The Terrys - Skate Pop (2024)

No Bad Days. It sums them up. The relentless optimism through the 5am wake up call. The light through the dark times. Loving your mates, your family, being grateful. Shiny melody and honest reflection. Big choruses, pop hooks, and furtive guitars.

Up The Bloody Tezzas. Here for their second album, they're here to build on what they did before. Most played triple j unearthed artist in 2021. ARIA Album chart debut at 3 in 2022. World domination in 2024.

The rockers mix carefree catchiness with achy introspection. The Terrys’ scuffed slacker jangle follows directly in the recent lineage of Australian exports like Hockey Dad and Skegss. Meanwhile, the title of their second album pokes fun at the “surf rock” tag assigned to that fruitful patch of bands. Yet there’s certainly some truth in the second half of that title. Despite the carefree airs and unpolished arrangements, these songs are as hooky and immediate as the best pop music. Take the sunny energy of “Zombie”, the shouted group harmonies of “Tokyo” and especially singer Jacob Finch’s scratchy vocals and daydreamy refrain on “Clouds”: “Seems I’m floatin’ away/In the clouds today”.

That everyday appeal is ever-present on Skate Pop, including such youthful slices of life as lead single “No Bad Days” and the achy acoustic ballad “If You Get That”. There are still plenty of satisfying sing-alongs and guitar solos in the mix—see the fuzz-caked latter shine through on “Fundamental Man”—but The Terrys come off more vulnerable than cocksure here. And that only makes the songs that much more relatable.