The Goon Sax Are Having a Lot of Fun on ‘We’re Not Talking’

We’re Not Talking, the Goon Sax’s second album, sounds about three-quarters finished. That’s both a description of their sound and a mild indictment of it. Their mostly acoustic guitar-based pop songs with hints of punk energy and awkward, honest teenage lyrics invite easy comparisons to artists like Jonathan Richman and the Violent Femmes. Like those acts, the Brisbane, Australia-based trio started while they were still in high school and even now, with the trio at the ripe old ages of 20, 20, and 21, there’s still a rawness and immediacy to their music. But sometimes that rawness left me with a reaction more akin to, “That’s it?” than “How fresh!”

The album’s opening track “Make Time 4 Love” is a song that feels fully formed. Louis Forster’s direct vocals and conversational lyrics nicely complement the softly driving drums and quiet, insistent cowbell rhythm, while James Harrison’s warm bassline gives the song a very melodic feel. By the last 30 seconds of this 130-second song, strings and trumpets show up and nicely accentuate the late arriving chorus as Forster sings “But I’m trying / To make time / For love” again and again. That continues into the Harrison-fronted second song, “Love Lost”, as he speak-sings about being paralyzed by choice before getting to the point: “It’s so hard / To be who you want me to be.” Like the opener, this song is characterized by strummy acoustic guitar and warm bass, this time accompanied by strings and castanets. There’s even a little fuzzed out guitar solo here.

These songs are catchy and fun if a little shambling. Third track “She Knows” bristles with energy as the band revs up the speed and pulls out some tastefully distorted electric guitars. Drummer Riley Jones shows up on backing vocals for the first time on this song, giving the band another color. At this point, the Goon Sax slows things down with “Losing Myself”, which seems to use a preprogrammed synth drumbeat as its percussion. Again, the warm, melodic bass line, which is quietly doubled by guitar here, holds the song together. Jones and Forster trade lead vocals back and forth and also sing in unison, which is very effective. The tinny little synth line that flits in occasionally also works nicely.

Eventually, the record gets around to “Somewhere in Between” and “Now You Pretend”, a pair of short songs that sound like first demos. Each song features just one band member and a keyboard. “Somewhere in Between” finds Harrison struggling to play simple chords on an electric piano while he croons quietly about relationship struggles. The vocal melody and chords are nice, but it feels like the germ of a song idea, not a completed track. “Now You Pretend” has Forster on the piano setting of the keyboard, and he has a nice little piano melody that he repeats while he sort of moans out some lyrics without finding a real vocal tune. And then it just ends. It’s even less of a song than Harrison’s, and that’s frustrating considering how solid a lot of the band’s material is on the album.

The Jones-fronted “Strange Light” also feels a few takes short of completion. Harrison’s bass playing again provides most of the instrumental bedrock, and Jones’ singing and melody are just fine. But the characterless guitar strumming and occasional distant, timpani-like drum hits sound like placeholders for better musical ideas that the band will come up with later. The soft, subdued “We Can’t Win” has a similar feel at first. Another tinny synth keyboard drumbeat provides the rhythm while quiet keyboard chords provide the only instruments under Forster’s singing for the first minute. But then the band comes in with their full complement of acoustic guitar, bass, and drums and fills out the song effectively. Jones also comes on vocals later on, and the male-female contrast works even better here than on “Losing Myself”.

As the album begins to wind down, the upbeat “A Few Times Too Many” and “Get Out” provide a pair of highlights. Harrison sings the former with energy while the band jangles along with its basic drums, bass, and acoustic guitar setup. Well, almost; there’s a subtle, simple synth line drifting along underneath the chorus. But the song is fun and catchy, with an easy to sing refrain, “Well, I know I can’t give much / I don’t have much to give / Nothing at all / Is that okay? / Do you care at all?” Forster sings “Get Out”, which has one of the record’s few melodic guitar parts and some nice drumming that finds Jones using her whole drum kit and more. Tambourine, cowbell, and bongos all make appearances in the background here, but they don’t distract from the strong vocal and guitar melodies.

Ultimately We’re Not Talking is a fun, breezy listen. The Goon Sax are really good with melody at this point. But they don’t always fare so well with instruments and arrangements. If there’s one consistently strong instrument, it’s the relentlessly melodic bass playing that enhances every song the band uses it in. For the most part, the album’s quick and raw feel is positive, but in the instances where quick and raw works against them it’s an obvious detriment to the songs.