A rock duo who were not the first to utilise the aesthetic of nostalgic-like art, but were certainly better than most at it. Good Neighbours’ charm comes from the lightness and brevity of their work. Their hit track, Home, was hardly a showcase of their deeper abilities as artists, but it did what many musicians are hoping for: it went big on TikTok. Those who use it, great stuff, those who deleted it in a mass purge in the hopes of being more focused, only to find the world is not as easy to escape from without being pumped with dopamine through record hauls and Mr. Bruv content, you may be surprised to see Good Neighbours are still pushing on. They have not lost sight of their main target, an album release which defies the short pop sensations of their popularity elsewhere. Blue Sky Mentality is a thoughtful release. Of course it features those social media sensations; they would be mad not to hook people in with those. What follows are sincere, short examples of decent pop sentimentality.
Good Neighbours are a balance between those catchy, reel-friendly songs and finding a deeper meaning in the wider pop sound. They manage as much with a few of the songs featured. Keep It Up has that floaty, feel-good feel. For those wanting more than a charmless pop injection, look elsewhere. Vocal interjections on a bed of noise that’s made to make you feel good. Music which would serve the new Google Pixel adverts perfectly. That’s the route for the sentimentality found on Blue Sky Mentality. The trouble in discarding this is that it’s clear Good Neighbours truly mean it. This is not some popularity contest exercise, but how they feel and how they wish to present it. Much of Blue Sky Mentality feels more like a moodboard structure than anything solid. Superfluous feelings captured by the duo and somewhat shoddily held down. When they get it right, they do great. Skipping Stones has a light catchiness to it, which is maintained in every song.
But catchiness only gets you so far. The summery sensations found in those vapid moments are short on quality. At least Ripple offers a new direction, a clearer tone for the vocal work and an instrumental mixture which finds a little love for acoustic work. That faux party feel, the slight echo at the end of Found You, is something The Beach Boys would be ridiculed for doing on Beach Boys’ Party. Here, too, Good Neighbours must be mocked. If you cannot find the lived-in appeal of a moment or mood, then it makes little sense to include it. What they have featured across Blue Sky Mentality is momentous and courageous intimacy without the meaningful tone only captured by living the story at hand. Walk Walk Walk struggles most of all, another catchy but weightless piece from the duo. Their instrumentals here will break the sound system of even the strongest speakers, high-pitched and whining as it is.
Writing a catchy hit like Home is luck-based, it seems. Blue Sky Mentality features Home and it highlights, more than anything, that Good Neighbours’ excess in the studio is what they must deal with. Layer after layer of confused and meandering instrumentals that obscure the purpose of the song but add stock to the stylishness and marketability of the pair. Spots of smart writing, like on Starry Eyed, do well to capture the cultural moment, the skinny jeans and cigarettes of the time which dominate the aesthetic of Good Neighbours’ target audience. It’ll work for them, but the promise of reflection and sentimentality is lost somewhat by an instrumental insincerity which overwhelms what passion the duo can display. They skirt dangerously close to cringe-inducing, Brendan Abernathy territory with Suburbs. Music made for those who live there, and have no desire to escape such comforts.
