Irish-Puerto Rican musician Jæd spent 2024 crafting her incredible debut album, I Loved The Gauntlet And There Was No Other Way, which released at the end of November. It’s an experimental indie rock album at its core, with the glitching psychedelics of Yves Tumor combining with the distortion of noise rock, the pulsating buzz of electronic music and Kate Bush-inspired vocal acrobatics. Her music, propelled by her mastery over the electric guitar, is centred on themes of deduction, isolation, trauma, jealousy and femininity. The album’s standout track, ‘Very Fond’, is a freewheeling, uncompromising cut that sees Jæd at her heaviest. She describes the track as “the hungry ghost, the desperation in constant consumption to the point that the more someone gives the less it is appreciated or even truly receive.” Keep an eye out for more in 2025. -Dan Peeke