These Fresh Faves were picked by our readers over the weekend – and reviewed by Fresh On The Net’s Del Osei-Owusu this week. You can hear all these tracks in a single Soundcloud playlist here.

A word from Del: Hi everyone, welcome to the final fresh faves of 2025. What a year. We will be back in January with the inbox, so please tell your friends about us in the meantime if you like what we do, and spread the word about FOTN and keep supporting each other. I’ll be hosting a roundup of music I’ve discovered this year on Exile FM. Yes the show will be back in January – so listen out!

If you want to submit a track to my show you can do so by dropping me an email at del.owusu@gmail.com with a bio and an audio file – Clean radio edits only.

Thankyou!

Onto the ten. I don’t have any orange hot chocolate this year, however I do have Cadbury’s hot choc with shortbread from M&S with pistachio dip. It is ridiculously good.

Four lit and in the green.

Let’s go.

AMY VEE – Blood in the Water

We kick off the faves with an acoustic number. This sounds very much like a live performance on an empty stage, the layered vocals on top give this a bit of a cinematic feel along with the chord changes. There’s two parts to this but we will come back to that shortly.

With the lyrics, it’s dark which is quite a contrast against the sugar coated vocals:

I don’t know when I lost the thread
Too tangled in the weave to see the consequence
Now I lie where I made my bed
In a state of agitation I’ve come to accept.

This could be tackling the state of mental health, but the hint of how dark the sugar coating can get happens at around 0:55, but put a pin in there because there’s a transition where drums with brushes are added, and a bass, but the transition happens bringing us into a whole new part of the song, the dark chords that were hinted at earlier now come to the forefront, bringing a big climax to the song, and before you know it….

It’s over.

Who’s Amy Vee? Well she’s a singer songwriter and multi instrumentalist from Australia, she’s been honing her skills by touring across Australia, there are videos on her website to show this.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp

CARWYN ELLIS & RIO 18 – Tonnau Ar Tonnau

Tonnau Ar Tonnau is Welsh for Waves Upon Waves. Did you know that? I certainly didn’t, until I googled it. I miss the days when we had a Welsh speaking member of the team.

This is a nice little soulful number, this could have come out of the studios of LA in the 70s, with its slick basslines and groove, the vocals are really what caught my attention plus the audio of water lashing against the shore. I would love to know the inspiration behind this not to mention the translation for the full song, this soulful vibe has really chilled me out but at the same time made me long for the long hot summers. I may even jump on a train to Brighton just to enjoy some chips on the beach. Or maybe just jump on a plane life is way too short not to enjoy the little things in life.

Looking at Carwyn Ellis’s Wikipedia page, I don’t even know where to begin.

Member of The Pretenders?
Check.
Collaborator with Edwyn Collins?
Of course.
Recorded with Leonard Nimoy?
Uh huh.
Multi instrumentalist with a list of instruments that would make the average Prince impersonator ugly cry?
I mean…
Oh yeah one other thing….
Oasis collaborator?
Yeah.

I have so many questions.

Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | Bandcamp

JUNIOR VP -Easy Come, Easy Go

This is classic early 2000s rock, almost tipping the scales into punk if given a little nudge, but stays on this side of the spectrum with those harmonies!

This is anthemic the drums are right in your face, open hi-hats for the chorus, really punchy. The guitars are played beautifully mixed in a way that it’s like they’re lead into a vanishing point for the vocals. I like the stops and starts especially since there’s a breakdown and things slow down to bring in a synth while the lead vocal takes over. This song is like it’s been written following the rules of catchiness, and this band deserves all the success in the future. Well done to them!

Instagram | YouTube

NIAMH CORKEY – Heaven’s Side

Time to slow things down, this is a delicious mix of folk and jazz, the violin, piano, and acoustic guitar wrap around the vocals really well.

This song tells us the story of a relationship that seems to have been put on hold for whatever reason, I like the little nod in the lyrics to Osibisa with “Heaven knows not where I’m going” (Have a listen to Woyaya and you’ll see what I mean).

I particularly like the extended instrumental section, violin, guitar, and piano playing like their souls depended on it taking turns to jam out with each other as well as Niamh Corkey’s own voice crushing the adlibs this is just stunning.

Niamh was raised in a family of folk musicians on the east coast of Scotland and is now living in Glasgow, she won the Solo Artist Award at Donegal’s beloved Ballyshannon Folk Festival in 2024 and has been honing her skills live on tour.

Official | Instagram | Facebook| YouTube

NWANDO EBIZIE, DOCKLANDS SINFONIA, JUNIOR GUILDHALL – Carry The Other

Wow this is epic. I love it when artists throw us big curveballs like this, it’s what makes FOTN quite unique, you never know what’s going to come through your inbox, and NWANDO EBIZIE has certainly thrown a big curveball in this direction.

This is a full blown composition incorporating a sinfonia, and musicians from Guildhall, so you know that this going to be top quality already.

On first listen, I thought I was listening to a soundtrack of sorts, but then soundtracks are made up of short excerpts, but this just builds and builds with transitions, you hear woodwind, strings, harp, brass, percussion and it moves you along not you being moved, the one experience it gave me is that feeling of waling through an art gallery, and as you walk through you’re looking to your left and right. As you look, the pieces of art move, but then woven together they tell a story, you’re in a space of discovery. It’s gentle and wraps you up in warmth even though it’s starts off dark in the minor territory.

