''Good Mood'' is the fifth studio album by Australian

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and sub ...

band

Ball Park Music Ball Park Music are an Australian five-piece indie rock band from Brisbane, who formed in 2008. The band consists of Sam Cromack, Jennifer Boyce, Paul Furness, Dean Hanson and Daniel Hanson. Their debut studio album '' Happiness and Surroundin ...

. It was released on 16 February 2018, debuting at number five on the ARIA Albums chart. The album was promoted with two national tours from February 2018 and May 2019 respectively, as well as three singles including the certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

"Exactly How You Are". At the

ARIA Music Awards of 2018 The 32nd Annual Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (generally known as ARIA Music Awards or simply The ARIAs) are a series of award ceremonies which include the 2018 ARIA Artisan Awards, ARIA Hall of Fame Awards, ARIA Fine ...

, the album was nominated for three awards:

Producer of the Year The Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical is an honor presented to record producers for quality non-classical music at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in ...

, Engineer of the Year and Best Cover Art.

Recording and production

The album was recorded between May and July 2017 at the band's studio (named the Bunnings Warehouse Recording Studio), within an industrial estate in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. It was produced by the band and engineered by Cromack, mixed by Paul McKercher and mastered by William Bowden. On the song-writing, Cromack said, "I put some rules on myself: everything had to have the classic verse-chorus-verse-chorus pop structure. I had a ball. And with my lyrics I was like, 'For God's sake, Sam, be clear about what you want to say!'. So often we look down on pop music, but the rules didn't crush our creativity."

Cover

The photo on the cover was taken by band guitarist Dean Hanson. It depicts

horse rider Equestrianism (from Latin , , , 'horseman', 'horse'), commonly known as horse riding (Commonwealth English) or horseback riding (American English), includes the disciplines of riding, driving, and vaulting. This broad description includes the ...

Mindy Davies atop her steed, Teddy. Hanson said Cromack was fascinated with images of "horses rearing in cool places", and the band thought it would be a powerful album cover to "get someone to rear their horse in front of the garage door of

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

studio." The image went on to be nominated for Best Cover Art at the

Critical response

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' said, "Opening with the poppy, yet summery laid-back feel of "The End Times", this self-produced album brings studio whiz and ARIA award-winner Paul McKercher into the mix, elevating frontman/guitarist Sam Cromack's vocals to a new level and highlighting his lyrical strength." The ''

Herald Sun The ''Herald Sun'' is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper based in Melbourne, Australia, published by The Herald and Weekly Times, a subsidiary of News Corp Australia, itself a subsidiary of the Murdoch owned News Corp. The ''Herald S ...

'' claimed, "The experimentation and attention to sonic detail here (it's a headphones album) makes this their '' Pet Sounds''", and compared "The End Times" to, "a ragged Go-Betweens-style indie gem". ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' noted, "the affable plain-spokenness, the facility for melodies that can cure a vitamin D deficiency and, yes, the festival-friendly anthems with unabashedly broad appeal" and declared it their best album.

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from

liner notes Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. * Ball Park Music – producer, writing, arrangements; specifically: ** Sam Cromack – engineer, writing (all tracks) ** Dean Hanson – art direction, cover photo, writing (tracks 4, 9–10) * Paul McKercher – mixing * William Bowden – mastering * Polly Bass Boost – art direction * Mindy Davies – horse rider * Teddy – horse

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums Ball Park Music albums Prawn Records albums