, once the chaotic heart of Women, strips pop music down to its glowing bones as Cindy Lee. Falsettos from another dimension tremble through waves of hiss and distortion, while haunted melodies hang in the air like cracks in a long-abandoned room. It’s familiar, but wrong in the most beautiful way—like unearthing a memory that doesn’t belong to you.
At 32 tracks, it shouldn’t work, but it does. Diamond Jubilee feels sprawling yet never indulgent, every song a raw expression of longing, grief, and defiance. Initially released quietly and for free on GeoCities and YouTube, it was a record meant to be discovered, not delivered—a whispered offering for those willing to find it. That’s Cindy Lee: part enigma, part quiet rebellion.
Diamond Jubilee doesn’t seek approval, nor does it need it. It’s a record that exists entirely on its own terms—stubborn, strange, and unshakably itself. Call it a classic, call it whatever you want; it doesn’t care. It’s already unforgettable. (Trev Elkin)
20. Crows – Reason Enough
Crows are back with Reason Enough, album number three, following 2019’s debut, Silver Tongues, which was a time that saw them supporting IDLES amongst others, which was promising, if a little messy in parts, ahead of their more coherent 2022 follow-up, Beware Believers, and one that has seen them at a crossroads, taking longer to write than the others and instigating a change of mood in the camp.
As guitarist Steve Goddard put it, “We don’t want to sound the same as we did before – this is our third album, we have to move on. And so we fucked around a bit more.”
That change in tone is obvious from the start, the title track kicking off with a broody build which ends up in a swirl of guitar and drums, its moodiness in not being happy with their lot in what’s going on with the world carrying through to recent single ‘Bored’, a painful plea against mundanity, set over a tuneful cacophony, and it’s obvious that Crows have found their tune-laden sea legs, sounding, for want of a less icky word, as commercial has they ever have, like the poppier end of White Lies or Placebo.(Steven Doherty)
19. Wunderhorse – Midas
Wunderhorse capture the unfiltered power which has set them apart as one of the most formidable live acts in recent years. With rugged hooks, fierce melodies, and an unpolished edge, Midas breaks the mould of traditional second albums, establishing Wunderhorse as an addictive and generational talent.
After their 2022 debut Cub put singles like ‘Purple’ and ‘Leader of the Pack’ on heavy radio rotation, Wunderhorse quickly gained recognition. What started as frontman Jacob Slater’s solo project in 2021 has since grown into a cohesive band, with guitarist Harry Fowler, drummer Jamie Staples, and bassist Peter Woodin joining Slater to form a tight-knit unit that brings a new depth to their sound. (Gemma Cockrell)
18. New Dad – Madra
If Sprints were the East coast rage and raw aggression in Dublin, New Dad are the dark, brooding, quietly intense from the Atlantic West coast side in Galway. It harnesses the images of dark nights, cliff tops, the black, foreboding ocean below, smashing against the rocks. The echoes of the vocals are reverberating through the bays and coves. New Dad have encapsulated a spot on amalgamation of Shoegaze, Dream Pop, Grunge, Emo and Indie in one beautiful record. (Jim Auton)
17. Desperate Journalist – No Hero
Here is album number five from Desperate Journalist. You can feel the touch of The Cure on this record, the influence showing through, looming larger than on any other of their four LPs. ‘Adah’ glides in on a Robert Smith hook, sliding from a tree, in A Forest, and shimmering on an early morning still lake. But what stands out is the choral synth, covering everything in a satin sheet, a luxurious bath of sparkle and then the roar of euphoric Les Paul, crackling on the surface. Jo a song bird surveying it all from dark branches hanging over the slowly bubbling water.
