REVIEW: Good Morning—The Accident (2025)

If you're going to go on a hiatus, go out on an album like this.

Stefan Blair and Liam Parsons have plugged away in the indie trenches for a solid decade now, releasing one quality indie pop album after another. But after two EPs and six full-length LPs, the duo decided to essentially mic drop with one of their best efforts yet in The Accident.

Mic drop?! Alas, yes, Good Morning have gone on hiatus: that dreadfully loaded term that basically translates as “no more music, no more tours until we get the itch once again…whenever that may be.”

Released digitally with little fanfare on November 29, 2024, and on a limited, hard-to-source self-released vinyl in February ( with no European distribution apparently forthcoming), it has required an unusual amount of effort to get hold of a copy from the other side of the world. Being an old fashioned kinda listener, I’ve waited until I could hold it in my hands before turning my attention to it.

To be frank, I wasn’t expecting all that much, especially given the lack of due prominence given to the album. No promo videos. One “single” a week before release (The epic Soft Rock Band). So many questions! Why did their label Polyvinyl pass up on it? Were sales of Good Morning 7 that bad?

How fed up were they to just toss this out there as a limited self-released thing with only a couple of Waxahatchee support dates post-release? As a result, it had all the air of an offcuts release. And yet! And yet it’s become something on an instant favourite in these parts, getting back to their lo-fi melodic craft of old, after what was a uncharacteristically polished album last time out.

I guess the very first line of first track Baby Steps spells it out unambiguously:

I’ve been out so long

Now my keys don’t work

I wanna quit the band

But then again, these tunes were written in late 2023, so presumably there was a long lead up to get all their obligations ticked off. That can’t be much fun for any band.

The next track A Telephone Rings sure doesn’t paint a happy picture of being in a band either:

Here’s another song about trying (the keys go down, the pedals go down)

Now here’s a little one about aging, so let’s put it on the pile

And maybe I won’t have to sing it for a while until I’m breaking

—

So the bag gets filled and it’s emptied again

And we do what we do to keep our head in the sand

I’m running out of options, I’ve run into a wall

But at least I didn’t end up like you my pal. Cause sure you worked pretty hard.

But what did it do? You got a 2.9 on a Google review.

If you’re not cognisant of the somewhat downcast tone of lyrics, these are all mighty fine tunes. No matter what, the band always seem to have that in their DNA, and don’t really do introspective naval gazing when it comes to the melody. Even when they’re attempting something more chill, like the hushed Perfect Fishing, there’s a lightness of touch that belies the reflective musings on display. The Grateful Dead also treads lightly, with its baritone mumblings, evoking The National at their most intimate.

By the time we reach their parting gift, the eight minute Soft Rock Band, you won’t believe you’re listening to a band reaching the end of the road. Everything about it sounds assured, honed, refined. Their little countermelodies, breezy playing, swooning backing vocals, the wry confessional lyrics…they do it as well as anyone has this past decade.

I have a feeling once people catch up with their body of work, they may well find themselves returning to a much bigger audience than they had when they were around. It’s a story we’ve all seen before. In the meantime, chaps, enjoy doing something else for a bit. You’ve earned it. And thanks for the music.