My Goodness' Newest Album is Indie Rock in Fine Form

Anna Marketti ’17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Today, the term “indie” is tossed around to encompass a disturbing number of bands. It’s dissolved into a frankly ambiguous term describing anything from break-neck, frenetic acoustic guitar strumming to keyboard laden lyrical pop, so long as the band is quirky and wears flannel. What’s truly fallen into the background is pure rock and roll. While there’s been a surge in this plethora of indie bands in addition to myriad other newly established genres, we haven’t seen many new faces in the true rock scene. My Goodness comes barreling out to greet us on that front, just in time.
With an aggressive sound that reaches out with pointed fingers, begging for your ears to listen, their most recent release, Shiver & Shake is a captivating album from a fledgling group. Coming to us from Seattle, the influence of the area’s most iconic musical groups is clear in their no holds barred, animalistic vocals.
The title track is clumsy, notes stumbling over one another, creating a sort of mess that appears as an artistic choice. What it lacks melodically, it makes up for with its dirty instrumentation. Emulating the sort of fuzzy, distorted noise rock groups like Smashing Pumpkins owned for themselves, My Goodness has constructed a raw record that exposes their vulnerability as musicians. Shiver & Shake focuses on the process of creation in music.

A few of the tracks are slightly more stripped down and not nearly as heavy. “Bottle” is the most slowed down on the album, acting as a sort of ballad track. With drawn out, lamenting vocals, layered thick with vibrato, it adds a touch of sweetness to an otherwise harsh album.
These slower tracks are really what break up the otherwise fairly monotonous album. As a newer band, it’s clear they’ve only just begun testing the waters of what they’re capable of. That’s not to say it’s not worth a listen. There’s some raw attitude in Shiver & Shake that’s lost on the overpopulated singer-songwriter world today.
My Goodness has constructed a solid, tough album. Their songs are carefully put together, no note placed without intention.