I hope you had a great Christmas and are heading into the new year as rested as possible, although if you’re anything like me, you probably feel more tired now than before the festive period started.

I’m fortunate enough to have a bit of time off before work resumes on the 5th of January, which has given me some much needed space to slow down, reset, and ease back into music without pressure.

Looking back on 2025, it’s been a genuinely good year in many ways. I visited New York, a trip I’ll remember for the rest of my life, spent ten incredible days in Mallorca over the summer, got back into running after years of injury setbacks, and even completed Tough Mudder. Creatively, I’ve worked on a lot of music and I can confidently say I’ve improved across multiple areas.

But there’s one uncomfortable truth I can’t ignore: I didn’t release a single song in 2025.

That came down to getting stuck on the mixes for a couple of tracks I really believed in at the time. I’m sure many of you know the feeling of endlessly tweaking the “Final Final Final Mix v29,” only to reach a point where you’re so close to the material that objectivity disappears. In my case, the more I worked on them, the more fatigued I became, and the worse the mixes actually got. Eventually, both tracks were shelved. Hopefully they’ll see the light of day one day, but the lesson has been learned.

In the last issue of Post Fader, I mentioned that I’d started a remix of Sekou – Love Language. It’s been heading in the same direction as those other tracks, and I caught myself about to fall into the exact same trap. This time, I made a different decision. Rather than mixing it into the ground, I’ve decided to upload the remix to SoundCloud and move forward. As a Post Fader reader, you get early access before it goes public.

Sekou - Love Language (Lexton Remix)

With the new year approaching, I’ve been thinking less about vague resolutions and more about setting a few creative rules, ones that I can actually stick to, and that might be useful for you too, even outside of music.

1. Work fast and intensely to finish the track. No trying to perfect the mix.

2. Document my process and share my work.
I’ve done this sporadically before, but I know I have a lot of useful ideas, workflows, and half-formed thoughts worth sharing, even when they’re not polished.

3. Have fun again.
Whenever music starts to feel like an obligation, the results are almost always worse. Whether it’s forcing ideas or resenting the mix stage, that mindset guarantees friction.

The Christmas period has been busy, so whenever I’ve found time to work on music, it’s gone into the two remixes I mentioned previously.

The Love Language remix is finished and ready to share, and I’m aiming to release the second remix within the next month. Alongside that, I’ll be putting together some content to share everything properly on Instagram.

After that, the focus shifts back to original music. I have a couple of tracks lined up to send to labels, one solo track and one collaboration with long-time collaborator Zanoii. I also expect a few more collaborations to take shape as we move into 2026.

Book: The Practice — Seth Godin
An easy book to pick up and put down, but full of reminders I need right now. It’s reinforced the importance of shipping work rather than endlessly refining it in private.

Podcast: Modern Wisdom — Episode 1036: The Best Moments of Modern Wisdom
Chris Williamson’s yearly roundup is always worth revisiting. A solid reset before heading into a new year.

TV: Fallout
One of my favourite series at the moment. I loved the games growing up, and Amazon absolutely nailed the atmosphere. The use of old music throughout the series has been a standout for me.

“Perfectionism has nothing to do with being perfect.” — Seth Godin

Perfectionism isn’t about high standards. It’s about fear. The fear of sharing work, fear that others will notice the same flaws you can’t unhear once you’ve lived with a track for too long. When you’re deeply attached to something you’ve made, objectivity becomes almost impossible.

Fear is the root of limitation. In my case, fear of releasing something I judged as “not good enough” led directly to zero releases this year. Had I shipped those tracks, I’d likely have moved on faster, learned more, and made better music sooner. Instead, they became anchors.

The goal for next year isn’t perfection. It’s momentum.

To close out the year, I’ve put together a Best of 2025 playlist, pulling my favourite tracks from all of the Line In With Lexton monthly playlists.

Here are a few absolute standouts from this year:

Thanks for reading Post Fader this year. I genuinely appreciate everyone who’s taken the time to listen, read, reply, or share. See you in 2026.

✅ Follow me on Instagram — I’ll be sharing more there soon.
✅ Save Line In with Lexton — I update it monthly with what I’m listening to and inspired by.

✅ Reply to this email – Let me know what you’re working on or stuck with