Tyler Jordan could be the next savior of alt-country (as if anyone is still looking for such a thing) if he was willing to invest a bit more in the twangy side of his music. Jordan is the lead singer and principal songwriter with the Texas-based band Good Looks, and their 2022 debut album Bummer Year is a fine opening salvo from guys with obvious talent and an eye for details. The casual Lone Star murmur of Jordan's voice and his stories of life in a semi-small town with all the longings and desperation that implies should be just the thing for folks who love Richmond Fontaine, Son Volt, or the Drive-By Truckers' quieter moments. However, guitarist Jake Ames takes the music in a slightly different direction. The clean but echoey sonics of Ames' lead lines suggest '90s indie rock rather than anything specifically country-oriented, though his style fits the songs quite well. His guitar evokes the long nights, empty spaces, and limited options of Jordan's lyrics with skill and taste, and if this doesn't always sound country, it feels country in the ways that matter. Drummer Phillip Dunne and bassist Anastasia Wright (who has since been replaced by Robert Cherry) are a strong and unobtrusive rhythm section who give Jordan and Ames the solid, supportive foundation these songs need. At a time of cultural divide in the United States, the title track is something quietly extraordinary, a casual meditation of how Jordan's high school friends grew to believe in a different sort of America than he does. If their support of Donald Trump and their misunderstanding of class in America troubles him deeply, he also respects the fundamentals that made them friends to value, and declares, "I don't think they're evil, even when they're awful." At a time when no one seems sure of how to reconcile the differing agendas of the red and blue states, "Bummer Year" is a song that understands how near and how far the two sides truly are. And "Vision Boards" is a righteously venomous attack on the notion of pulling one's self up by their bootstraps when they barely have boots. Running through just seven songs in 31 minutes, Bummer Year feels more like an EP than a full-fledged album, sketching out the fundamentals of what Good Looks can do without elaborating on them. There's tremendous potential in this music, and Tyler Jordan is clearly a songwriter to watch, making Bummer Year a good album from a band that may well deliver something great down the line. ~ Mark Deming