Aidan Moffat (Arab Strap) – A Year in Music – 2025

How has your year been?

Okay, thanks. Starting to feel my age a bit now, and a few too many folk have died, but I pretty much stopped doomscrolling the socials and started reading books again instead, and I’m much happier for it. Would strongly recommend.

What albums have you enjoyed most this year?

I mostly listen to music in bed these days, so my favourites this year are nighttime-friendly ambient, jazzy and classical albums. Lawrence English seems to release albums constantly, and there are two this year I think are excellent: Trinity, with Stephen Vitiello, which I only heard last night for the first time and can’t wait to hear again; and Even the Horizon Knows Its Bounds, which has loads of guests, including Claire Rousay and Madeleine Cocolas, who both released their own great records this year (A Little Death and Syndesis, respectively).

I also love Laura Cannell’s The Visible Light of Other Worlds, and cellist Clarice Jensen’s In Holiday Clothing, Out of the Great Darkness – I’m always a sucker for the strings.

What’s the most promising new act you’ve heard this year?

I just heard Georgia Knight’s album, Beanpole, this week, and played it twice in a row (in the daytime). It’s only eight songs long, but it’s got it all: intimate folky acoustics, a couple of tunes that sound like sexy, lost 90s alt-hits, and one song that’s backed with someone tuning a radio and improv jazz drums.

Any gig highlights?

I think I’ve spent most of my gig time this year at huge events with my family – Chappell Roan and Billie Eilish being stand-outs – but my favourite gig by far was YHWH Nailgun at The Flying Duck in Glasgow. It was absolutely fucking mind-blowing.

Can you recommend an album that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves?

Man, there must be thousands … I listened to Vic Chesnutt’s At the Cut for the first time in ages yesterday, which I think was maybe a bit underrated when it came out – perhaps understandably, because it’s really dark and it’s a tough listen, but I think it might be his best record.

I also think Colin Blunstone’s first two solo albums are better than his work with the Zombies, and I recently bought an LP by an old Glasgow band called Badgewearer, who were brilliant. It didn’t even have a proper cover – they were handmade, and the photo on the front must’ve fallen off somewhere, but it’s the only copy I could find for sale.

Have you anything interesting in the works yourself? 

We’ve just started recording a new Arab Strap album for next year, which – slightly terrifyingly – will be our 30th birthday. I’ve pretty much given up making solo records for now, the Strap stuff’s a full-time enterprise these days.