Best New Songs of the Week (August 28, 2025)

At Paste Music, we’re listening to so many new tunes on any given day, we barely have any time to listen to each other. Nevertheless, every week we can swing it, we take stock of the previous seven days’ best new songs, delivering a weekly playlist of our favorites. Check out this week’s material, in alphabetical order. (You can check out an ongoing playlist of every best new songs pick of 2025 here.)

Amanda Shires: “Piece of Mind”

There are few genres more tailor-made for angry breakup songs than woman-led country rock (“Before He Cheats,” anyone?), so when the news broke last year that Amanda Shires’ 12-year marriage to Jason Isbell had come to an end, it was clear we were going to be in for a doozy of a post-divorce record. And based on “Piece of Mind”—the video for which opens on Shires dressed to kill in a rose-colored silk slip as she growls, “If you think I could ever hate you, you’re wrong / But that was a real fucked up way to leave”—it seems that estimation was not at all far off. But despite the anger in Shires’ crisp, rasping vocals, this is no song about keying cars or slashing tires. On the contrary, it’s a refreshingly well-measured breakup anthem that’s less about sending a house up in flames than chronicling its lonely aftermath and trying to build something from the ashes. “Got a new dining room table / Re-painted the walls, got rid of any evidence / That you were ever here,” Shires sings, rapidly, atop grinding guitar. “Now I can finally eat and breathe again.” Yet the song never stifles its fury in favor of moving on, either; that anger is very much intact, but kept at a simmer, the fire of it licking at the seams. You can’t heal from rage alone, nor can you heal by repressing it. After all, the moment you watch your fist break the glass of your ex’s headlights has got to be satisfying. But then comes the moment after—the moment ”Before He Cheats” ends, and you’re left standing in all that shattered glass, dreading the return to your newly empty home. That’s where “Piece of Mind” comes in: to accompany you as you pick up the pieces. —Casey Epstein-Gross

Bright Eyes ft. Hurray for the Riff Raff: “Dyslexic Palindrome”

Finding out that Bright Eyes and Hurray for the Riff Raff—two bands I’ve loved for over a decade now—have teamed up in the former’s upcoming EP Kids Table is one of the best surprises of the week for me. It was an even better discovery that it’s the best track Bright Eyes has put out since their 2020 album, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was. From the moment “Dyslexic Palindrome” opens with dreamy pedal steel, you’re enthralled. Conor Oberst and Alynda Segarra‘s vocals blend stunningly together for a duet that carries the duality of melancholy and beauty of I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. Considering how Bright Eyes’ other single, “1st World Blues,” for Kids Table is a ska-inspired track (essentially the polar opposite sound of “Dyslexic Palindrome”), this makes me even more excited to see what the rest of the EP sounds like. —Tatiana Tenreyro

Chat Pile & Hayden Pedigo: “Radioactive Dreams”

After months of teasing a mysterious collab album with Chat Pile, Hayden Pedigo and the noise-doctors have finally let us in on it all the way. In the Earth Again will be out, fittingly, on Halloween, and it finds two Oklahoma-based artists relishing each other’s company—almost to a scary degree. On paper, Chat Pile’s rancid, pressure-cooker sound and Pedigo’s fingerstyle guitar playing don’t gel so immediately. In practice, their sojourn on “Radioactive Dreams” is one of the most moving, environmental blends I’ve heard all year. Perhaps I’m biased, because I am a longtime enjoyer of Pedigo’s work, but I have never been quite sold on Chat Pile’s music, so maybe that will even out my expectations on In the Earth Again as a whole. But, “Radioactive Dreams,” which I hope is inspired by Albert Pyun’s 1985 film of the same name, sounds like a band and a picker at the top of their respective games. The lush prism of Pedigo’s phrases often skyscrape into Chat Pile’s distinctively woozy and harsh equations of atonal, crunch-rock. It’s sobering how paranormal the song gets, as electric guitar phrases provide brief, gentle shelter amidst the doomy tar. —Matt Mitchell

Die Spitz: “Punishers”

