Bozeman, Montana-based band Stonefruit make their impressive full-length debut with Good News Only, led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Olivia Langan alongside bassist/composer Gavin Wallace, drummer Jory Gomez, and guitarist Jerry Cannon. A captivating dreamgaze sound shows within, fusing aspects of rock, folk, and shoegaze. Recorded, engineered, mixed, and produced by Ben Roth in Anacortes, Washington, the album fluidly blends intimacy with increasingly expansive rock textures.
“Cassie’s House” opens the album beautifully, initially conjuring a haunting folk introspection propelled by Langan’s ghostly voice and late-night acoustic strums, with a fond likeness to Marissa Nadler. Stonefruit’s versatility is on display by midpoint, expanding this gorgeous folk intro into a resonating rock ardor. Twangy electric guitar, chugging distortion, and sturdy rhythms emerge with invigorating impact, while Langan re-emerges with a more forceful and foreboding “in the garden, glowing red eyes in hiding…” mystique. “Cassie’s House” delights in its folk-to-rock structural swell and riveting vocal performance, setting the album into wonderful motion.
The ensuing “Couch Party” achieves a droning art-rock contemplation, where a smitten Langan reflects on how, in the face of an upcoming party, “I always wished no one would show, so we could love on the couch.” The sensuous, heartfelt descriptors and “I could be famous” distinctions, between artistic pursuits and full-on love, make for a resonant and poetic pull. “From the Sun” moves back into steady rock territory, here crafting a sound fondly reminiscent of Adrianne Lenker and Big Thief. The “hiding from myself” segment is especially enthralling, driving into a scorching guitar solo with ample charisma, while quality songwriting also shows on the pulsing rocker “Heaven or Nothing,” released as the final single to the album, and preceded by “Friendship Food Mart” and “From the Sun.”
Another standout track, “Friendship Food Mart” blends a rural, lived-in setting with adoring qualities. Langan’s resonant delivery pairs with dreamy guitar stylings, exuding an early ’90s alt-rock nostalgia. “Something about your face, made me wanna drive all over the place, all over the states,” she sings, moving from the more local scenery to an ambitious call for movement and emotion. Another expressively magnetic guitar solo wraps up this track, while the subsequent “I Can’t Dive” laments on being unable to “shake the feeling” that committing might mean self-destruction. An especially impactful segment arrives in the “try, try” vocal fervor and twanging guitar appeal, ending the track with stirring finality.
Sludgy guitar warmth and hazy jangling enamor on “Toothbath,” where those delectable guitar tones pair with lyrical yearning for capturing a sort of personal jubilation: “Take a picture of me jumping, I wanna look like just like I’m hovering / Magic in the backyard, that’s the kind of magic we can do.” A heartrending “I love you” admission follows, capturing a sense of time-immune blissfulness. Meanwhile, album finale “To the Dogs” melds a lonesome, nocturnal folk soundscape with a dose of anticipation, delivered through Langan’s chilling “wait for you to get home” phrasing—channeling fatigue yet a willingness to try in its knee-scraped imagery, reflective of one’s own trials and tribulations. Good News Only is an excellent full-length from Stonefruit, abundant in from-the-heart songwriting and stellar, climactic song structures.
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