Good Morning – ‘The Accident’ album review: a lacklustre farewell from the indie duo
THE SKINNY: All good things must come to an end, eventually. It might be comforting to think that your favourite bands will remain together indefinitely, echoing eternal groups like The Rolling Stones, who will likely outlive civilisation itself. However, the sad truth is that most bands are only granted a handful of years to carry out their musical message. The latest group to throw in the towel is Good Morning, the Naarm/Melbourne duo who have been crafting gentle indie rock and pop for a decade now.
After ten years and eight albums, the Aussie duo have unveiled their parting gift to the world in the form of the self-released, self-produced LP, The Accident. As you might expect from the pair, this album continues their unique brand of lo-fi, tranquil indie pop, throwing some folk influences in there, too. Crafting a final album is certainly not an enviable task; it is akin to deciding one’s own fate and how they will forever be remembered. Even still, The Accident feels particularly lacklustre, offering very little diversity either within its own track listing or within the wider discography of Good Morning.
Admittedly, the album features some talented lyricism and technically impressive performances from both Liam Parsons and Stefan Blair. There is nothing inherently wrong with having a niche. Over the past decade, Good Morning have carved out a name for themselves as Australia’s premier purveyors of lo-fi indie rock, and that is a commendable title. There was a hope, however, that their final enduring message would offer something a little different or see the pair explore avenues of inspiration previously untrodden while they still have the chance. Instead, Parsons and Blair have stuck fairly rigidly to their pre-existing sound.
You get the sense, as a listener, that The Accident has been thrown together fairly quickly, whereas it would have benefitted from more refinement and perfection. The production, carried out by the duo themselves, renders many of the songs flat and almost lifeless, becoming immediately clear on the opener, ‘Baby Steps’. Take the final track, ‘Soft Rock Band’, for instance: this final eulogy for the band should have encapsulated everything that fans love about the Melbourne pair. Instead, it is an eight-minute track featuring repetitive instrumentals and a distinct lack of development in sound – it never really gets going, much like the album as a whole.
Whether or not The Accident actually is – as it is being marketed – Good Morning’s final album remains to be seen. It certainly shows promise that, as songwriters, the pair are not burnt out just yet. However, it may be the case that the band have simply exhausted the limits of gentle indie pop and have nowhere else to go.
For fans of: Oversized sweatshirts, corduroy baseball caps, and dragging your Reebok trainers through the mud to achieve that ‘distressed’ look.
A concluding comment from a priest: We are gathered here today to mourn the loss of Good Morning, whose playful blend of indie rock and lo-fi folk will remain in our hearts, even if their presence has passed on.
The Accident track by track:
Release Date: November 29th | Producer: Good Morning | Label: Good Morning Music Company Worldwide
‘Baby Steps’: As the title implies, ‘Baby Steps’ eases the listener into The Accident. Although its energy increases as the song progresses, its construction is still fairly lo-fi, which – even if it is a deliberate choice – leaves the opener feeling a little flat. [3/5]
‘A Telephone Rings’: Much like the opening track, this is fairly in keeping with Good Morning’s wider discography, adopting that underdog indie sound that has sustained the duo for so many years. While not a bad song itself, Good Morning have yet to introduce many original ideas onto their final album. [3/5]
‘Romance’: Again, ‘Romance’ feels incredibly similar in theming and inherent sound to the vast majority of Good Morning’s other work. The duo have certainly found their niche in tranquil indie pop, but we are only three songs into the record, and things are already becoming a little too repetitive. [2.5/5]
‘Peaches’: Finally switching things up, if only a little, the duo embrace a more intimate style of folk-adjacent indie, which aids in creating a bit of sonic diversity on this record, even if the song itself is not one of the best tracks Good Morning have ever recorded. [3.5/5]
‘Thrills Of The Family Man’: A wonderfully chaotic opening gives hope for new avenues of inspiration for the pair, but these are soon quelled in favour of their usual style of gentle indie pop. Admittedly, though, this song features perhaps the strongest lyrical performance from across the album, which helps to carry it through. [3/5]
‘Perfect Fishing’: Another mournful, melodic track befitting of this eulogy album. These moments, when Good Morning break somewhat from their fatiguingly bland indie pop styling, form definite highlights on The Accident. [3.5/5]
‘The Grateful Dead’: An electric buzz punctuates this driving indie folk love song, creating a certain sense of uneasiness which never seems to resolve itself as the track continues. Nevertheless, it is certainly among the more enduring efforts from across this album. [3.5/5]
‘I Can’t Make It Up To You’: At one minute and 20 seconds long, the listener does not have much time to embrace this ethereal effort, leading it to feel like a superfluous, fairly forgettable inclusion on the tracklisting. [2/5]
‘Soft Rock Band’: Closing out their final album with an eight-minute epic, the Good Morning duo pay homage to their early sound and subsequent development. For such a long song, there is a distinct lack of variation or development in its sound or construction, leading it to feel somewhat dragging and repetitive as the runtime comes to an end. [2.5/5]
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