Just a couple weeks after getting the announcement of the first Algernon Cadwallader album in 14 years, we get the announcement of the first album in 14 years by another band who was very important to the development of emo revival, Good Luck. The hard-to-define Bloomington, Indiana band (who also have folk punk, indie rock, and power pop in their DNA) have been playing reunion shows lately, and now they’re set to release Big Dreams, Mister on October 17 via Lauren Records (pre-order). It’s their first album since their 2011 sophomore LP Without Hesitation, and speaking of Algernon Cadwallader, they made the album with Algernon guitarist Joe Reinhart behind the boards.
Here’s what Jeff Rosenstock said about the album in Good Luck’s new bio:
Their new record Big Dreams, Mister (the title of which should be read in the voice of an early 20th-century newsie) is their first in fourteen years, and it fucking rips. It exists in the rarified air of Superchunk’s fantastic post-hibernation record Majesty Shredding and not those “why would they do this?” reunion records of beloved bands whomst shall go unnamed. It is equal parts highly-concentrated effort, pressure-free creativity and the thirst to settle unfinished business after the band stopped making music together in 2012. Except not as dramatic as all that.
[…] Listening to Big Dreams, Mister feels like breathing clean air, like feeling love in a world of hate or any number of hyperbolic tropes music writers would bestow upon some rando to try and sell you some bullshit, but it’s for real this time. The songs have an adventurous excitement to them. The band goes hard as chord progressions occasionally spiral up and down unpredictably and while teetering on the edge of chaos, they lock into some big bouncy hook, moving like one organism, the magic alchemy of years past as alive as ever. Ginger and Matt tackle parenthood, depression, and the general confusion of existence with gut-punch lyrics outlined by an optimism that doesn’t feel saccharine and much-needed encouragement that feels earned.
I don’t know what I can say that Jeff Rosenstock didn’t say better, but I will add that I’m nodding in agreement with all of his words as I listen to lead single/opening track “Into the Void.” It sounds like classic Good Luck, it sounds fresh in 2025, and it’s worth hearing whether you’ve loved this band for 15 years or you’re just finding out about them right now.
About “Into the Void” in particular, the band’s own Ginger Alford adds, “It’s a song about not knowing how to comfort someone who’s going through it, other than to say, let’s keep doing things and being here. But also it’s about driving across the country and drinking coffee, and is full of lots of silly puns. I had played this song solo and with other folks before, but it didn’t really click until we got back together and everybody added their magic.” Listen below.
Good Luck have one upcoming show at the moment: the Sunday (10/26) Bo Diddley Plaza show at The Fest, which is headlined by Jeff Rosenstock and also features AJJ, RX Bandits, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die (whose heavier new album Dreams of Being Dust comes out this week), Underground Railroad to Candyland, Rebuilder, and Descartes A Kant. That’s a classic Fest lineup if I’ve ever seen one.
Tracklist
1. Into the Void
2. Heed My Call
3. No T-Shirts
4. Hold on We’re on the Way
5. Timelapse
6. Innumerable Sea
7. What Young Me Wanted
8. Pin Me Down
9. Bobbing / Idling
10. Make a Road