ThisIsTheMusic

2025 didn’t just deliver great EPs — it delivered statements. Bold, loud, ambitious shots from artists who refuse to wait their turn. These 20 EPs aren’t warm-ups or side dishes; they’re knockout blows, proof that the indie scenes are firing on all cylinders and absolutely overflowing with talent.

From soaring indie anthems to gritty, heart-on-sleeve confessionals, these releases powered late nights, long drives and everything life threw our way.

So here it is

ThisIsTheMusic’s Top EPs of the Year. Turn it up, dive in, and discover the artists who shaped our 2025.

Tom A. Smith – Say What You Want

Tom A. Smith’s Say What You Want is the sound of an artist stepping out of the “youth prodigy” shadow and into something far more dangerous: a fully formed songwriter with bite, ambition and widescreen emotional range. This EP feels like a breakthrough moment — not a promise of what’s to come, but a statement that Tom has already arrived.

There’s urgency stitched into every second here. Big hooks collide with vulnerable storytelling, delivered through vocals that balance confidence with something bruised underneath. The production is full of lift, but never loses that raw, bedroom-to-festival edge that makes Tom so compelling. Each track feels built for a crowd that already knows the words, yet grounded in the kind of self-reflection you only get from an artist who genuinely lives what he writes.

Say What You Want is a flag planted firmly in the ground — not a step forward, but a stride.

Essential Track: Fashion — sharp, self-assured and bursting with Tom’s rising-star confidence.

Rolla – We Owe You Nothing

Rolla’s We Owe You Nothing is a snarling, swagger-drenched EP that reaffirms Manchester’s reputation for producing bands with fire in their veins and truth in their lyrics. Rolla aren’t here to imitate the city’s lineage — they’re here to extend it.

From the minute the guitars ignite, there’s a cinematic, working-class grit driving every second. The rhythms march forward like they’ve got something to prove, while the vocals carry that unmistakable Northern bite: raw, emotional, defiant. Rolla channel frustration, pride and ambition in equal measure, writing songs that sound like they were built in rehearsals rooms full of sweat, scraps and big dreams.

Their storytelling is honest without ever turning sentimental, and the production gives every riff a sense of size without polishing away the edges. We Owe You Nothing is Rolla at their most focused — urgent, hungry and ready for war.

Essential Track: We Owe You Nothing — powerful, defiant and the purest embodiment of what Rolla stand for.

Happy Neighbours – From Southbank to Battersea

Happy Neighbours deliver a beautifully understated gem in From Southbank to Battersea, a warm and melancholy EP shaped by the tiny, intimate moments of London life. It feels like a love letter to the city’s quieter corners — late-night tube rides, riverside reflections, bittersweet memories caught between stations.

The guitars glide with breezy charm, the basslines sway gently underneath, and the vocals carry just enough ache to leave a mark. Nothing here is overwrought; instead, the band rely on subtle craft and emotional precision. Every melody feels lived-in, every lyric rooted in reality rather than performance.

It’s indie drenched in honesty — soft on the surface, bruised beneath it. The EP flows like a short film shot in natural light, capturing vulnerability without ever needing to shout. It’s the sound of a band confident enough to whisper.

Essential Track: Battersea — understated but devastating, capturing the EP’s heart with its emotional precision.

Alex Spencer – Where Do We Go From Here?

Alex Spencer’s Where Do We Go From Here? is an indie triumph — sharp, melodic, and overflowing with that brilliant blend of teenage vulnerability and unstoppable ambition. Alex writes with the urgency of someone living every emotion in real time, and it gives the EP a blazing openness that’s impossible to ignore.

Choruses land like gut punches, guitars shimmer and snarl in equal measure, and the lyrics juggle heartbreak, hope and confusion with sincerity beyond his years. There’s a punchy immediacy to everything; nothing drags, nothing overstates. The EP feels like a coming-of-age film set to stadium-ready indie, all delivered with Alex’s rich, emotionally soaked voice.

Spencer’s talent is no longer potential — it’s present tense. This is an artist in full flight.

Essential Track: Clouded Thinking — emotionally honest and melodically golden

Rosellas – Every Beautiful Night

Rosellas level up spectacularly with Every Beautiful Night, an EP soaked in Manchester romanticism and widescreen, sky-splitting ambition. These songs don’t just reach for the horizon — they sprint toward it with arms wide open.