If there was ever a worry about how they might improve on Maximum Sorrow the mere existence of album closure ‘Consolation Prize’ banishes any doubt that they are the most consistently brilliant band of the past, well, it’s a struggle to name a band who have produced five virtually flawless albums, where they evolve just enough to make it a little different and interesting, for them as much as anyone else. (Jim Auton)
16. Jessica Pratt – Here In The Pitch
Five years since her 2019 breakthrough album Quiet Signs, Jessica Pratt marked her reappearance with the exquisite Here In The Pitch. Here she ruminates on the underbelly of California, dark characters from Los Angeles’ strange, seedy history, and the bleak end of the hippy era is explored, as she peers across the sunsetting horizon of the bay. Each track is woven with a tapestry of timpani, glockenspiel, baritone saxophone, and flute yet this orchestration never sounds too much retaining a subtlety and cavernous space. It allows her fantastic vocals, vivid couplets, and bittersweet melodies to radiate. They might simmer with unspoken despair and darkness but also hold compassion for others and the self at the same time. Ending on a “weirdly” hopeful note to end on as the final credits roll on a stunning record that often drifts down dark back alleyways, but never loses hope for a return of the sunlight in the distance, a silver lining in the darkest of skies. Resplendent and transportive. This is my album of the year. (Bill Cummings)
15. Vampire Weekend – Only God Was Above Us
The record is unmistakably Vampire Weekend, yet somehow the band always manage to put some kind of new twists on their songwriting, so while ‘Capricorn‘ is, in many ways, a return to the sound of 2013’s Modern Vampires Of The City, the little piano flourishes and gorgeous string arrangement really ramp up the emotive power throughout.
It is that subtle jazz influence that makes Only God Was Above Us such a compelling listen, along with some fascinating lyrics from Ezra Koenig – “The things we used to see / the sandhogs in the street / the chickens in her bedroom” he rather bafflingly sings on ‘Connect‘, over a backdrop of bendy basslines and lo-fi beats, before ‘Prep School Gangsters‘ comes in with guitars like The Cars‘ hit ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’, leading into a seductive, dreamy melody which, at this point, has already got me thinking that it’s unlikely to be beaten as an album of the year contender.There are few things so good that you’re unsure whether to laugh or cry. But Only God Was Above Us is absolutely one of those things. An astounding piece of work. (Loz Etheridge)
14. Bob Vylan – Humble As The Sun
Bob Vylan‘s Humble As The Sun emanates a hopeful positivity like we’ve never seen before. Quite possibly their best effort yet, a materialisation of the defiant nature of those who find themselves struggling under the weight of oppression that has been placed upon them by the infrastructures in place that we see day in and day out in this country. But what this album does so differently in comparison to the duo’s previous two releases is that embodiment of an unshakeable positive energy, and a manifestation of something better. (Josh Allen)
13. Kit Sebastian – New Internationale
Kit Sebastian are primarily a duo of Turkish-born vocalist Merve Erdem and French-British musician Kit Martin but also have regular help from drummer Theo Guttenplan and double bassist David Richardson. As their new album title suggests, New Internationale is an album that embraces the idea of migration, whether musically or on an everyday life level.
Recorded in the French countryside, a place where Kit Martin spent much of his childhood, New Internationale also gives Martin opportunities for singing moments. Working well as an opener because Merve Edem’s theatrical passion instantly pulls listeners in (although she is even wilder on The Last Dinner Party flavoured ‘The Kiss’), ‘Faust’ also includes Martin’s voice in a subdued yet Serge Gainsbourg tone. Subsequent track ‘Camouflage’ works better as a duet; with the pairing sounding somewhere between Captain and Morabeza Tobacco.
After zither gives it a Portishead vibe and the flutes and Italian analog synth give it a woozy psychedelia, listeners undergo a hypnotic spell with Merve Edem incantating: “From ashes of history is born a time without fracture and disappointed desires / Projection of existential and new romantic history rendered obsolete / collective salvation in the making before the mention of the New Internationale”. The intellectual words and position at the end of the record make this sound like a mantra they brewed on their tours and that they would like to share in an effort to connect the world together. (Matt Hobbs)
12. Amyl and The Sniffers – Cartoon Darkness
“You’re a dumb cunt, you’re an asshole
Every time you talk, you mumble, grumbles
Need to wipe your mouth after you speak
‘Cause it’s an asshole, bum hole, dumb cunt
You are ugly all day, I am hot always
You are just a critic and you want to hit it
You are fucking spiders, I am drinking riders
“Don’t wanna be stuck in that negativity
Keep jerkin’ on your squirter
You will never get with me
I don’t wanna be stuck inside that negativity
Keep jerkin’ on your squirter
You will never get with me, yeah
Jerkin’ on your
Squirter, cunt
Jerkin’ on your
Yeah, yeah, go get some”
Need we say more (Jim Auton)
11. Thus Love – All Pleasure
This is a rock record for the ages. This age, the next age, the next ice age, any age. It’s a story of unconditional love for whoever you are, whoever you want to be, to love yourself (in everyway) and be seen and accepted.