If you told me “Punishrs” was a deep-cut from the mid-’90s Olympia, WA scene, I wouldn’t question it. Die Spitz’s latest single rips with Cobain-esque guitar riffs, cymbal-splintering breaks reminiscent of Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff, and faraway, indifferent vocals akin to Babes In Toyland’s Kat Bjelland. The Austin quartet leans hard into its influences on the third track from their forthcoming debut album, fusing the rawest edges of punk with a psychedelic haze. That foundation of reverence collides with blistering emotion on “Punishers,” a song that channels the volatility of toxic relationships into combustion. The opening verses bristle with contradiction: “Sky is clear, but I still hear the sound of rain / Talk is cheap, but I’ll keep spending all my money.” It’s the kind of track you can imagine spinning into a distorted free-fall in a live setting, Eleanor Livingston swinging from the rafters as the instrumentation spirals out with equal force. Flanging guitars lay a queasy foundation before being swallowed by blown-out riffs and thick basslines. Pulsing echoes crawl through your chest until the mantra-like repetition of “I know” pushes the song to the brink. By the time the chorus finally erupts, it’s nothing but feedback and the pure rush of internal anarchy. —Cassidy Sollazzo

Elias Rønnenfelt: “USA Baby”

It’s shaping up to be a massive year for Iceage frontman Elias Rønnenfelt. From his collaborations with Dean Blunt and Yung Lean, to his single from May, “Carry-On Bag,” we’re seeing a new side of him, one that has the same reverence for SoundCloud rap and experimental music as he does for the country sound he explored in last year’s debut solo album, Heavy Glory. His latest single, a preview of his upcoming sophomore solo album, Speak Daggers, feels like a continuation of lucre, his collaborative LP with Blunt. Over a hypnotic beat heavy on auxiliary percussion, Rønnenfelt comments on the country’s political state, explicitly calling out how his “baby” is being screwed over: “Oh my baby’s known better days / They cut her off, that’s how they play / Oh my baby she doesn’t care / In the USA they rip and tear / Hold for famine, gotta get a grip on my soul / There I’ll open damn near every open-able hole.” —Tatiana Tenreyro

Geese: “100 Horses”

If it wasn’t already clear, “100 Horses” hammers it home: Geese are chronically allergic to missing. Truly, my only gripe with their latest single is that it wasn’t released a year earlier, because it would’ve nearly topped my list of horse songs ranked by how much I think horses would like them; after all, horses would very much agree with the song’s claim that “All the horses must go dancing” instead of going to war. As such, as a veritable expert on Horse Music, I can say with some certainty that “100 Horses” is an immediate classic. It has the raucous, bucking energy of Alex G’s “Horse,” the enthusiasm and the endearingly plaintive horse-related lyrics (“There were 100 horses dancing / Maybe 124”) of the opening of Patti Smith’s “Land: Horses/ Land of a Thousand Dances / La Mer (De),” and the feel good “get these horses to the dance club!” message of “Pink Pony Club.” But—don’t tell the horses—the song has even more to offer humans than their equine compatriots. Despite being arguably this album cycle’s most accessible release thus far, “100 Horses” maintains Geese’s singular riotous and bizarre style underneath Cameron Winter bellowing about the cognitive dissonance between the horrors of war and our attempts to shut it out with strained smiles and frantic dancing. It should be illegal for a song with lyrics like “all the people must stop smiling / once they get what they’ve been begging for,” and “one day you will die scared / or else just die nervous,” and “we have danced for far too long / and now I must change completely” to bang this hard, to groove this crazy. Geese are easily one of the most exciting bands active today—for humans and horses alike. —Casey Epstein-Gross

Golden Apples: “Freeeee”

The third single off Golden Apples’ upcoming LP, Shooting Star (out September 19), is an atmospheric, meta look at the creative process. “Freeeee” is the result of Russell Edling parsing through his own ideas, blending LCD Soundsystem-adjacent drum ‘n’ bass textures with shimmery guitar and synth flourishes. It’s a bright, sweeping, cinematic swirl, like that reaction photo of the girl with headphones on and butterflies circling her head. The effervescence is both playful and overwhelming, engineered to scratch the innermost parts of your eardrums. Uncanny backing vocals tangle with lush synths before breaking into pure, riffy pop-rock in the chorus, the track constantly swinging between restraint and release. Lyrically, the song is relatively minimal, most often orbiting a single phrase of release: “Tell them all, get out from under me so I can breathe.” —Cassidy Sollazzo

