The Brights 
Eschewing a bit of the scrappiness of some of their countrymen, Aussies The Brights embrace a sweater-soft approach that gives jangle pop an auburn glow. The band’s latest, Oyster Rock!, embraces an eclectic air, shifting breezily from the the afternoon sighs of Real Estate and Mt. Misery to nods towards prime-era Britpop, gnawing on Supergrass keys that leave a welcome taste of nostalgia on the tongue. The band vacillates between the poles of power pop and scarf-weather indie with such ease that I’ve found the album as an constant go-to over the past few months. In the throes of 2023 it would seem that the well of indie rock had run dry, that every strum had been wrung from tour-battered guitars and every wry smile had been cracked through the second stage lights. Yet, when a band hits the right recline, toes the line between roadworn and resplendent, it can still soothe the hackles like no other.
The Brights aren’t reinventing the formula, but they’re definitely doing it well. The laconic strums of “Quiet As A Cloud” are paired with a charging piano line that’s like Vince Guaraldi slipped into the sleeve of EZTV or Nap Eyes. “Everyone In Town” toasts the guitars under an Aussie sun, and “Enough of You” is a study in pop polarity that lodges it in the brain for weeks. The dreamier fare is cross-cut with soft-fizz riffs that tag a pretty complete run on the power pop punch card, but the Blayney/Morris vocals never get ruffled, and never raise their temps above a steady slip through the sunny 70s. They coat each song in a blissful delivery that’s as comforting as it is catchy. As the album unfolds, it’s the little touches and production choices that let the band sail cleanly away from cliche and towards something more enduring — pedal steel sighs, barroom piano bounce, and stacked harmonies that cradle rather than cavort. It’s a packed year, and there are so many albums vying for attention, but The Brights have created something worth more than a few spins on the speakers, an album that’s constantly there to lean on when the lights get dim.
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