Reading · claire rousay · RSS Amplifier

hello,

i am writing you from my home in Los Angeles. i recently returned from my final stint of 2025 touring. the weather here is mild, especially compared to some of the temperatures on this last leg of touring. the cold aside, i had a really wonderful time driving from chicago, thru canada, and down to baltimore - hitting a buncha cities between. i saw some friends, made some new friends, traveled with an old friend (hello Dawood), and was able to reflect on how special friend-having can be!

i got a bit sick right at the end but nothing homemade chicken noodle soup can’t fix. i am typing this with super-stuffed sinuses which is making that whole internal balance thing a bit off - dizzy and unable to edit, i still wanted to send this letter out.

it is with a cough, a full cup of coffee, and two heavy eyes i bring you some recommendations from my year.

Flat Earth by Anika Jade Levy

Fresh, Green Life: A Novel by Sebastian Castillo

Permafrost, Mammoth, & Boulder by Eva Baltasar *

Service by John Tottenham

Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism by Yanis Varoufakis *

Traveling Sprinkler by Nicholson Baker *

Charmaine Lee - Smoke, Airs *

“Blue” Gene Tyranny - Detours

Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway

Jessica Williams - Blue Abstraction

Mark Fell - Psychic Resynthesis

Samuel Reinhard - Movement *

Bad Santa by Terry Zwigoff *

The Outrun by Nora Fingscheidt *

Plainclothes by Carmen Emmi

getting tattooed

* not 2025 but i enjoyed it this year

this is not an end of the year, best of, hierarchical, or definitive list. i enjoyed many other things. i enjoyed some unlisted things more than things on this list.

i have some merch left over from tour but really cannot store it at home. so it is listed on SUPER sale via Bandcamp til the end of the year. also, i am live on NTS tomorrow (12.14.25) 9am pacific / 17:00 london / 18:00 berlin