Good Looks

Today, the Austin, Texas rock quartet Good Looks announce their electric new album Lived Here For A While, out June 7th via Keeled Scales, and share its lead single/video, “If It’s Gone.” The follow-up to Good Looks’ critically acclaimed 2022 debut Bummer Year, Lived Here For A While trades the Americana sound that colored in the lines of their debut for clanging post-punk guitars and expansive indie rock. The album was tracked at Texas’ Dandy Sounds with producer/engineer Dan Duszynski (of Loma and Cross Record). Frontman Tyler Jordan’s primary focus on Lived Here For A While is dissecting relationships of all kinds: familial, platonic, creative, and romantic. His songs explore how they can crumble irrevocably but also how those partnerships can be centering, hopeful, and exciting.

Lyrically, the songs on this album are healing meditations on family dysfunction, new relationships, and how a home can become unrecognizable.  However, lead single “If It’s Gone” is the only track explicitly about heartbreak, which boasts a tangible grace that softens any bitterness. “I went through a breakup on day one of the pandemic,” explains Jordan. “‘ If It’s Gone’ kind of opened up the floodgates, and a lot of the other songs on this record were written afterward, so it feels really fitting that this is the first song on the record.  I’m kinda hoping I don’t have to write any more break up songs, and if this is the last one I ever write, I’d be ok with it.  I feel really proud of this one.”On the soaring track, Jordan sings, “I hope you find true love, and money, many orgasms and fame / And if you’re somehow still unhappy find somebody else to blame,” subverting the angrier tropes of the genre. The frenetic animated video for “If It’s Gone” was directed by Callum Scott-Dyson.

Good Looks write kindhearted and cathartic rock songs about the persistence required to make it through hard times. In April 2022, the Austin, Texas quartet released their critically acclaimed debut Bummer Year, which channeled post-2016 frustrations into lyrically generous and biting tracks. However, immediately after their triumphant hometown record release show, tragedy struck. Walking outside the venue, lead guitarist Jake Ames was hit by a car crossing the street, fracturing his skull and tailbone. Following a necessary period of healing and processing which found him in the ICU and dealing with short-term memory issues, Ames recovered. The traumatic accident strengthened their bond, which is evident on Lived Here For A While. It’s fearlessly direct music that captures the full-throated intensity of their galvanizing live show.

Though Jordan had already written the 10 songs on this album before the accident, they weren’t recorded yet. Following the excitement of the release show, Ames’ horrific injury was a devastating blow and made the band’s future uncertain. They canceled the next few months of touring and were mainly concerned about whether or not their bandmate would be OK. “We were in the hospital with him every day,” says Jordan. “It wasn’t clear how bad it was gonna be for Jake. We had no idea how this traumatic brain injury would affect him until the swelling went down. We even wondered if we’d ever play music together again.” Ames was initially hospitalized for nearly a week. While he had difficulty speaking conversationally upon his release, he quickly realized he could still play guitar and sing almost perfectly.

These songs exude the many charms of this Texas band and they debuted several of these cuts on tours with the full band, which includes drummer Phil Dunne and new bassist Harrison Anderson. However, Ames’ accident wasn’t the only horrific event that plagued the band. In July 2023, on the first day of a south and Midwestern run, their tour van was rear-ended by a speeding car, causing an accident on the highway that culminated with their van, alongside their instruments, merch, and records, becoming engulfed in flames. Thankfully, none of the band members suffered serious injuries. Two days later, Jordan continued out the tour solo with the band joining him a few days later to finish the run. This resilience is essential to Good Looks and why the songs on Lived Here For A While resonate so profoundly.