The 20 best Indie solo albums

7 September 2025, 18:00

Whether the band have split, or this is just a "side project", the solo album is a wonderful thing. Here are the best examples of going it alone.

By Radio X

@RadioX

1. Paul Weller - Stanley Road

   

   After The Jam and The Style Council, The Modfather finally went properly solo in 1990, but it's '95's Stanley Road that is a stone-cold classic, coming at the time of Brit Pop and featuring such hits as The Changingman, You Do Something To Me and Out Of The Sinking. It even has a cover painted by Peter "Sgt Pepper" Blake.

2. Bjork - Debut

   

   Hard to believe now, but at one time Bjork was a member of a band - The Sugarcubes. She'd had a couple of solo albums out as a child star, but Debut marked her first adult outing and saw the beginning of her collaboration with producer Nellee Hooper. The LP featured such classics as Human Behaviour, Violently Happy and Big Time Sensuality.

3. Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Who Built The Moon

   

   The High Flying Birds may be a band, but Mr Gallagher is in the driving seat, singing all the songs himself without relying on his little brother's interpretation. His third outing from November 2017 was produced by David Holmes, who pushed Noel into new and interesting areas such as Holy Mountain, She Taught Me How To Fly and It's A Beautiful World.

4. Jack White - Blunderbuss

   

   The guitarist and singer had been flitting between projects (The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather) for some time as The White Stripes wound down, but his first proper solo offering was a stormer, with great tracks like Sixteen Saltines, Freedom At 21 and Love Interruption.

5. Thom Yorke - The Eraser

   

   The latter day Radiohead albums may be hard work for non-believers, but Thommy Yorke continued his romance with low-key electronica with his debut solo album. The track Harrowdown Hill was about David Kelly, the Ministry Of Defence man who died in suspicious circumstances following revelations over "Weapons of Mass Destruction".

6. Richard Ashcroft - Alone With Everybody

   

   When The Verve wound down for the first time in 1999, Ashcroft took the huge amount of fame and goodwill he'd gained from the band's heyday and produced a stunner of an album. Leading off with the No 3 hit, A Song For The Lovers, the record also contains the great tunes Money To Burn and C'Mon People (We're Making It Now).

7. Johnny Marr - The Messenger

   

   His Smiths bandmate Morrissey had been solo for years, but it wasn't until 2013 that Marr finally stepped out and became a solo artist in his own right after being a guitar-for-hire since the end of the 1980s. His debut solo LP The Messenger was an instant classic, with songs like Upstarts, New Velocity and the ponderous title track.

8. Damon Albarn - Everyday Robots

   

   After working on such Blur side-projects as Gorillaz, Africa Express and The Good The Bad And The Queen, Damon finally went solo in 2014 with this delightful album. Top tune: Mr Tembo, a song about an elephant.

9. Brandon Flowers - Flamingo: release date 3rd September 2010

   Named after a road in the Killers frontman's hometown of Las Vegas, this debut solo outing saw the singer head furtehr into anthemic synth pop territory on sings like Crossfire and Only The Young.

   

10. Frank Black - Teenager Of The Year: release date 20th May 1994

    The Pixies frontman's self-titled solo album was something of an overspill of his work with his previous band, but the second outing saw the musician treading new ground. His most consistent solo outing to date, Teenager Of The Year's gems include Freedom Rock, Headache and the wonderfully-titled (I Want to Live on an) Abstract Plain.

    

11. Graham Coxon - Happiness In Magazines: release date 17th May 2004

    Produced by Stephen Street, this was actually the Blur guitarist's fifth solo album, completed while he was estranged from the rest of his bandmates. It was his most commercially successful outing, breaking the UK Top 20 and spawning the singles Freakin' Out and Bittersweet Bundle Of Misery.

    

12. Liam Gallagher - As You Were: release date 6th October 2017

    Putting aside the false start that was Beady Eye, Gallagher Jr finally took the plunge and issued his first album without the safety net of a band. Enlisting songwriter and producer Greg Kurstin, this was a slice of pure Liam, with strident tracks like Wall Of Glass, For What Its Worth and Paper Crown.

    

13. Kele - The Boxer: release date 21st June 2010

    The debut solo album from Bloc Paarty frontman Kele Okereke leaned hevily into the electro house genre, particularly the vibrant lead single Tenderoni, but there were moments of calm, such as the emotional Everything You Wanted. It was the first of seven solo albums, one soundtrack and three EPs from the musician, the most recent being The Singing Winds Pt 3, issued in January 2025.

    

14. Morrissey - You Are The Quarry: release date 17th May 2004

    The former Smiths frontman's first solo outing in seven years was something of a comeback, with successful singles in the shape of Irish Blood English Heart, First Of The Gang To Die, Let Me Kiss You and I Have Forgiven Jesus.

    

15. Alex Turner - Submarine: release date 14th March 2011

    OK, so it's technically an EP at just under 20 minutes, but to date, this is the Arctic Monkeys frontman's only solo project, a soundtrack to the film by Richard Ayoade. With frequent collaborator James Ford and The Coral's Bill Ryder Jones on hand, the collection embraces folk influences and hints at the Monkeys' future direction.

    

16. Ian Brown - Music Of The Spheres: release date 1st October 2001

    Opening with the tremendous F.E.A.R., the Stone Roses singer's third solo album is a lush affair, with strings and elaborate producton, as Brown embraces mystical topics - even breaking into Spanish at one point.

    

17. James Dean Bradfeld - The Great Western: release date 24th July 2006

    After nearly two decades with Manic Street Preachers, JDB's first solo album was something of a power pop classic. After leaving the lyrics to Richey Edwards and Nicky Wire for the most part while with the Manics, Bradfield collaborated with writer John Niven on a couple of songs here, and the overall impression is of a mature, relfective piece of work. He followed it up with 2020's Evcen In Exile, the story of Chilean activist Víctor Jar.

    

18. Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications: release date 19th May 2009

    The Pulp mastermind's second solo albm was recorded with Nivana and Pixies man Steve Albini in Chicago, and the result is rockier than you'd expect, with track titles such as I Never Said I Was Deep and F**kingsong.

    

19. The SLP - The SLP: release date 30th August 2019

    Short for Sergio Lorenzo Pizzorno, this was the Kasabian songwriter and guitarist's solo project while the main band was on hiatus in 2019. Recorded at the musician's Leicester studio, The Sergery, the album features collaborations with Little Simz and Slowthai, playing up the more danceable side of Pizzorno's work, which occasionally surfaced in Kasabian's back catalogue.

    

20. Jamie xx - In Colour: release date 29th May 2015

    After a remix album of jazz poet Gil Scott-Heron's work, this was the xx man's debut solo effort, delving deeper into electronica and dance. Romy and Oliver from The xx turn up for moral support, but it's an eclectic collection, with standout tracks including Loud Places, Girl and I Know There's Gonna Be (Good Times).