With the last Weekly5 edition of 2025 lying behind us, I’ve been digging through my playlist where I save songs that didn’t make the cut. Almost a hundred tracks I felt were worth revisiting, but frankly, once I started combing through the number of tracks dwindled rapidly. Also, because of the only rule: The artist shouldn’t have featured before.
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Alright, here we go.
World News – Everything Is Coming up Roses
With all the symphonic brilliance of Britpop, the English band World News has created Everything Is Coming up Roses, a colourful anthem that oscillates between resignation and optimism. Here, the jangly guitars of The Stone Roses’ This Is The One meet the climactic quality of Led Zeppelin, complete with grandiose, wistful solos. This is great rock music that doesn’t shy away from larger-than-life grandeur but, with its crisp production, indulges in cathartic exuberance.
A Tale of Golden Keys – Slow Motion
Slow Motion slowly blossoms with the rising sun. The trio A Tale of Golden Keys from Nuremberg, Germany, plays with gentle balance and dreamlike agility through the composition, which steadily gains in density and complexity. And then a twitching synth sound joins this playful indie folk sound, turning this good track into a great one. It may take you several attempts to really grasp the meandering Slow Motion. But once this piece has captivated you...
deleterolf – Shameless
Perhaps Shameless by Swiss artist deleterolf is something like a love-hate relationship cast in music for me. There’s pop kitsch, coated in bittersweet chocolate. Something you’re not supposed to find appealing. But then there are also these irresistible, wistful melodies, this hint of autotune. The result is undeniably beautiful and melancholically indulgent. And so the conclusion is clear: deleterolf has succeeded in creating an exquisite piece of pop music with Shameless.
Tenderness – We’ll Always Have Paris 1919
In We’ll Always Have Paris 1919, Katy Beth Young effortlessly bridges the gap between raw rock, folk sensibility and country emotion with her solo project Tenderness. Inspired by an engagement photo of an ex-boyfriend, the song puts the vocals in the spotlight, accompanied primarily by a concise guitar. The duality between the unagitated, perfectly balanced sound and the sharp observations in the lyrics gives We’ll Always Have Paris 1919 its own unique appeal.
Augusta – All Through the Night
With her raw intimacy, Anglo-French folk artist Augusta cuts deep into the flesh. All Through the Night is a ballad of longing par excellence, almost whispered, between pain and tenderness, between instrumental brilliance and quiet vulnerability. All Through the Night is a song that warms like a crackling open fire, like the embrace of a loved one, but also hurts like a farewell forever, like the memory of a time gone by.
