Good Looks – ‘Lived Here For A While’ album review: a charming indie record
THE SKINNY: The past eight years have been tough to endure. Fortunately, the same cannot be said of Lived Here For A While, the second studio album from Austin indie rockers Good Looks. Following their acclaimed 2022 debut, Bummer Year, the band is still looking and sounding good with an update on their associated brand of melodic, guitar-driven rock and reflective concepts.
Bummer Year summarised sociopolitical events in an attractive set of seven tracks. Now, the band returns with ten more, exploring different aspects of the status quo from their Texan perspective. Frontman Tyler Jordan had written much of the new material before tragedy struck in 2022. Just after a show celebrating the release of Bummer Year, guitarist Jake Ames was hit by a car while crossing the street. Fortunately, he made a full recovery with his bandmates close by his side in the ICU.
Once Ames recovered, Good Looks entered the studio feeling closer than ever in order to record Lived Here For A While, an album of familial chemistry. Although the band hasn’t reworked its formula dramatically since Bumer Year, the compositions exhibit a wider breadth of textural and melodic guitar work and some relatable, insightful lyrics from Jordan.
At times, Lived Here For A While is punchy and punk-derived, while at others, it is pensive and melodic. Throughout, the band exhibits a keen eye for catchy grooves and cohesive composition. Good Looks play much like the close-knit family they have become: with harmony and purpose.
For fans of: Indie grooves, collecting festival wristbands and CBD vapes.
A concluding comment from Alan Partridge: “This album reminds me of the summer of love. Not the original one, of course. My very personal one during the height of Britpop in the 1990s… Those were heady days.”
Lived Here For A While track by track:
Release Date: June 7th | Producer: Dan Duszynski | Label: Keeled Scales
‘If It’s Gone’: Good Looks kick their second studio album off on a strong note. This indie-pop sensation gets the feet tapping, and the festival season started with a sturdy beat, reflective lyrics and guitar work that’s easy on the ears. [4.5/5]
‘Can You See Me Tonight?’: In another rip-roaring track, the band explores some denser instrumentation with intense lyrical delivery and a thrashing rhythm guitar progression that works its way into a percussive frenzy at intervals. [4/5]
‘Broken Body’: Pixies who requested ‘Break My Body’ finally have their wish in this triumphant number. In another combination of the album’s cohesive instrumentation, we hear some nice guitar melodies and dynamic vocal performance from Tyler Jordan [4/5]
‘Day of Judgment’: This is the first significant change of pace in the album. That is not to say that it’s a change in quality, however. We hear some innovative instrumental ideas thrown together over a markedly pacified rhythm in between chorus breaks. [4/5]
‘Desert’: Maintaining the pace diversion as initiated in the previous track, the band opt for delicate, melodic instrumentation. This album deals with stressors in a positive manner, which is reflected by this tranquil yet uplifting moment. [4/5]
‘Self-destructor’: Like an American Liam Gallager, Jordan exercises some attractively laboured vocals in the introduction to this song, inviting an enjoyable, if familiar, indie rock progression with high-neck lead work. [3.5/5]
‘Vaughn’: Like the previous track, ‘Vaughn’ breaks little compositional ground for the album. Still, with a smooth indie groove, it’s hard to fault the song as another harmless piece to the conceptual puzzle. [3.5/5]
‘White Out’: This piece brings a bit of weight back to proceedings with a punk-inspired chord sequence. Alongside lyrical jabs at racism, consumerism and politicians, lead embellishments keep the rhythm on its feet. [4/5]
‘Vultures’: If any song on the album could be described as a ballad, it’s this one. In a dejected calm before a closing storm, Jordan sings, “Mobile homes ain’t all that mobile, besides where you gonna go? / Times are bad and getting worse, and it’s one thing that I know”. [3.5/5]
‘Why Don’t You Believe Me?’: Though there’s nothing inherently discreditable about this track, it brings very little to the album that we haven’t heard before. The instrumentation is its greatest boon as it rises to a crescendo towards the close. [3/5]
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