Good Nature

Re-formed Virginia Beach rockers settle even deeper into the sun-dappled guitar pop that marked their 2015 sea change from emo punks to mellow dreamers. Beyond the headline-grabbing hard-to-soft transition of , their sophomore effort, was some legitimately solid songwriting and the newfound embrace of a more nuanced approach. Having completed that transition, however, find themselves in a fairly crowded field of amiable dream pop bands whose audiences tend to be fickler than those of the D.I.Y. scene that birthed them. Proclaiming its warmth with a festive, almost-Balearic jungle scene album cover, 2017's revels in its own glow of breezy, understated melodies set against backdrops of bright guitar jangle and lush synth pads. Like its predecessor, is a generally solid listen boasting a handful of highlights, most notably tracks like "All That It Ever Was" and "Living Small," which break out of the album's affable mold using clever melodic shifts and subtle left turns. Co-conspiring in the band's latest evolution is longtime producer , an emo/post-hardcore/pop-punk staple who himself continues to expand outward from his home genres. The overall tone on is of wistful introspection, as if the music were filtered through a late afternoon windowpane making it a direct reflection of its name. ~ Timothy Monger