For Good Neighbours, everything started when they found their rhythm on social media. The project of songwriters Oli Fox and Scott Verill – who have previously released spritely indie-pop under various monikers – has maintained momentum on TikTok this year, via a lengthy roll-out of demos and behind-the-scenes footage. It’s a savvy, if slightly fatiguing tactic: the duo teased debut single ‘Home’ in dozens of videos, tagging each clip with general statements like ‘POV: you’ve found your roadtrip soundtrack’ or encouraging listeners to indulge in a main character moment.
It’s perhaps no surprise then that the loudest audience ovation is reserved for when Fox makes mention of the platform tonight (April 24). “Some of you may know us from TikTok,” he says knowingly. “And we took a bit of time to release an actual song.” The band are self-confessed super fans of Bleachers, and their blueprint is clear: big, washed-out, atmospheric tunes with lyrics about life-changing friendships that could find a place in Spotify’s Gen Z-targeted Lorem playlist.
This seamlessness is not lost on stage. When played live, ‘Home’, recent single ‘Keep It Up’ and a handful of unreleased tracks slide and swirl into a bright, easy-going pop haze. Beyond giving the former some extra gusto, replete with a multicoloured light display, there’s little to differentiate some of the newer material: Fox’s delivers ‘Ripple’ with a high-pitched cadence, occasionally straining to be heard atop a three-piece backing band.
With a silver chain lightly bouncing atop his graphic t-shirt as he wiggles around, Fox is an affable performer – and it would perhaps be churlish to put Good Neighbours down for the cheerfully uncomplicated mood that their melodies inspire. The energy in the room is very much ‘good times, all the time’, with music that you could call warm and familiar, buoyed by some big-chorus magic (a Grouplove redux, even).
Fox and Verill’s vision translates best during a more freewheeling ‘Daisies’, during which they rip into guitar solos and leap about joyously. It sparks the question: with a little more grit and wonkiness, could Good Neighbours, like their peers Royel Otis, make the leap to festival stages? Having successfully made an impact in an oversaturated online space, there’s enough here to suggest that they’ll soon take the next step.