Good Morning make music that isn’t really for morning people. I think it’s for the people who sleep in past noon, roll out of bed in one sock and the jeans they wore the night before, surrounded by scribbles on scrap pieces of paper and empty cups of tea.
Stefan Blair and Liam Parsons started making music together in their high school music class. Now they roll around Melbourne operating as Good Morning. The duo sound a bit like Mac Demarco and John Lennon in his post-Beatle days, but mostly they hone in on beautiful guitar cords mixed in with dreamy scattered vocals – a mismatch of psychedelia and pop.
Good Morning are the kings of being lazy. Don’t let their name fool you, they’ll make you want to hit that snooze button and dream all day long – and that’s ok with us.
The boys have just returned from a tour of the USA where they played at New York’s annual CMJ Music Marathon, alongside stacks of killer Aussie band including Methyl Ethel and Sunbeam Sound Machine. CMJ is aimed at giving bands industry exposure and the possibility of scoring a record deal, but Good Morning scored big time when they caught the attention of superstar rapper Tyler, The Creator who shared his love for their laid-back sound to his millions of social media followers .
If, like me, you’ve listened to their debut EP Shawcross on repeat a few too many times, and you haven’t closed the tab to their Soundcloud for six days and counting, get ready for some fresh morning sun to fill your ears. Cab Deg is the first track of their upcoming EP Glory, set to be released in February 2016, and it’s nugget of toe tapping deliciousness.
The track sounds like denim and skateboards and laughter and maybe skipping school. It’s got sweet blurry vocals, suited to the start of summer when you stop doing your assignments and start going surfing instead. The wailing vocals and vibrations at the end are just lovely lovely lovely.
In between EPs the band have drip fed us a steady flow of downtempo, hazy tunes. On The Streets in an absolute ripper; the first five second are bliss, with their signature slow guitar strums and understated vocal hooks. Then it gets all upbeat and a bit more poppy, with laidback simple lyrics about being “tired on the street” and “all the people you meet.” Kings of the daydream, these boys walk around the city and observe buildings in a way most wouldn’t consider. It’s music for people watchers.
You has another bloody beautiful intro, all slow drumbeats and lazy guitar strums, plus the sweet mumbly vocals is pure good Good Morning magic: sort of psychedelic but completely muffled by sleepy static. It’s the kind of stuff that should be in a fashion film of a beautiful girl walking through daisy fields or maybe sitting on some majestic white spotted horse with her long hair blowing in the breeze. You get my drift.
If you’d like visuals to this audio feast, have a squiz at their Rooftop Sessions with Rare Candy performing Cab Deg. Or maybe catch them live later this year at Paradise Festival. It’ll be worth waking up for, I promise.
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