Guitars shimmer and roar in equal measure, vocals glide with dreamlike confidence, and the songwriting swings big without ever losing its emotional core. Rosellas have always known how to craft atmosphere, but here the choruses are bigger, the emotions heavier, and the stakes higher.

This is a band writing for the memories you replay years later — the nights that shaped you, the moments that didn’t feel real at the time. Dreamy, bold and absolutely huge.

Essential Track: Happy Again — euphoric, cinematic, and Rosellas at full, glorious tilt.

Dirty Blonde – Looking For Trouble

Looking For Trouble is Dirty Blonde at their snarling, stylish best — a full-throttle blast of guitar-led chaos and rock’n’roll swagger. This is an EP built on attitude: punchy riffs, venom-laced vocals and hooks that sound like they were carved from steel.

Dirty Blonde walk the line between modern indie-rock and classic rock rebellion, but never fall into imitation. Instead, they weaponise their personality — sharp, self-aware and dripping with charisma. The production hits hard without drowning out the grit, and the entire EP feels like it was recorded during a heatwave inside a speeding car.

It’s loud, addictive and full of fire.

Essential Track: Northern Twang — bold, hook-heavy and bursting with character.

Shale – Shale

Shale’s self-titled EP is a beautifully crafted, emotionally rich debut that positions the band as one of the UK’s most promising new indie outfits. There’s a peaceful confidence in these songs — a willingness to sit with emotions, to explore softness without ever slipping into fragility.

The arrangements are warm and detailed, the production crisp without being clinical. Shale lean into atmosphere, weaving nostalgia, self-reflection and quiet yearning through gentle guitars and tender vocals. Nothing feels rushed; everything feels intentional.

This is indie for deep thinkers and late-night listeners — honest, melodic and full of heart.

Essential Track: Fuzzy Identities — dreamy, intimate and quietly devastating.

Overpass – Dependent

Overpass continue their rise with Dependent, a powerful, melodic and fiercely self-assured EP. These songs feel made for big stages — a blend of youthful intensity, crisp production and choruses tailor-made for crowds shouting every word back.

The band juggle vulnerability and swagger with real skill. The guitars are punchy, the rhythm section drives everything forward, and the vocals carry a mix of determination and emotional rawness. It’s an EP full of momentum — every track feels like it’s pushing toward something bigger.

Dependent is Overpass proving they’re ready for the next level.

Essential Track: Take It Or Leave It — huge, urgent and built for festival moments

RADIATOR – Glass

Glass is a chaotic, clever and cathartic EP from RADIATOR — a band who turn anxiety, anger and modern world chaos into razor-edged indie-punk brilliance. Every track feels like a spark hitting petrol.

The guitars slash rather than shimmer, the bass churns with menace and purpose, and the vocals are delivered with magnetic volatility. What sets RADIATOR apart is how controlled the chaos is — precision inside the noise, meaning inside the mayhem.

This is music for anyone who feels like the world is constantly one bad day from falling apart.

Essential Track: Nekrasova — sharp, intense and absolutely gripping.

Healer – Black and Blue

Healer’s Black and Blue is a gorgeously bruised collection of indie anthems — emotional, melodic and built on real vulnerability. The band blend atmospheric guitars with stirring vocals, creating an EP that feels equally haunted and hopeful.

Healer have always thrived in the balance between softness and power, and here they strike it perfectly. The themes of pain, growth and resilience land hard, but the delivery is soaring rather than heavy. It’s a stunning, cinematic step forward.

Essential Track: Black and Blue — aching, powerful and utterly unforgettable.

The Kowloons – James Dean

The Kowloons explode with youthful swagger on James Dean, an EP that captures restlessness, rebellion and the myth-making rush of being young and convinced you’re untouchable.

These are big indie tunes — punchy guitars, huge choruses and lyrics dripping with adrenaline. The band write with their hearts and lungs wide open, and it shows. It’s messy in all the right ways, confident in all the necessary ones.

Essential Track: James Dean — a coming-of-age belter and the EP’s defining statement.

Roscoe – What Do We Do It For?

Roscoe push themselves somewhere deeper, darker and more ambitious on What Do We Do It For?. This is a rich, emotionally layered EP built on soaring vocals, atmospheric guitars and introspective lyricism.

The songs grow and unfold with a patience that rewards repeat listens — subtle details, striking melodies, meaningful storytelling. It’s the sound of a band stepping into their own skin.

Essential Track: If You Want Me To — heartfelt, beautifully crafted and the EP’s emotional anchor.

