Track Premiere: Good Looking Friends—’Euphoria’
Posted: by The Editor
Photo by: Adam Parshall
In my 2018 write-up on Good Looking Friends’ debut, Settle In, Decay, which simultaneously functioned as an off-the-cuff scene report, I wrote about how the broader emo scene felt fragmented. Although that assessment mostly holds up today, I think a better way to describe that era would be a transition period. The ornate maximalism of TWIABP/The Hotelier was falling out of favor as the snappy pop-punk sensibilities of Oso Oso and Prince Daddy & the Hyena were becoming the new guard. And that was before Dogleg and Origami Angel broke, two bands that would’ve sounded too ahead of their time if they dropped their debuts in 2018. Crazy how time flies.
The point I eventually made after two paragraphs of overzealous context was that Good Looking Friends felt like they could gracefully usher in the pop-punk dynamo of the late 2010’s through their meld of deeply considered post-rock, indie-rock and basement gig sweatiness. Unfortunately, Settle In, Decay didn’t catch on the way I thought it could’ve. But that’s alright because their second record The Light of the Well (out 4/17) is way better, and if its second single “Euphoria” doesn’t stomp its way into your Emo Hook Memory Bank then I don’t know what will.
It begins with wispy strumming and this ethereal chirping noise that bounces softly in the rear of the mix throughout the song, but it doesn’t take long for the pounding chorus to kick in. The guitars are crunchy, the drums are clobbering and frontperson Zach Fischer’s vocals are bombastic. Think Heart Attack Man or Microwave crossed with the classical ear of Foxing. The lyrics in the second verse set a weary scene of garbage-covered floors and empty pockets, a vivid setting of desperation that’s translated colorfully into Fischer’s raspy yelp. Euphoria, baby.
Stream it below:
The Light of the Well is out 4/17. Pre-order the CD/photo book | Digital | Cassette
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Eli Enis | @eli_enis
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