Buddie - Glass (2025) Hi-Res

Vancouver’s Buddie returns to the wantlist with Glass, eight songs of alt pop that sound crisp and polished but tug at your heartstrings. Dan Forrest and company have stripped away some of the grunge haze from earlier releases, leaning further into melody and clarity. The result is their sharpest work yet: hooks that shine even as the lyrics wrestle with late-capitalist anxiety and modern-day malaise.

Buddie nails that uneasy feeling of being stuck in your own head while the world burns outside — but somehow makes it catchy enough to sing along to your existential dread. There’s a touch of Nada Surf in future college radio hit Crow and a dash of Fountains of Wayne in strong opener In the Glass Shell, though the press release points to The Beths and Ovlov as reference points. However you hear it, Glass is full of smart, heartfelt songwriting that refuses to choose between catchy and conscious. At just 25 minutes, it gets in, makes its point, and leaves you wanting more.