Best New Songs (January 30, 2025)
Don't miss these great tracks.
Photo by David Perez
At Paste Music, we’re listening to so many new tunes on any given day, we barely have any time to listen to each other. Nevertheless, every week we can swing it, we take stock of the previous seven days’ best new songs, delivering a weekly playlist of our favorites. Check out this week’s material, in alphabetical order. (You can check out an ongoing playlist of every best new songs pick of 2025 here.)
Bells Larsen: “514-415”
One of the main criticisms I see superficially thrown at current artists is that they don’t provide new perspectives, or worse yet, that there are no new stories to be told through music. It’s a baseless argument, with rotting roots in rock ‘n’ roll supremacism, and it only serves to ignore the wave of modern musicians that simply want to be heard and understood, musicians like Bells Larsen. On “514-415,” Larsen weaves together universally understood anecdotes to form a story all his own—the moments he pulls being so minute, yet so overwhelmingly emotional. He has the weather of his partner’s city still saved on his phone. He sees the mug from their last visit still uncleaned on the counter. He’s reeling in split-second visions, just longing for the sentiment to be mirrored on the other side. Larsen shares his thoughts through a lens that’s half-Elliot Smith, half-Sufjan Stevens, with delicate acoustic guitars and toned-back drums leaving room for distinct harmony in the vocal performances. These harmonies form the heart of “514-415,” with the higher parts being recorded prior to Larsen beginning testosterone, while the lower arrangements were written further along in his transition—an intentional act to define the acceptance and beauty of life’s changes. —Gavyn Green
Black Country, New Road: “Besties”
It’s been a tumultuous few years for Black Country, New Road—after the indie rock band amassed a rabid online fanbase, frontman Isaac Wood unceremoniously left the group mere days before their 2022 record, Ants from Up There, released, leaving the fate of the band hanging in the balance. But Black Country, New Road was never just Wood’s project; the seven-turned-six-piece band quickly rebounded on tour, playing all new material, some of which was eventually released on Live at Bush Hall in 2023. That makes the relatively saccharine “Besties” the group’s first studio single since Wood’s 2022 departure, and it sets in stone the new road BCNR are walking down: the prog-rock, post-punk, arguably masculine-coded angst of Ants has been set aside in favor of a development of the band’s female-led, Bush Hall sound, broadening the group’s horizons to twee-pop and chamber rock. This emphasis on the women of the group (bassist Tyler Hyde, keyboardist May Kershaw, and Jockstrap’s Georgia Ellery) breaks new ground for BCNR, with Ellery saying that the role of the “three girls singing” created “a real through line” for their upcoming album, Forever Howlong, which is “definitely very different to Ants…because of the female perspective—and the music we’ve made compliments that.” In fact, on “Besties,” Ellery takes lead vocals for the very first time, her smooth, simplistic tone soaring above Kershaw’s twinkling harpsichord instrumentation as she sings “I’m not asking much / Just enough.” It’s a sincerely charming and charmingly sincere track, all soft chamber-pop and vibrant twee. We’re entering a new era of BCNR, but two things are for certain: their confidence and their friendship remain, as always, wholly intact. —Casey Epstein-Gross
Djo: “Basic Being Basic”
The definitive song of late 2023/early 2024 was more than a year old at that point, but Djo’s “End of Beginning” was the track that broke the seal on Joe Keery’s music career. Seemingly overnight, his solo project was no longer a best-kept secret for his die-hard fans (and the listeners who simply thought “Roddy” was awesome but had no clue who the man behind Djo actually was). The track was the sixth-most streamed song in the world in 2024 with more than a billion streams, charting in 41 countries and going Platinum and Gold in nearly 20 territories. Oh, and it shot to #11 on the Hot 100. Not too shabby for that pizza delivery guy who played guitar in Post Animal, huh? Well, Keery is back with a new album (The Crux), and its lead single, “Basic Being Basic,” is bona fide phenomenal. It’s a two-and-a-half-minute bite of Oberheim OB-X8-fueled, synth-pop splendor. And Keery’s falsetto pitch shifts are pure technicolor. The song is a “shot fire to anyone who’s trying to be of the moment,” he says. There’s a line about Vera Bradley being in vogue that is so deliciously cheeky, and I’ve already got my first favorite misheard lyric of the year: “what a nifty epitaph that is” (the line is actually “what an empty epitaph that is”). If “Basic Being Basic” says anything about the rest of The Crux, then 2025 will be the Year of Djo once more. —Matt Mitchell
Dutch Interior: “Fourth Street”
