It’s time to reflect on the year in music! This month, we’ll be highlighting Jam of Today’s favourite albums of 2025. Working our way up to the #1 album, which will be revealed on the 31st of December, we’ll go one by one past this year’s favourites. Today, our #30: ‘waiting list‘ by Rosa Canina.

It may come as a surprise to those that haven’t read the About page of this blog before but even though all of Jam of Today’s blog posts are written in English, I’m actually a Dutch dude, born and raised in the quaint town of Hoorn, Noord-Holland. For a long while, I tried keeping an eye out for emerging talent from my home country until I started to realise one overarching fact: none ever seemed to make it big internationally. Except for the occasional EDM DJ, you would barely find a single Dutch act making a name for themselves over the border. DI-RECT, Kensington, Son Mieux or KANE? I bet you (as a non-Dutch reader) have never even heard of ‘em, even though we consider those to be amongst the biggest bands of the last 25 years. How come, you may ask? Well, hear me out.

As a Dutchie, it’s safe to say most of us have a pretty solid understanding of the English language. Going to The Netherlands, you will never have to fear getting stuck in a situation where no one understands you. As long as you speak English, you’ll be fine. When it comes down to music, however, it doesn’t quite work the same way.

When we talk about Dutch music, I’d like to split it up in two parties: the one sang in Dutch and the one sang in English. Depending on the actual genre, I can usually quite enjoy the first one, as long as the lyrics are decent that is. The type sang in English, though, is a whole different story. See, I’m a firm believer the quality of a song drops massively when the lyrics are written and sang in a language that isn’t the artist’s native one. It just doesn’t work as well. No matter how well you understand a second language, it just isn’t the same writing proper lyrics in it. Of course, there’s exceptions to the rule and there definitely are Dutch bands writing and singing in English that produce great music (e.g. Texoprint, Tramhaus, Rats On Rafts) but overall, I find myself being a lot more critical when it touches upon this specific topic. Luckily, there’s a way out: instrumental music. Add Rosa Canina to the story, a Dutch band excelling in creating instrumental and experimental post-rock.

Tiny footnote: with a British guitarist, Danish bassist, American drummer, and Greek synth-player, the only Dutch thing about Rosa Canina is the fact they’re based in The Netherlands. Ha! Oh well, I don’t mind it. At least this way I can highlight a ‘Dutch’ album I truly enjoy. On to the music now.

Rosa Canina’s second album is a bit more daring than their first, most likely due to the addition of Petros Samiotis on synth which elevates the songs on this album to a whole new level. ‘waiting list’ starts off with ‘old woes new wail’, a song drenched in an ominous industrial-like sound, before transitioning into the overwhelming title track of this album. With screeching guitars and blasting drums, it’s hard to grasp any sense of direction the group is going but that’s exactly where lies the strength of Rosa Canina’s second. It’s an unpredictable and striking album that balances between dark and gloomy post-rock and synth heavy prog. Moving on through interlude ‘happy thoughts happy thoughts happy thoughts’ to the next highlight of this record in ‘lockpicker’, much like this album’s title track one that blasts you away right from the start via ways of surprising riffs and commanding synths. With the more dreamy and drony ‘let the bridges burn’ and ‘it’s not you it’s me’ we quickly reminisce to Rosa Canina’s debut album ‘Am I An Amaryllis?’ (which I highlighted during my June special!) and ‘still, still’ marks the build up to the final blow of this release: ‘limbo 2.0’. An 8+ minute long album ender guiding us through all genres we’ve explored over the last 30 minutes once more. It’s the ultimate recap of what we’ve listened to and summarises the entirety of my favourite and only Dutch album I will highlight during the December special of this year.