Though only 18 minutes long, the band has managed to pull off one awe-inspiring album.
For Melbourne slacker rockers Good Morning, guitars aren’t meant to be in tune – at least it sounds that way. There’s an irreverent cacophony to their melodies that profits the music rather than injures it; The Clean were the forefathers of such a design and Good Morning are doing no harm to the blueprint.
On their new album The Option, the outfit continue on their merry way but with greater brevity than ever before; across eight songs, the LP barely tiptoes over 18 minutes in length. The project’s chief songwriters Stefan Blair and Liam Parsons have always had the tendency to keep their messages brief and to the point, but this takes such concision to another level.
Whether the tracks were cut from their previous effort, 2018’s Prize // Reward, are earlier unscrubbed demos or products of recent jolts of creativity, on The Option, there’s no doubting Good Morning’s ability to push the pop envelope. ‘You Up?’ is crass and conversational like a deadpan Parquet Courts number, while ‘People Say’ is as uninterested as they’ve ever sounded but is easily the album’s catchiest 107 seconds.
Nevertheless, it isn’t until album closer ‘Credentials (Lester & Eliza)’ that we see Good Morning fully navigate the roominess of their sweet melodies. A curious album to cosy your early morning blues.
