Two-man rock machine My Goodness is back. Thank God and the hammer He’s bringing down on your eardrums.
Guitarist/singer Joel Schneider and drummer Andy Lum haven’t so much fixed something that ain’t broke on Shiver + Shake, their new long-player dropping Tuesday, as they have added some extra colors and shading to their electric-blues monster car. The record marks a terrific move forward, and the new twists signal—loud and clear—that they’re in it for the long haul.
Longtime fans can rest assured that Schneider’s cement-mixer riffage and Lum’s chest-rattling backbeat haven’t gone away. Those sonic fireworks pummel you in the kisser right out of the gate with the muscular title track, a lurching blues stomp that opens the record, and the stop-start groove of “Pay No Mind” reinforces everything that’s great about their tough side. But the band’s sonic palette has broadened thanks to some compelling new twists in songwriting and producer Rick Parashar’s presence at the console.
Parashar’s produced acts like Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam in the past, and he puts a handsome, radio-ready sheen on the band’s trademark crunch without neutering it. The panoramic scope suits this batch of new material. Guitars chime as much as they grind on “Cold Feet Killer,” and the song’s shifts from Zeppelin-style riffs to nearly post-punk pinging stringwork sound like U2 growing a set of brass ones while still staring into the sky.
Schneider’s always possessed a good working rock voice, and his singing’s arguably grown in versatility and strength in the last few years. He’s never growled more ferociously than he does on “Letter to the Sun,” but he doesn’t fall back on bluster, and the distinctive vibrato in his voice is emerging as a key secret weapon in My Goodness’s arsenal. Schneider’s vocal shiver and shake adds folky vulnerability to the quiet and lovely “Bottle,” and a psychobilly swagger to the bad-assed chug of “C’mon Doll”.
As polished and full of detours as Shiver + Shake is, though, it never sells this band’s power short. It’s just genetically engineered to sound best pumping at full volume out of the biggest and fattest car stereo speakers you can find. Listen, and ride on.
[My Goodness play the Crocodile tonight, with Black Whales and Acapulco Lips opening. Show starts at 8pm. A few tickets, $15 at the door, are still available.]
