Good Looks - “Vision Boards”

SXSW 2024 - OEB Score: 8; Popularity Index: 2

Pairs Well With…Deer Tick, Wilco, The Hold Steady

Since we’ve last checked in with Good Looks, the Austin-based band has been touring hard off their 2022 debut Bummer Year, a gritty, fulfilling alt-country record soaked in barroom personality. Raw but still together through crisp rock-and-roll songwriting, Good Looks sound live even on record, naturally grimy and keeping musicianship at the forefront. Interspersed with those Southern rock tenets are vulnerable, working-man ballads like the record’s highlight title track, filling out the landscape of this excellent local outfit. They’re a band’s band, and hopefully 2024 will feature what’s new from this reliable, mature-beyond-their-years group. (Kevin McStravick) 

2023 Review: If you close your eyes and think “alt country rock”, chances are your imagination will draw something close to Good Looks’ debut Bummer Year. Southern rock songwriting mixes with indie rock crunch on the seven songs that make up Bummer Year, distorted in a way that provides texture versus going a garage-DIY route. Nothing is shiny here and Good Looks’ ability to sound rusted feels natural and effortless from note one. Break down the instrumentation and their songs sound kind of timeless, expertly crafted and coming across as personal and real.