It’s a form of alchemy that cannot be explained. The universe brought Echo and Lu together when the world shut it’s doors, and then Ally and Shane bowled up and slotted in to place like last pieces of a jigsaw of billions of unfathomable pieces but it made a Thus Love. Twas ever…..(Jim Auton)
10. Lime Garden – One More Thing
Lime Garden have been making brilliant indie pop since before the Garden was attached to the Lime, as there is another band called Lime apparently that no one knows about. Even though, as Lime, they did release one of their best singles ‘Surf’n’Turf’, there is no doubt Lime Garden have blossomed into a fantastic pop band. One More Thing is the culmination of years of tinkering and testing and the result is a varied but cohesive record. There is so much humour in Chloe Howard’s lyrics and delivery, with the best line of last year, when describing Influencers “….with enough money to do, whatever the fuck it is they do“, mostly delivered in a brilliantly deadpan way that has the loudest audible eye roll this side of Lily Allen. Fuck you very much.
Whilst they have described the content as being generally about being miserable, it has the aesthetic of a band having the time of their lives. And they are. Because it is possible to feel both at the same time. As Chloe laments on ‘Pop Star’, “I don’t wanna work my job/’Cause life is short and this is long….. ‘Cause life is fleeting and I’m a pop star”. (Jim Auton)
9. Michael Kiwanuka – Small Changes
While previous record Kiwanuka – as evident by its title – was Michael Kiwanuka looking inward for answers to his anxiety problems and coming to terms with his identity, the clear-headed follow up Small Changes is the British musician appreciating and by motivating by the familial circle that surrounds him and that has rapidly grown since 2016; he married Christian wife Charlotte in 2016 and recently added their son and daughter, as well as their dog Whisky into their ménage. Moving from a noisy London to the more tranquil south seas of Southampton after the release of the Mercury Prize winning predecessor also helped him concentrate on the family part of his life.. It’s as if Small Changes is an album that maintains sophisticated charm but has a warm simplicity for his family to comprehend and enjoy at home.
“Stay By My Side’ – which has an aquatic texture that recalls Radiohead’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Alien’ next to its shifting drums and spectral soul – is Michael Kiwanuka’s expressing his unlimited love for Charlotte through water metaphors. ‘Floating Parade’ is a refreshed Michael Kiwanuka charitably giving back. It gives those suffering from anxiety a comforting evocation. The use of “we” in Kiwanuka’s words “We can be stronger than life itself / We need foreign times to arrive” is Kiwanuka being part of and connecting to the anxiety society and sending the message across that communities such as having a family can help you get through those troublesome times. (Matt Hobbs)
8. IDLES – TANGK
TANGK, this is not a fair weather fan record that can be dipped in and out of, there’s no ‘Danny Nedelko/Never Fight A Man With A Perm’ screamalongs.
The signs are all there just how much this album differs from what’s gone before, the main change being on the production team, which now consists of Kenny Beats, guitarist Mark Bowen and Nigel Godrich and due to his coming onboard, it would be easy to use lazy Radiohead comparisons by calling TANGK “IDLES’ Kid A”, but there’s so much more to it than that.The first two singles, the swish and swagger of the LCD Soundsystem-infused ‘Dancer’ and the drum machine driven ‘Grace‘ with its simple “no god no king, I said love is the thing” message arrive as a blessed relief to the gut punch intensity of the previous two songs and it’s from here that the emotional reins are loosened slightly musically and feel more abstract lyrically.