The Memos – Futures Ours to Find

The Memos deliver a burst of joy, energy and optimism with Futures Ours to Find, a bright and hugely likeable indie EP that glows with ambition.

These songs are tailor-made for summer crowds — breezy riffs, big choruses, lyrics full of resilience and youthful hope. The band write with heart-on-sleeve honesty, and the result is an EP that’s uplifting without ever turning cheesy.

Essential Track: Born Again — a euphoric highlight full of momentum and heart.

Isla Mae – Some Form of Art

Some Form of Art is a soulful, intimate and elegantly crafted EP that positions Isla Mae as one of the most captivating new voices in alt-pop.

Her vocals are stunning — warm, expressive and capable of turning a single line into a punch to the chest. The songwriting blends vulnerability with control, and the production wraps everything in a dreamy glow.

Essential Track: One Night Stand — tender, atmospheric and emotionally piercing.

The Public Eye – Eternal Romantique

The Public Eye embrace nostalgia and cinematic grandeur on Eternal Romantique, an EP bathed in reverb, emotion and late-night melancholy.

The songs drift and shimmer with beautiful restraint — soaring vocals, dreamy textures and melodies that hover in the air long after they end. It’s indie with a romantic heart and a cinematic soul.

Essential Track: Divine — lush, hypnotic and a perfect distillation of the EP’s atmosphere.

Arkayla – Don’t Look For Answers

Arkayla come out swinging on Don’t Look For Answers, a raw, emotionally charged EP built on biting guitars, heavy grooves and fearless honesty.

The themes of struggle and self-reflection land hard, but the songs remain tight, melodic and full of forward motion. It’s gritty, cathartic indie rock delivered with conviction.

Essential Track: Long Way Back — powerful, urgent and emotionally loaded.

The Blooms – Reminisce

Reminisce is a warm, nostalgic and beautifully melodic EP from The Blooms — a band who capture youth, memory and bittersweet reflection with real authenticity.

The guitars glow, the vocals are heartfelt and the choruses carry a gentle emotional punch. It’s indie with soul and sincerity.

Essential Track: Reminisce — golden, heartfelt and the EP’s emotional core.

Charm – So Unknown

Charm’s So Unknown is a bold, stylish and sonically rich EP that blends indie, alt-pop and post-punk edges into something fresh and modern.

The band lean into texture, groove and atmosphere, crafting songs that feel alive and unpredictable. It’s inventive without ever losing melodic clarity.

Essential Track: Shadow of Time — moody, hypnotic and completely absorbing.

Ratoon – Butterfly Effect

Ratoon deliver their strongest work yet with Butterfly Effect, an EP bursting with emotion, grit and stadium-ready indie power.

The guitars roar, the drums thunder, and the vocals bring a perfect balance of bite and vulnerability. It’s dramatic, heartfelt and full of impact.

Essential Track: Out On My Feet — explosive, emotional and impossible to ignore.

Suspire – Fire To Fire

Suspire’s Fire To Fire is the kind of EP that doesn’t just introduce a band — it ignites them. This is a blistering, atmospheric and emotionally charged piece of work, driven by a sense of urgency that feels both intimate and explosive. Suspire operate in that sweet spot where beauty and abrasion collide: shimmering guitars cut through the haze, the drums land with dramatic precision, and the vocals burn with a kind of controlled desperation.

There’s a cinematic tension running through the entire EP, the sense that something is always on the verge of erupting — and when it finally does, it’s nothing short of electrifying. Lyrically, Suspire wrestle with reflection, longing and quiet devastation, but they never drown in their own darkness; there’s light flickering through every crack, warmth behind every storm.

Fire To Fire is the sound of a band catching fire in real time — ambitious, emotional and impossible to ignore. Suspire aren’t making noise for the sake of it; they’re making a statement.

Essential Track: You’re Eternity — a soaring, emotionally loaded standout that captures the EP’s glowing intensity.

If this list proves anything, it’s that the next wave isn’t creeping in quietly — it’s kicking the doors off. These EPs weren’t stopgaps or warm-ups; they were defining moments. Breakthroughs. Turning points. The sound of artists refusing to play small.

2025 set the bar high, and 2026 is already looking dangerous. Some of the names on this list are about to make serious moves — headline shows, festival slots, big-stage moments. And as ever, ThisIsTheMusic will be right there shouting about them first.

Stay tuned. Stay curious. Stay indie.

ThisIsTheMusic isn’t going anywhere