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 #11: ‘Crooked Wing‘ by These New Puritans.

Completely overlooked by most people including myself, British twin brothers Jack and George Barnett better known as These New Puritans released their fifth album this year: an album nothing like the dance punk I knew them from back in 2008 (on album ‘Beat Pyramid’ containing former jam ‘Elvis’) but instead one that shows their skills within a genre they’ve been excelling in for many years now being experimental neo-classical. This avant garde genre is probably amongst some of the rarest one you will find here on Jam of Today and it took me until seeing this band live on the 3rd of November of this year before I realised how much I like this kind of music.

It all started off with me and my partner wanting to go to a show again. It didn’t really matter who was on the bill; we were just looking forward to a gig again for the first time in a while. I noticed These New Puritans playing a show in Amsterdam, a band I remembered from ages ago when I spun their debut album a bit in my teens. “This’ll be fun”, I said as we bought tickets, not having a clue yet what I was in for. Fast forward to the faithful night and a few songs into it made me realise this was probably going to be one of the best gigs I would attend all year. Sadly, I had to do it all alone since my partner was out sick but I’m sure she would’ve absolutely loved it too. Songs that stood out during the gig were the immaculate ‘Organ Eternal’, ‘Fragment Two’ (both off of ‘Field of Reeds’, 2013), and ‘Where The Trees Are On Fire’ (‘Inside The Rose’, 2019). It all lead to me playing their 5th album ‘Crooked Wings’ a few days later, now finally being able to fully grasp the beauty of this band’s music.

I like classical music. A good friend of mine often brings me along to some of the most stunning renditions of symphonies in Amsterdam’s iconic Concertgebouw. Neo-classical, however, is a genre I’ve never really bothered listening to up until now. ‘Crooked Wing’ isn’t one of those albums you casually play on your way to work or during cooking. It’s one you sit down for with a pair of headphones on, closing your eyes and let the soundscape take over. The use of some less contemporary instruments such as tubular bells, pipe organ, and vibraphone make this album stand out as one of the most musically captivating records in this End of Year list and rightfully make it one of the most beautiful ones, too. Songs such as ‘A Season In Hell’ (which could easily be featured on a Model/Actriz album) or ‘Industrial Love Song’ (featuring alternative pop singer Caroline Polachek) make for a massively surprising factor, since songs ‘Wild Fields’ and ‘Goodnight’ are nothing short of art music to the core. Title track ‘Crooked Wing’ makes for the crown jewel of this album: an absolutely stunning composition which at times sounds like it could be a cinematic classical piece. Overall, this album is a stunningly surprising piece of content offering something brand new upon each time of listening. I hadn’t necessarily thought I’d be diving into this genre this year but I’m glad I did. Truly one of my favourite personal musical discoveries of 2025.