It’s a shame that people will have long made their minds up about IDLES, as this is a genuinely mind-changing record. But for those of us already on the right side of history, it is an extraordinary set of songs, it’s little wonder that they are one of the biggest bands in the country, and this record should put them in another stratosphere. This is an album by a band for those they love and for those that love them. (Steven Doherty)
7. The Last Dinner Party – Prelude To Ecstasy
Over the course of forty minutes or so, Prelude To Ecstasy reveals itself to be a very accomplished and stylish album, all the more so because it is a debut. If you’ve heard any (or hopefully all) of those five preceding singles, and they’re all here, the quality continues.
Generally being filed under indie at the moment, it should be noted that there’s a whole lot of creativity going on, and that these very talented individuals are not the meat and two veg kind of slop that still gets flung at us under that label. Artists I might draw parallels with would include St. Vincent, Janelle Monae and Anna Calvi. Not because I think they sound like a great deal like any of them, but because this is closer to art-rock, and very individual. Right from the opening, instrumental title track, this is something that grabs you and you’ll want to play over and over again. (Ed Jupp)
6. Charli XCX – Brat
With Brat, Charli XCX delivers her most electrifying and audacious work yet, transcending pop’s current trends to reclaim the raw, chaotic energy of the mid-2000s. Her sixth album is a neon-lit tribute to It Girl hedonism and DIY electro-pop, brimming with bold production and sharp lyricism. Tracks like ‘Von dutch’ and ‘Talk talk’ channel the frenetic energy of French house and MySpace-era dance music, while songs like ‘I think about it all the time’ and ‘So I’ reveal a nuanced vulnerability, exploring grief, jealousy, and existential reflection with disarming honesty. Balancing imperious swagger with introspective candour, Brat subverts the sanitised image of today’s pop stars, reviving the unapologetic, messy glamour of an earlier era. It’s both a nostalgic homage and a forward-thinking statement, seamlessly merging high-concept ideas with unforgettable hooks. In an era of overly polished authenticity, Charli reminds us that being a little unhinged can be revolutionary – and more fun than ever. Put simply, Brat is one of the year’s best pop albums, serving as a manifesto for a new kind of pop star. (Gemma Cockrell)
5. Nick Cave & the Bd Seeds – Wild God
Wild God, the 18th studio album from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, is bright, poetic and hopeful. Featuring ten songs that lift and carry you towards a place of optimism, the album sees Nick Cave shift his music and his songwriting away from darkness and despair and towards the light. Death, loss and pain all feature on this record but Cave uses these feelings to create something magical.
Wild God is the first Bad Seeds record since 2019’s Ghosteen and Cave’s first studio album since 2021’s Carnage – an album credited to Cave and his long-time musical collaborator Warren Ellis. On previous records, as Cave himself says, there was “little room for the full band.” For Wild God, Cave knew the whole band had to be involved. “I wanted the Bad Seeds back in the fold – unchained, exuberant, and free” he said. Cave gets his wish as Wild God feels like the ‘biggest’ Bad Seeds record to date and embraces the warmth of the full band reconnected. It consists of wonderful, melodic arrangements, featuring angelic brass and string sections as well a bank of choral voices providing sumptuous backing to many tracks. (George Phillips)
4. W.H. Lung – Every Inch Of Earth Pulsates
Every Inch Of Earth Pulsates might only contain nine songs, but oh my, what a set they make up. Every one of them is an absolute treat, starting with the driving, kind of ‘Dirty Vegas does shoegaze’ opener that is ‘Lilac Sky‘. It’s such an emotional sounding track with a lot of heart. It’s impossible not to fall in love with it, from its pulsating beginning to that dramatic, huge sounding culmination at the end. The fact that they follow this with ‘Bliss Bliss‘ – a song with one of the most euphoric choruses you’re ever likely to hear. A real warm-feeling blast of nostalgia. So good you want to cry.
