Good Looks Slay the Sophomore Slump on Lived Here For A While
The Austin, Texas rock quartet showcase their versatile melodic sensibilities, while deploying guitar parts that sound like they’ll scorch your skin one second and slash it the next, on their second LP.
On Good Looks’ excellent 2022 album Bummer Year, the band’s primary creative force, Tyler Jordan, pointed his mighty songwriting pen at a number of familiar frustrations: Heartbreak, of course, but also insecurity, disaffection, depression and fear, environmental anxiety, political division, financial uncertainty, the societal devaluation of art and the crushing weight of capitalism in the 21st century. Gifted with an ability to write about these topics in a way that feels particularly warm and empathetic—and even inspirational—Jordan emerged from Bummer Year’s long-tailed hype cycle as a songwriter on the rise—pretty rare for a guy in his mid-30s navigating the young man’s game of indie rock.
Now, Good Looks is back with a follow-up: Lived Here For A While, an open-hearted collection of tunes that find Jordan turning inward to examine his personal relationships more so than systemic issues. Across 10 tracks, he sings directly to an ex-girlfriend, his current girlfriend, childhood friends and his family, leaving very little to the imagination. (He pretty much sings about what he sees, he said in the band’s recent interview with Paste.) Gentrifiers and greedy real estate developers get songs, too, as if Jordan just can’t help himself. He is from Austin, Texas, after all.
His band’s sound has evolved, too. On Bummer Year, Good Looks were generally slower and a bit more subdued, with the ability to ramp up their roots-rock roar when needed—like when Jordan shouted “I would watch you drown!” at his bosses over and over again in “21,” a highlight of the album. On Lived Here For A While, the band moves more urgently, with bassist Harrison Anderson and drummer Phillip Dunne providing plenty of post-punk propulsion and Jake Ames wringing reams of reverberant melody, jagged noise and vaguely ‘80s vibes out of his guitar. Two years ago, Ames was unsure if he’d ever play music again after he was hit by a car and severely injured while on foot outside a venue in Austin. Thank goodness he recovered, because while Jordan is Good Looks’ centerpiece, Ames’ distinctive playing is the band’s secret weapon.