ALBUM REVIEW: See Where The Night Goes – Goodbye June

Influence from the past can often create and expand onto an established sound. Done well, it often captures that balance between that style and the development of something new that people can get on board with. This is something that Nashville trio, GOODBYE JUNE have managed through their last two releases. Now on their third, See Where The Night Goes, after the pandemic and rise of the NWOCR, there’s a lot of expectation riding on this release to see what they planned and created in lockdown. So, how did the band do with this record, and where did they see this album going?

Definitely in an interesting direction to say the least. It’s very groovy, jammy, and a lot of the songs dive deep into improving and loving yourself, even after a breakup or a difficult event. Songs like Step Aside, What I Need, and Nothing capture this sentiment beautifully, exemplifying that torment after a moment has ended, but also talking about the strength that comes from moving past it and using that energy to love oneself. Other themes, like having a crazy and fun night in Baby I’m Back and See Where The Night Goes, are done well and the writing within the lyrics are very clever and fun to hear.

Matching that, the instrumentation fits the individual themes perfectly, even with the simplistic rhythms. For example, in Stand And Deliver, whilst the drumming and bass is simple, it’s effective because it adds punch to the song and adds that edge and grit to make the song a classic jam. But a standout in the album are the guitar solos, each expressing the tone and mood of the song in such a beautiful way, like in See Where The Night Goes and Breathe And Attack. 

Unfortunately, the album has problems, namely Take A Ride and Three Chords. It’s not that they’re bad songs, with the latter having a fun theme and outlook within its music. However, both songs sound very similar to AC/DC, specifically You Shook Me All Night Long and It’s A Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock And Roll) respectively. Whilst the songs aren’t bad – they’re both composed and executed well on the record – the similarities to the Australian band and their work is hard to deny. It’s a little off-putting that two of the songs have this strong similarity to other songs when the rest of the album does such a good job of keeping the sound and style quintessentially GOODBYE JUNE. Although it is only two songs, that problem does stick out and is quite jarring to hear compared with the rest of the record. 

Overall, aside from those two songs, See Where The Night Goes is another gem in GOODBYE JUNE’s discography, capturing emotional moments perfectly on a bed of lush and groovy classic rock and blues. When the moments are good on this, they’re really good. It’s a shame that the two songs mentioned slightly derail the album, but for the most part, it’s a solid outing that will hopefully draw more people into a fantastic band that more should hear. It’s still a stand out record, flaws and all, and shows a band that is capable of a lot of incredible work.

Rating: 8/10

See Where The Night Goes is set for release on February 18th via Earache Records.

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