I Can’t Lie‘ harks back to the 1980s and tips it hat, whether knowingly or not, to Bronski Beat, Joe singing falsetto here, and it’s one of my favourite tracks as a result, but picking a favourite track here is like trying to choose your favourite offspring. It can’t really be done without feeling guilty. So it won’t surprise you to know that the early Depeche Mode-like ‘The Painting Of The Bay‘ is also fabulous, with shades of New Order circa 1982 to boot, before the utterly staggering curtain closer, the easy to sway along to ‘I Will Set Fire To The House‘. Every Inch Of Earth Pulsates is beyond question one of the most glorious long players we’ve seen released. I firmly believe that, in years to come, this may even be looked upon as one of the classic albums of the 2020s. Perhaps even beyond. Just breathtaking. (Loz Etheridge)
3. Sprints – Letter To Self
“Do you ever feel like the room is heavy?” asks Karla. Often. It’s a word that often comes to mind when listening to Letter to Self. Not so much on ‘Heavy’ the last single that came out the day before the LP landed. Instead, there are angular guitar lines and a tempo that makes you think of countrymen Fontaines DC.
‘Shaking Their Hands’ allows the intensity to drop temporarily, without the momentum being lost, it’s a gorgeous, weary lament at the world. Karla is raging at the patronising, misogynistic and demeaning treatment she has received whilst trying to make it in this industry, never more prominent than on ‘Adore, Adore, Adore’. ‘Up and Comer’ is one of the best songs of last year, excellently placed in the penultimate position on the record. It’s a frenetic and frantic race, a scream in the face of those who have patronised her. “Here we go the devil’s knocking at my door”. Had we had the best album of 2024 just five days into the year? Quite possibly. Note to self: go and see Sprints as soon as possible. (Jim Auton)
2. Fontaines D.C. – Romance
Romance opens with the chilly, sinister title track that grips the ears straight from the off. ’Maybe romance is a place’’ , by the sound of this then if it is a place, it doesn’t instantly sound like one that you’re going to enjoy visiting, it broods with menace and intent.
The deadly recent single ‘Starburster’, with its breathless rap which hits as hard on the 10th listen as it does on the first, breathless being particularly apt due to Chattens’ gulps after each line of its chorus, inspired by a recent panic attack he suffered in London.
Latest single ‘Here’s The Thing’ is a bit more straightforward, sounding as if it could be an early 2000’s single from a Britpop band going through a maturity spurt (which sounds like an insult, but is meant as a compliment). The end of the breathy ‘Desire” introduces the string element to proceedings, which become far more noticeable as the record continues, as does the variety in the vocal style, it feels that there’s so much more character.
“This is the first album where I’ve actually loved my own voice,” Chatten says. “I sound most like myself on Romance.” Big words from the man who once walked out of the band’s own Dogrel listening party to go to the pub as he couldn’t stand listening to his vocal.The already released closer ‘Favourite’, is a blissful jangle, a perfect way to celebrate what’s gone before, a strident lap of honour.
Where they may once have sounded a little more tired of life, Romance sees them throwing the curtains wide open, it’s a record which sees them sound ready to take on the world again.
Romance is very much alive. (Steven Doherty)
1. The Cure – Songs Of A Lost World
It’s been 16 years since the release of The Cure’s last album, 2008’s 4:13 Dream, and for this writer that’s basically a third of my life spent waiting for this. No pressure, then.The album starts with ‘Alone,’ which is as fine an album opener as any they have produced – one which holds its own with the likes of Kiss Me’s ‘The Kiss’ or Disintegration’s ‘Plainsong’ (even ‘Want‘ from the unfairly maligned Wild Mood Swings). It sets the tone for the album. This isn’t an album as nihilistic as Pornography, but it fits alongside it, Disintegration and Bloodflowers very nicely.
Yet the most outstanding cut is probably album closer. If you think finishing an album with a song called ‘Endsong‘ is too obvious, just wait ’til you hear it. Perhaps because The Cure first appeared in the days of albums being consumed as a whole rather than skipping backwards and forwards on CDs or streaming services, the whole thing hangs together as a whole.. While they weren’t awful albums, few would rate their last two albums, the aforementioned 4:13 and 2004’s The Cure as among their best. Songs Of A Lost World sees them back, firing on all cylinders and showing why they are so beloved by so many.
Who knows if it’s their last album, or whether there’s more to come? Let us be thankful that it’s here and just as wonderful as we dared to hope it might be. If it is their last (how many times have we heard that?!) it will be a fantastic way to end it. If not, on this evidence they have so much more to give. Let Smith and his merrier-than-you-might-think men deliver it in their own time. (Ed Jupp)