I dig Dutch Interior because I know nothing about them yet I’ve enjoyed everything they’ve put out so far. There are a lot of guys in this band, and they’re incredibly fascinating (their first press photo, which accompanied the release of “Ecig” last year, was a negative). Their last single, “Sandcastle Molds,” arrived as this psychedelic, thumping track where the band’s mystique could properly simmer. Now, they’ve pointed their arrow at the lead single from their forthcoming debut album, Moneyball: “Fourth Street,” a dreamy, scaled-back and slow-burn indie-rock song. It’s got a little bit of three-chord magic in there, and a multi-part chorus that builds out of a blasé lead vocal. That faint pedal steel melody that whimpers deep in the arrangement is particularly gorgeous. It’s what I imagine Pavement would sound like if they were taking a piece out of the current alt-rockification in country music—or, “Fourth Street” is just a contemporary “Father to a Sister of Thought.” Either way, “Fourth Street” has some serious SOTY energy. —Matt Mitchell
Fust: “Bleached”
At the start of Fust’s new single, “Bleached,” singer-songwriter Aaron Dowdy professes: “Lost my grasp of English / Somewhere between here and the beach.” It’s a particularly striking opening lyric coming from him, not merely owing to the slight quaver in his innately poignant warble, but also because, if anyone hasn’t lost their grasp on the English language, it’s him—an increasingly convincing frontrunner for this generation’s Southern rock poet laureate. On Fust’s outstanding March release, Big Ugly, Dowdy traverses the Southern and Appalachian regions where he and his family’s roots are planted; the songs’ dense, potent instrumentations feel out the contours of places existing only in his memory, and they’re populated by a host of thoughtfully sketched characters. Within “Bleached,” there’s Corey, an old friend whom Dowdy specifically remembers for his lightened summer hair. It’s to Dowdy’s credit as a lyricist that, somehow, such vivid details reveal more about the listener than himself. You see, when he sings of an old pal’s “summer blonding,” you’ll be transplanted back to the grainy, dusted-over footage of your innocence—a time of “barely happening,” as he quite brilliantly puts it. When he cries to his “boring angels,” you’ll surely think of your own; whomever that curiously evocative phrase conjures depends on what you think it signifies. And, of course, Dowdy’s bandmates are there to nurture and enliven every word. Here, Dowdy is wreathed in a soft glow of synthesizer (courtesy of The War on Drugs’ David Hartley), fiddle (beautifully played by Libby Rodenbergh) and gentle strumming. The understated arrangement feels both lightheaded and chest-swelling—it’s steeped in youth’s sweetness while embodying the aching cavity of its loss—and it’s just as irresistible as the fried heartland rock of their Fust’s single, “Spangled.” If these early tastes of Big Ugly don’t immediately turn you into a Fust faithful, you should get your ears checked. —Anna Pichler
Read: “Fust: The Best of What’s Next”
Lord Huron ft. Kristen Stewart: “Who Laughs Last”
“After three hours at the wheel, I found myself beyond the borders of my experience. From there, it was one alien world after another. Ghost towns, painted deserts, hamburger stands. Neon temples, canyons carved by patient rivers.” Actress Kristen Stewart made her musical debut with these words, putting her voice to tape for the first time ever alongside Lord Huron on “Who Laughs Last.” Given Stewart’s quiet hand in musical projects over the years, what may seem like a left field team up is, in reality, a long forecasted collaboration. The actress has starred in music videos for the Rolling Stones and Interpol, and she’s directed a 14-minute short film for boygenius titled “The Film” in support of the trio’s 2023 album the record. On “Who Laughs Last,” Stewart monologues over a frantic drumbeat, paying no mind to the storm of distorted sounds and ripping bass around her as she delves further into each poetic line of spoken word. Meanwhile, frontman Ben Schneider materializes between each stanza, belting out his escapisms in classic Lord Huron fashion. The song plays like a reminiscent callback to 2018’s Vide Noir, the L.A. band’s most high-voltage record to date, as if “Who Laughs Last” is the unofficial “Ancient Names (Part III)” we never got. —Gavyn Green
Mamalarky: “Feels So Wrong”
Livvy Bennett sings like she’s telling you a secret. “I have never been original,” the Mamalarky frontwoman intones at the top of their latest single “Feels So Wrong.” “My given name is Olivia / I just changed it when I was a child to say / You will remember me anyway.” There’s something truly irresistible about the track, the warmth and garage-esque fuzz of Bennett’s voice echoing over Dylan Hill’s steady drumline, Michael Hunter’s tinkling keys, and Noor Khan’s grounding bass. The song arose out of an odd period in Bennett’s life, when she quit her job to go on tour—and also deliver pizzas for no tips while she wrote more and more music in her head. “Every day ended in an inconclusive feeling,” she explained in a press release. “When I started writing ‘Feels So Wrong’ I was recognizing that the things that should make you feel happy never bring as much meaning as sorting through the muck, confronting your challenges even when it sucks, even when there’s no end in sight.” “Feels So Wrong” embodies that hope that can be found in hopelessness, the right to be found in the overwhelming wrong—and it’s absurdly catchy, to boot. —Casey Epstein-Gross
