Best Cascadia albums of 2025
Hope you have a happy new year! I'll be taking the next few days off, but before I go here's a selection five albums from Cascadia-based musical artists I enjoyed this year...
Deep Sea Diver, Billboard Heart
The Seattle indie rock group Deep Sea Diver had a breakout year in 2025. Their latest upbeat offering, Billboard Heart, made a lot of best-of lists, and made it to #2 in the annual KEXP listeners' poll. Lead singer Jessica Dobson's solid yet ethereal vocals ground the band's catchy, guitar-driven pop. I'm sorry to have missed them live in Seattle at the end of their tour!
Sea Lemon, Diving for a Prize
Also from Seattle, Sea Lemon is a shoegaze/dreampop project of singer-songwriters Natalie Lew. Her debut album Diving for a Prize contains a lot of material written during the pandemic, when she returned to Seattle after a stint in New York City. It's got the classic dreampop combo of wistful vocals over buzzing guitars, reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins or Slowdive.
1876, Pow Wow Punk Rock 4
Portland-based Indigenous punk band 1876 delivers fast-driving hardcore punk anthems infused with political messages relevant to native people. The band has members from the Blackfeet, Comanche, Northern Cheyenne, Oglala and Yakama nations, and incorporates pow wow drumming into its punk ethos. The track "Braids in the Pit," is infectious and powerful:
Dan Mangan, Natural Light
Vancouver BC's small but vibrant music scene exists in the shadow of its neighbors Seattle and Portland to the south. But one standout this year was the album Natural Light from Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Dan Mangan. Moody and contemplative but never sappy, Mangan's songs are a good fit for a cold, winter day at home in Cascadia. His song, It Might be Raining definitely seems apropos in the current moment:
There is an ocean full of bullshit
I wish that I could keep from you
But the truth is, the truth is in Vancouver
It might be raining
Brandi Carlile, Returning to Myself
Probably the most famous musician to call Cascadia home (she lives in Maple Valley, Washington with her wife and kids), Brandi Carlile is a force of nature, a songwriting genius, and a relentless advocate for LGBTQ rights. The title track to her album Returning to Myself is a meditation on how to maintain one's autonomy while staying in a deeply loving relationship. It's good advice: make space for each other!
That's it for Cascadia Journal in 2025. See you next year! --Andrew
