Austin four-piece Good Looks have shared the title track from their forthcoming debut album Bummer Year, coming April 8 on Keeled Scales. The third single from the record after “Almost Automatic” and “Vision Boards,” “Bummer Year” finds the band slowing their folk-rock down and prettying it up, with frontman Tyler Jordan ruminating on American political (and financial) division and prizing the shared humanity underneath it all: “No matter who you vote for, conservative or liberal / Through piles of god damn money, your voice don’t make a sound,” he warns.
“I couldn’t reconcile how these people I knew to be kind, caring and good could be swept up in the neo-fascist movement of Donald Trump,” Jordan recalls in a statement. “Here I was, deeply sad, partially because Donald Trump had just been elected president, and I was longing for the type of support and friendship that these folks had offered me in my teens.”
“Ultimately, what I came to is, it was a failure of the left and working class institutions for not being able to win over enough folks to their cause. If there’s going to be positive, substantive change in this country, it’s going to take convincing a large section of the working class by showing them where their interests truly lie,” Jordan continues. “So much ‘political action’ in this moment, is about shaming and dunking on folks via social media, but the task at hand is actually about meeting folks where they’re at, and bringing them into the fold. This song clumsily attempts to bridge that gap. And like most of my songs, who knows if it’ll change anything or win anybody over, but it made me feel better.”
Good Looks—Jordan (rhythm guitar, lead vocals), Jake Ames (guitar), Robert Cherry (bass), and Phillip Dunne (drums)—will perform a series of showcases at next week’s SXSW, with a handful of Texas performances to follow, including a record release show at Austin’s at Hotel Vegas.
Listen to “Bummer Year” and see Good Looks’ tour dates below.
Good Looks Tour Dates:
March
13 – Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas (SXSW)
15 – Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas (SXSW)
16 – Austin, TX @ Idle Hands (SXSW)
17 – Austin, TX @ Cheer Up Charlie’s (SXSW)
18 – Austin, TX @ Radio Coffee & Bar (SXSW)
19 – Austin, TX @ Fine Southern Gentlemen (SXSW)
20 – Dropping Springs, TX @ Chill Phases
April
08 – Austin, TX @ Hotel Vegas (RECORD RELEASE SHOW)
June
10 – Kerrville, TX @ Kerrville Folk Festival