All in all, it’s emotional for me, maybe that’s just my headspace today, but it works.

Over the years I’ve heard people say that they’d like to work with an orchestra – my challenge to them is this then – why don’t you approach a college orchestra? It could be a positive challenge for all parties involved.

Nwando’s fascinating – a little insight into how I work I write a review then I do my research it’s so I’m discovering as I go. Tony Hardy calls it my stream of consciousness writing, and I do it so that it helps me to fill in the backstory at the end. With that in mind, Nwando is a multidimensional artist. Her site describes her as multidisciplinary I’m going with multidimensional. She works across all mediums, this track is from an EP of hers which is on bandcamp called The Myth Of Thamesis – The River this is what it’s described as on bandcamp:

The Myth of Thamesis – The River, a limited edition hybrid project that exists as an orchestral album, aural poem and an accompanying book of poetry. At once cinematic and lyrical, the work fuses myth, ecological urgency, and sonic storytelling.

I told you she was multidimensional.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp

ROCHELLE ANNE SWANSON -Minimal Animal

I like a good waltz and this is clever, blending different rhythms with gorgeously arranged vocals, I found myself tapping my foot and clapping my hands in rhythm along with this track to be able to work out what I’m hearing. It goes in a round, so it loops back on itself and it sounds so complex but the complexity makes this song all the more beautiful.

Rochelle Anne Swanson’s lyrical wordplay is very cleverly done, it follows the rhythm of the music:

Minimal minimal animal
You are the most minimal
Man I know
Minimal mythical animal
You are the most minimal
Man I know

If this was a rap track or even a jazz song, then the crowd would be going wild right about now, but Rochelle Anne Swanson deserves her flowers for this.

Rochelle Anne Swanson or Rochelle Rochelle (I’m not sure if this a typo or not but if she’s called Rochelle Rochelle I love it) is a singer songwriter from London, her songs have been written over a 6-8 year period.

Instagram | YouTube | Bandcamp

SHANE SATO Never-Let You Go feat. Oli-J

Time to go with a track that’s packed full of soul and a saxophone solo! This is old school in its vibe I like the Wurlitzer EP doing laying down the chords under it. The star here is the vocals, provided by Oli-J according to the credits, I like the way there’s a call and response on this.

I can’t go any further without talking about the overall track, Shane Sato’s done a great job here in putting this together, he’s on drums and doesn’t feel the need to push that to the front, it’s got a great groove overall letting Oli-J be at the forefront.

“Never Let You Go” is the lead single of LA-based Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist, producer and songwriter Shane Sato’s upcoming second album Wavelength and it features the smooth vocals of Nashville-based vocalist Oli-J over velvet guitar tones and buttery sax melodies.

Instagram | YouTube

SIIGA – Nostalgia Burns

Right let’s get this out of the way – We don’t include Christmas songs in the main inbox, the reason why I’m reminded of this is twofold – this song references Mary and Joseph but more in the Tommy and Gina way of thinking more than the biblical thinking.

The second reason is just a sneaky little plug, Marina Florance will be deep delving into this year’s Christmas crackers later.

This song starts off with a fade up, with synths laying down the carpet for which the song will walk on. There is a piano playing melodies and chords, and if I was a betting man I reckon this is where the song was written – at the piano.

Looking at the lyrics, the comparison to Tommy and Gina reaches further, but this is on the flip side it’s Tommy that’s working while Gina stays at home:

Mary says that she’s doing fine
But I know bullshit, I’m a man
She’s faking happy as best she can
All day in bed she’s fighting all resistance
Feelings twist and burn
Some lessons we don’t wanna learn
Try to hear me say

Joseph shares every single day
His life is a profile, avatar
Hey don’t be a picture of who you are
Too afraid to say his life is missing some conviction
Something real
Some realisations we don’t wanna feel
Try to hear me say

The way that this song is structured is gorgeous, it draws you in and helps to tell the story even further and I’m here for it.

Siiga is from the Isle of Skye and this is from their third album.

Official | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter/X | YouTube

SOPHIE PENMAN-Albert Street

Well, Sophie Penman’s a damn fine piano player as well as being a fabulous songwriter! The first thing that caught my ear was the piano skills, it made me feel all nice and warm inside. She has a Norah Jones/Carole King feel to her touch, and it makes me wonder if her lead vocal was recorded at the same time as her playing, just to catch that live perfomance.

This feels like a deeply personal song, Albert Street is part of Sophie’s history and I feel this deeply, it’s where it sounds like where she fell in love, talking about where pictures were taken, philosophies shared and books exchanged. It’s also where her heart was broken, and she talks about how it’s cloudy now that love has gone. This song is so simple in its delivery, and it makes me wish to hear the classic songwriters again. I think I need to do that once this review’s over.

Sophie Penman is a singer songwriter and multi instrumentalist from Scotland, and this is her first release in two years.

Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Bandcamp

PS from Del: If you’ve submitted a track that hasn’t been picked for the Listening Post, our team has definitely listened to it and there’s no need to send it again: feel free to send us an even stronger track another week. The same goes if you were picked for the Listening Post but didn’t feature in our Fresh Faves.

But if we’ve recently featured you in our Fresh Faves – please wait three months before sending us another track, so we have space to help other deserving artists… For more info see Robinson Has A Good Old Moan.