Will Shenton
By the time late January rolls around, I'm usually pretty done with winter. There's still a blizzard or two kicking around, but the novelty has worn off and as the days gradually lengthen I find myself tallying the hours until spring like a prisoner in some hackneyed revenge flick. But, that's why I moved to California, so I guess I'm not allowed to bitch anymore—even if it did hit 45 last week in San Francisco (sorry, East Coast friends).
The reason I bring this up is that Glory, the latest EP from Melbourne-based slacker-rock group Good Morning, is exactly the sort of thing I end up seeking out this time of year to get me through the winter doldrums. It's more than just the beachy guitars that draw me in—there's something particularly endearing about the album's hazy, lackadaisical tone that puts it right up there with Deerhunter in its ability to capture the carefree atmosphere of summer.
"Cab Deg," arguably the closest thing Glory has to a single, is a perfect example of this. The drums are simple and hypnotic, the guitars are ever so slightly out of tune, and the vocals are drenched in so much reverb it sounds like every word has an extra syllable. It certainly follows the recipe for a laid-back surf jam, but it manages to do so without feeling formulaic.
The rest of the EP takes each of these elements and makes them the centerpiece of their own song. "To Be Won" is a droning, down-tempo acoustic track with no percussion at all, "Give Me Something To Do" introduces a saxophone section to balance its almost shoegazey sound, and "The Great Start" sounds like something straight off of a Matt Mondanile record. It's a deconstruction of the genre, to a certain extent, and it turns what could've been a fairly forgettable album into something self-aware and engaging.
Sadly, Glory is a bit short (coming in at just 23 minutes), but I'm hoping we can expect a sophomore full-length release sometime in the relatively near future. It'll be interesting to see how these guys adapt their sound to a more comprehensive structure, as they've grown quite a bit since their 2014 debut Shawcross. In the meantime, though, this EP is going to be the soundtrack to my pining for the equinox.