Emerging from a watery grave instruments in hand, The Good Boys could be Sydney’s most ‘cloaked’ surf rock outfit.
Their enchanting sounds have won them an earnest group of dedicated fans throughout the city, following these sea-sprayed monks on their journey through vintage guitar lines and big wave wipeouts.
Cloaked in black and vibrating with an array of tight-knit soundscapes, The Good Boys are lone instrumental rangers amongst Sydney’s surf rock scene.
There is some seriously crafty musicianship at work here. To keep an audience both enthralled, dancing, and hungry for more is no easy feat considering the band sing only through their instruments. But wherever The Good Boys are found there’s always a crowd dancing, throwing down their craziest moves to these bizarre sounds.
The band also shares the keyboardist of local heavy psych blues outfit Velvet Trip. Sinj Clarke dazzles with his creative flourishes and has also composed and produced a noteworthy jazz/film score album titled An Italian Afternoon.
With the worldwide success of instrumental psych trio Khruangbin, it’s clear that the sky is the limit for instrumental explorers as appeal shift returns to musical prowess.
It’s a unique talent to tell a story solely through musical composition, but The Good Boys have got it all with Honolulu wipeouts, journeys along the Greek coast, slow-dance love ballads, and dark ventures to coral nightmares. They weave a web that tells a story, never forgetting to tie up the plot in the last few bars.
The intrigue is only heightened by the five-piece routinely draping themselves in black hooded cloaks. The aesthetic matches the music in many cases, and certainly heightens the atmosphere of their live shows.
If you have a spare day this summer and the beach is calling, play this album, sink into the sand and watch the waves roll in. Your imagination will thank you later.
