As anyone who has ever lived in a old, broken house in the dead of winter knows, there is a particular hazy bitterness to those mornings when you’re laying in bed, shivering, as cold air pours in through the little cracks in your window. The Goodbye Party captures that familiar, chilling feeling on “Crossed Out,” over a big, twangy guitar riff that sounds plucked from 90s college rock comp: “Holes in the windows where the wind slips through, my hands grew numb from the cold and turned blue,” sings Mikey Cantor, formerly of the much-loved Philly pop punk trio The Ambulars.
With The Goodbye Party, Cantor retains his ear for melody and the lyrical intimacy of his last band: “I couldn’t pick up a pen to write down a crossed out sense of self sinking in,” the song continues. But on Silver Blues, his forthcoming record as The Goodbye Party, Cantor takes those impulses to a place that’s simultaneously more refined and filled-out. There are twinkling slow-burners backed by lush, ambient sounds; introspective lo-fi acoustic ballads; and more driving power-pop moments, all tied together by harmonies upon harmonies, punctuated by drumming from Joey Doubek of Pinkwash. Some songs (including “Crossed”) are updated takes on the more sparse, bluesy bedroom pop record he made under his own name last year, Funeral Season.
Silver Blues is out December 1 via the ever-reliable Detroit punk label Salinas, who have already released some excellent and overlooked pop records this year.