Mavis Staples: “Beautiful Strangers”

When Kevin Morby heard Mavis Staples would be covering one of his songs, he was extraordinarily humbled, calling it the “greatest moment and highest honor” of his career. The reaction makes sense, considering that Staples has produced some of the most influential music in gospel and blues for well over 50 years, and she continues to reintroduce the world to the songs we need to hear at just the right moments. Released ahead of her new album Sad and Beautiful World, the 86-year-old’s 15th solo project, Staples’ take on Morby’s “Beautiful Strangers” is marked by soft piano lines, gentle guitars, and brushed snares. The song’s empowering words of hope and surrender feel right at home coming out of Staples’ mouth. “If I die too young, or the gunmen come, I’m full of love / So release me, every piece of me, up above,” she sings. The track is as rich and warm as a sprawling view of the American countryside. And, in a time filled with such dread and uncertainty, songs like these reignite within me a sense of strength, pride, and understanding. It’s a reminder to keep the faith, and to break down those barriers we have with the beautiful strangers around us. We have voices like Mavis Staples’ to thank for that. —Camryn Teder

Runnner: “Claritin”

Fuck it, maybe the eighth time is the charm. The last single from Runnner’s new album, “Claritin,” is the best one yet—and it only took Noah Weinman a year to get us here. He’s been rolling out the longest red carpet imaginable for A Welcome Kind of Weakness, dispersing songs sporadically since late 2024 in the lead-up to its release tomorrow. I liked “Coinstar” a lot, but “Claritin” is the best Runnner song since, hell, “Ur Name On a Grain of Rice” four years ago. Written while recovering from an Achilles injury and inspired by Coldplay, this joint is spectacular and swirling, featuring backing vocals from Noah’s sister Charlotte (who performs under the name Horsepower) and crushing streaks of rock and roll. It’s somewhat about allergies, sure (“move dust around on phantom lines” bangs), but it’s mostly about the threat of losing yourself in stillness. “Is it so discouraging if I don’t feel anything?” Weinman sings, amid a torrid, orbiting cloud of drum machine commotion and guitar crests. You can’t ask for a better capstone on a project than “Claritin”—a savory reminder that Runnner is a quiet, DIY assassin in the current storm of homespun twangtronica. —Matt Mitchell

Sharp Pins: “(I Wanna) Be Your Girl”

After we named Radio DDR one of the best albums of 2024, Kai Slater plumped the record up with bonus tracks for its first-ever vinyl pressing. Already, the third Sharp Pins album is forthcoming, and lead single “(I Wanna) Be Your Girl” has the same warm, slacker-pop sound you’d find too much of in Guided by Voices’ discography. Marked by compressed guitars that shuffle alongside midtempo drums, Slater croons with a Merseybeat bent, shrouding his lyrics in a fuzzy haze with the static of a tape recorder. Altogether, the song feels like a throwback to a different time, like something Alex Chilton would have co-signed and something that could fall apart at any moment if you hold onto it too tight. Joining his peers in the scene, like Good Flying Birds, Slater is a 20-year-old bringing the sounds of bygone eras back into the modern age. How about that? —Camryn Teder

Other Notable Songs This Week: Blood Orange ft. Eva Tonkin, Liam Benzvi, & Ian Isiah: “Countryside”; crushed: “oneshot”; Dying Wish: “Revenge In Carnage”; fanclubwallet: “Living While Dying”; Hannah Jadagu: “Doing Now”; JÁNA: “Today”; Joanne Robertson: “Always Were”; Maruja: “Trenches”; The Berries: “Wind Chimes”; The Beths: “Straight Line Was a Lie”; The Cindys: “Dry TV”; Zara Larsson: “Crush”

Check out a playlist of this week’s best new songs below.