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 #10: ‘Pirouette‘ by Model/Actriz.

After a decent influx of dance punk acts in 2024, this year was a lot more quiet in this regard. With Fat Dog at the helm, the revived genre seemed to be the logical progression into punk sub-genre territory after having many adjacent bands breaking through over the last couple of years. However, the rise in electronic influenced post-punk bands seemed to stagnate and it felt like it needed a bit of a boost again. In comes Model/Actriz, who crafted their 2nd album ‘Pirouette’ into a magical and vulnerable mix of artsy industrial-inspired dance punk.

I first got to know Model/Actriz back in 2023 when my colleague shared debut album ‘Dogsbody’; an impressive debut showcasing that this band was doing something clearly different than most other post-punk acts did at that time. It was the raw, noisy touch that made them burst onto the scene and welcome many new fans into their lives, including myself. With the release of ‘Pirouette’, Model/Actriz has done basically the same but just a little better. Being full to the brim with deep and sensual beats, supported by the poignant vocals of Cole Haden, this album is a lot better than most realise.

It’s one of these albums that grabs you by the neck right from the start. ‘Vespers’ is an amazing album opener immediately showing off Model/Actriz’ unique sound, and so does the equally as strong and captivating ‘Cinderella’. It took me a hot minute before I properly picked up on this album but as soon as I heard those two tunes, I was hooked. It sets a great standard for the rest of the album, too. Lyrically, ‘Pirouette’ is a deep and self-conscious piece of music. Almost each song features Cole Haden throwing around insecurities, questions, and self-awarenesses he’s been facing throughout his life. ‘Headlights’, for example, which is a 1,5 minute spoken word interlude where Haden opens up about coming out to his close friend in 8th grade and his first crush causing him many feelings af anxiousness and even hatred. Throughout ‘Pirouette’, Cole Haden portrays his vulnerability which, in combination with the music, creates an awkwardly pleasant icy veil.

The deeper we get into the album, the further we go down the dark well. ‘Acid Rain’ is a tough to swallow and by times gloomy song, while the techno inspired ‘Departures’ and ‘Audience’ leaves us lingering in the underground for a bit longer. The distorted ‘Ring Road’ then again shows Model/Actriz capabilities of being able to constantly surprise and strongly portrays them as an art band over anything else. ‘Pirouette’ is a beautifully cold and intriguing trip down the darkest roads of dance punk. It’s raw and unpolished but this chilling sound makes it balance so extremely well on the vulnerable line Cole Hadon has drawn under this piece. This album truly lifts dance punk to new highs.