Goon have released their vibey second single, “Ochre” from the upcoming album Hour Of Green Evening, out July 15. The song is about “that feeling when you’re laying in bed wide awake at 3 am and your mind is racing so you go for a walk,” says frontman Kenny Becker. The name comes from Yellow Ochre, Becker’s favorite color to paint with (he creates all the band’s art). He shot the video using a point and shoot camera, invoking a lo-fi digital grittiness fitting with the introspective longing of the song. 

Following “Angelnumber 1210”, the new track also features a beautiful piano improvisation from Spoon’s Alex Fischel at the end. His keys are layered throughout the album, which will be released as a special edition CD package featuring an obi strip and pressed on a limited run of red CDs via Demodé Recordings. 

Goon began as Becker’s Bandcamp solo project in 2015. Partisan Records released the band’s first album Heaven is Humming, as well as EPs Happy Omen & Dusk of Punk, praised by several media outlets. After several band members departed for other jobs, cities, and life experiences, Becker recruited a new band — Andy Polito on drums, Dillon Peralta on guitar, and Tamara Simons on bass — and set about recording a second LP, Hour of Green Evening, in Glendale, CA with producer and engineer Phil Hartunian and Alex Fischel from Spoon who plays piano & synth on the record. 

The evolution of Goon has come to full fruition on Hour of Green Evening. It’s the band’s most complete statement, engaging all aspects of their sound to stunning effect. The record conjures the nighttime suburban world of Becker’s youth, a mix of concrete and cookie-cutter homes with the lush beauty of California landscapes. The album’s world is populated by people dreaming, sleeping and waking, existing in that in-between space of the nighttime world. Plant references abound, from the “hydrangea lawns” of “Last Light On,” the “eucalyptus wall” of “Wavy Maze,” the oleander in the hypnotic “Lyra,” all swirling together in an endless suburban gloaming. 

It’s a record of melodic richness and finely textured production, slipping easily between heavy guitars and glimmering vocals, a fullness that comforts but never overwhelms. The songs have a melancholy to them, but they never succumb to hopelessness, knowing at the heart of the darkest night there is still light, goodness, and maybe even someone else there to help you wander through.

Photo Courtesy: Josh Beavers