Momma: “I Want You (Fever)”
We’re big fans of Momma already; their 2022 breakthrough Household Name made our list of that year’s best LPs, though personally their 2020 concept album Two of Me will always have a special place in my heart. Now, the Brooklyn-based band are returning with their fourth record, Welcome to My Blue Sky, which will grace our ears on April 4, and have also shared the yearning lead single “I Want You (Fever).” Momma say of the track: “‘I Want You (Fever)’ is a song we wrote about wanting to be with someone who has a girlfriend, or someone who isn’t over their ex. It’s pining after someone, but there’s also some confidence knowing that that person wants to be with you. The second we wrote that song we felt like we were entering a new era—we scrapped everything we had written for the album up to that point because it felt so fresh and so exciting.” Warped, glitching sounds kick off the track, making you feel like you’re headed into a flashback sequence and feeding into the single’s sun-drenched nostalgia. Crunchy, reckless guitar gives the song just enough bite, and vocalist/guitarists Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten’s sugar-sweet vocals are as charmingly infectious as ever. The chorus is invitingly simple in an instant-classic sort of way. You can just picture many a lovelorn Momma fan screaming along: “Pick up and leave her / I want you, fever.” This single has all the rush of a rapturous summer fling.—Clare Martin
Read: “Momma Prove to Be the Rock Stars This Generation Needs on Household Name“
Sleigh Bells: “Wanna Start a Band?”
Take yourself back to 2008. We’re on the precipice of the Great Recession, Katy Perry invents lesbianism with “I Kissed a Girl” and WALL-E steeps us all in eco-existential dread (not that much changed as a result). In a Brooklyn restaurant, a server named Derek Miller asks Alexis Krauss if she wants to start a band with him, and thus, Sleigh Bells is born. The noise-pop duo recall this fateful moment on their utter blast of a new track “Wanna Start a Band?” out now via Mom+Pop Music. Bold, clarion call guitar riffs greet us, along with a snappy beat that burrows its way into your gray matter. Sleigh Bells’ maximalist approach is in flying form here, from the starry effects to the digital flourishes that make the listener feel trapped inside a particularly dizzying video game. “Derek started messing with the riff for this song around 2014—it needed a lot of work but a spark was there. We had a band by then but didn’t know how long it would last. For us, this song is a reminder of how we started but it’s also the first part of a new story we want to tell—more on that very soon! We hope you will come along for the ride,” the pair explain. Fingers crossed that means there’s a new Sleigh Bells album in store for us this year. —Clare Martin
The Murder Capital: “The Fall”
Among the most gripping bands to have emerged from Ireland’s ongoing post-punk boom is The Murder Capital, a Dublin-bred outfit soon to release their highly anticipated third album, Blindness. “The Fall” is the latest sonic tempest they’ve unleashed, driven by the force and fervor that’s come to distinguish their particular brand of noisy guitar rock. As a silvery hiss of the drums rumbles to a thunderous crash and a shrill, siren-like guitar line prods into the din of noise—as though to herald incoming catastrophe—frontman James McGovern stands in the eye of the storm: “Yeah, the fall is coming, I can see it so clear,” he growls, as his bandmates’ storm of sound glitches and gathers speed, closing in on him. He’s a doomsday prophet with both feet glued to the ground, even while the tectonic plates beneath him crack and diverge. Packing each trembling whisper and breathless howl with urgency, he ensures his warning is received and heeded. —Anna Pichler
Other Notable Songs This Week: Alison Krauss and Union Station: “Looks Like the End of the Road”; Charley Crockett: “Lonesome Drifter”; Craig Finn: “People of Substance”; Deafheaven: “Magnolia”; Glixen: “all tied up”; Hachiku: “Fun For Everyone”; Jamie xx ft. Erykah Badu: “F.U.”; Julien Baker & TORRES: “Sylvia”; Lucrecia Dalt ft. David Sylvian: “cosa rara”; Lucy Liyou: “Arrested”; Phil Cook: “Appalachia Borealis”; Puma Blue: “tapestry”; SASAMI ft. Clairo: “In Love With a Memory”; Sexyy Red & Bruno Mars: “Fat Juicy & Wet”; Sunflower Bean: “Champagne Taste”; The Faint: “Zealots”; Tunde Adebimpe: “Drop”; Uwade: “Call It A Draw”
Check out a playlist of this week’s best new songs below.