With Good Boy, Brighton-based duo ARXX touches on personal matters, plays with genres and celebrates their queerness. Review.
GOOD BOY – ARXX
The dancefloor can’t help but light up to the sound of Crying In The Carwash. It’s the electro-pop-rock queer anthem with which ARXX kicks off their album Good Boy. And it’s a true banger. Saturated riffs support the more electronic base of the drums and vocal effects, bringing out all the joy and melancholy in the track. These textures reappear throughout the album. But beware, ARXX plays with genres far more than you might expect. All Night follows with a similar base but a sharper, more sensual edge in the guitars and vocals. The duo is free to explore what speaks to them most, and they definitely don’t hold back—what a treat!
Nostalgic pop-rock in Swim and Easy, infectious electro-pop through Like Hell, the duo even jumps into a chaotic blend with Trouble. Even with so many stylistic shifts, everything comes together harmoniously. The crown jewel of the album, for me, is Good Boy. The title track boasts a sexy, saturated, and incredibly catchy chorus. You can’t miss it! Another standout is Dublin, where the vocals feel close, everything more intimate, raw, and deeply heartfelt. And then there are those striking moments that subtly underline the cries and heartache. It’s quite intense.
With Forgive and Forget, ARXX leans into a relatively classic pop-rock sound. Yet again, it’s not quite what the duo has delivered so far. The track is fresh, makes you want to move forward, and touches on the theme of forgiveness. They bring tenderness with Baby Berlin, and ARXX closes Good Boy with the vibrant Love Me Again. But once more, their dancefloor remains open to nostalgia, melancholy, and heartache. Dancing and singing about love with a broken heart—it never fails to hit the mark.
