THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The duo of Liam Parsons and Stefan Blair, Good Morning began their eighth album by booking studio time without pre-prepared songs. The result: They ended up jamming — “something that we’ve spent the better part of our adult lives avoiding,” they explain. Written and recorded wholly together in one shared space, The Accident is exclusively digital thanks to a broken eight-track tape machine.
Formed in the background of preparing and releasing their latest critically acclaimed album Good Morning Seven, The Accident would come to fruition in three stages: Instrumentals recorded in August 2023 at The Old Carpet Factory on the Greek island of Hydra amongst 40°C weather and late morning swims; lyrics added and mixing initiated in November 2023 at Stella Mozgawa’s Sunfair Studios in Joshua Tree, after a co-headline tour with Frankie Cosmos; final touches in February 2024 at Naarm / Melbourne’s York Street Recorders, Australia’s oldest running studio (that Stefan co-operates) while they rehearsed to support Waxahatchee across the U.S.
Speaking to The Accident‘s genesis, Good Morning share: “Somehow, we broke through the barrier of being vulnerable about our creativity (again) and got into the swing of writing together in a room for the first time in a long time. During this time we’re starting all the advance rollout work on Good Morning Seven and planning our next year. We’re not really fighters, (we’re way too passive for that), but given that we’re making a new record at the same time as already getting sick of thinking about the old one, an air of burnout and band-related bumout seems to find its way into much of the lyrics. For the first time in a long time, there is no new Good Morning record being worked on as this one is coming out, and no plans to tour.”
Marking the release with a sprawling eight-minute single, Soft Rock Band plays like a hopeful final chapter. An alternate narrative-led hurricane, the track springboards memories, secrets and fears of a lackadaisical character’s past. Remarking on the adage of time flying, “I might have seen it all but I know there’s still so much to go,” they lament against warm piano and slide guitar. What eventuates into a big band breakdown keeps with the nostalgic easy-listening style of Clairo. Like Truman stepping off the set of his so-called life, Soft Rock Band windchimes into the distance and lets the end credits roll.
With a dedicated focus to a small contingent of instruments that feature across The Accident, as with Good Morning’s wider discography, the record is abound with xylophone, slide guitar, congas, and a Melotron setting called ‘Boy’s Choir.’ Hydra’s ever-present cicada population, coupled with Joshua Tree’s scorpions and tarantulas, meant that “a lot of the recordings have a layer of hiss anyway.” The Accident also sees a horn and wind section return, with contributions from Stefan’s father Glenn Blair on saxophone, Nicole Thibault on trombone and Hank Clifton-Williamson on flute. Retaining their firm DIY spirit, The Accident arrives written and produced by Good Morning (pair), engineered and mixed by Stefan with mastering by Fred Kevorkian and artwork by Liam.”
