A huge departure from the sort of music I frequently immerse myself in, Good Shoes are a South London four-piece with an annoyingly voiced singer who record and release fairly generic sounding indie music. Unexciting, not new, far from sensational and hardly geniuses - so why am I still listening to this album?
Well, it's not as if listening to it is a chore - the duration of their second album barely exceeds thirty minutes - but like I said it's not particularly innovative nor catchy. One issue I've seen mentioned by already established Good Shoes fans is how this record does not compare in terms of accessibility to the debut album, but without having listened to the debut I can't comment. Another common observation is the stark depression often displayed in the lyrics on this recording (not to mention the rather boldly blunt title), as opposed to the bouncy nature of past releases.
The only contradiction to this general mood of defeat is the opening track "The Way My Heart Beats" which (despite condemning relationships in a convulated way) sounds like it could work as a 7" indie disco anthem. The first single off the album "Under Control" whose lyrics shamefully deal with the issue of sex far too obviously, is actually equally as danceable and perfect promo material (see the debatable video below, or download the mp3 from the widget above). On the issue of lyrics, the irony generated by the sheer simplicity of it all admittedly works, but not all the time evidently as the banally anti-'religious war' song "I Know" demonstrates.
Addressing the main complication at hand, how can this album be deemed worthwhile, or more directly, what makes this album any different than the rest of the Arctic Monkeys tribute bands that are slowly dying away in the 2010's? I can't help but feel that this release, in all its jumpy, punchy rock and melancholic guitar fuzz is somewhat of a gem on the 21st century British indie spectrum. It just heartily captures that famed indie-band dynamic of song-writing and rehearsal. One can easily smell the tantrums and member tensions; the aura of a band who think they should be bigger than they are. If one were to hear these tracks alone on the radio for the first time, they definitely wouldn't suck or anything - but again, they're not anything special. Perhaps it's this empty easy-to-follow simplicity that has made this album increasingly grow on me.
As an additional comment, I should probably make my love clear for at least one of the tracks: the strangely titled "Our Loving Mother in a Pink Diamond", most likely for its friendly but atmospheric motorik style. Lovingly placed slap in the centre of the album, it effectively divides the initially more shook up half of the album from the lingering experimental closing section.
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Here you can buy the new album signed and with a bonus live CD for only £8.99, in addition to various other releases, formats and t-shirts:
http://goodshoesstore.sandbag.uk.com/Store/DisplayItems-5-0-0.html
The simply bulging promo video for the first single off the album, "Under Control":
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