Tuesday, May 13, 2025

Good Neighbours

One Liner: Extra poppy indie rock with all of the falsettos and that "Home" song
Wikipedia Genre: Indie rock
Home: London

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 13

Day: Friday
Both Weekends.

Thoughts:  I really thought that this band had already been here - when I picked them as the next writeup, I went and searched for my prior posts, only to find out I have nothing.  Weird.  I wonder what their name is making me think of.  But hit play on their biggest hit, and you immediately know which one these dudes are - "darling, won't yuou take me hooooooooaaahhhhooooohhhhhme?"  I'm trying to think of what other bands this makes me think of, with the slightly shrill lead singer's voice never giving me a break.  Maybe Foster the People?  MGMT?  Mt. Joy?  I dunno.

Absolute trash of a Wikipedia entry: "Good Neighbours are an English indie rock duo formed in London in 2024, comprising two members: Oli Fox and Scott Verrill. Their debut single, "Home", was released on 17 January 2024 to commercial success; peaking at number 26 in the UK."  That's it.  I gotta say though, Oli Fox is an absolutely banger of a name.  That dude should have been a footballer for City and they could have sung bloody brilliant songs using that name.  Apparently, they each had some minor success on their own before coming together, with Fox supporting Sigrid (still love her!) on her UK tour and Verrill creating a solo band named kwassa after the Vampire Weekend song.  They came together to create indie rock action for the world.  The big hit sort of makes me think it was used in a commercial.  Doesn't this feel like an Apple commercial should be playing?
410.0 million streams so far, massively outperforming any other tune in the catalog.  And deserved - nice little groove and lyrics that make you nostalgic.  That was literally their first single - pretty sweet for your first foray into the world to become a global smash.  I guess it could also be a bummer, if you never see those heights again.  They also released a cover of "Espresso," so they are bound to play that again for the Fest.  No actual albums, closest they have is a 2024 EP  called Good Neighbors.  It, of course, also features "Home" and after counting their Spotify, that song is available eight different times.  Out of 27 total tracks available.  It looks like they want "Ripple" to be the next hit, since it is available seven times out of the 27 songs.  You can see why listening to this feels pretty repetitive because the same songs keep rolling around.  10.3 million streams.
He actually brings his voice down out of the falsetto for that one!  It is glorious!  It is super catchy and fun though.  New single "Starry Eyed" makes me think of MGMT for sure.  This stuff is pretty fun.  A little grating with the falsetto tone all the time, and something about the cuteness of it all grates a smidge too.  But I also think it should be a pretty fun show to go bop around to.

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