The Stevens - Good (2017)

Melbourne scratchy pop favourites the Stevens return with their second album Good, picking up where their 2014 debut A History Of Hygiene left off - 18 short songs, packed with twists and hooks that merge lo-fi outsider songcraft, 70s prog wizardry and classic rock swagger. The Stevens formed in 2011 around guitarists Alex Macfarlane (Twerps, Tyrannamen) and Travis MacDonald, bassist Gus Lord (Twerps, Boomgates, Tyrannamen) and drummer Matt Harkin. In 2012, Chapter Music released the band's insanely catchy debut EP. Then in 2014 A History Of Hygiene was written up by Pitchfork and The Guardian, reviewed by Austin Brown of Parquet Courts and played on BBC6. The Stevens toured the US in 2015, playing Gonerfest and supporting their hero R Stevie Moore. In Australia they have played with Wire, Parquet Courts and Real Estate. The Stevens recorded Good in their own Melbourne bedrooms/jam rooms throughout 2016, and employed the services of New Zealand mastering engineer Tex Houston, veteran of a thousand Flying Nun releases. Alex and Gus from The Stevens have spent the last couple of years as the newest members of Twerps, with Alex drumming on their 2015 album Range Anxiety, and Gus joining on bass a short time later. 'Evoking the libidinous parts of '70s rock...the thirst here reveals itself to be for life more than lust.'