Reviews

Good Habits
Album: Better For Now
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 9
Website: https://www.goodhabitsband.com/

Good Habits have always been a band shaped as much by circumstance as by intention, and Better For Now feels like the moment where all those twists of fate finally settle into something beautifully assured. Coming to this record as someone who's lived with Quarter Life, its restless energy, its emotional candour, its sense of two young musicians testing the tensile strength of their partnership. You can hear just how far Bonnie and Pete have travelled, literally and artistically.

The story of them being stranded in New Zealand during the pandemic has become part of their mythology, but it genuinely changed the band's trajectory. What began as a temporary detour became a crucible: months of enforced stillness, unexpected community, and a kind of creative isolation that sharpened their songwriting. You can still hear that experience in the way their music holds both spaciousness and urgency, as though they learned to breathe differently.

Bonnie's lineage, daughter of UK blues singer Zoe Schwarz, has always been an intriguing footnote, but on Better For Now it feels more like a subtle inheritance. There's a new depth in her vocal phrasing, a bluesy ache that wasn't foregrounded before, woven into the duo's chamber folk textures without ever overwhelming them. Pete's accordion remains an emotional engine, but he's playing with a broader palette now: more rhythmic bite, more harmonic daring, more willingness to let the instrument snarl as well as sigh. Bonnie's cello given more room compliment and contradict.

And then there's the shift that longtime listeners will feel most keenly: Good Habits are now a trio. The addition of drummer Jen Walinetski is transformative. Rather than simply adding volume or drive, she gives the music a heartbeat, a supple, responsive pulse that opens up new rhythmic possibilities. Where Quarter Life often felt like two people dancing on a tightrope, Better For Now has a grounded confidence, a sense of propulsion that lets Bonnie and Pete stretch further melodically and emotionally.

The songs themselves feel like dispatches from a band who've grown up, toughened up, and learned to trust their instincts. There's reflection here, but also release; melancholy, but also momentum. Good Habits have always excelled at turning personal upheaval into something communal, and this album feels like their most generous offering yet.

Better For Now is the sound of a band expanding in number, in scope, in emotional reach, without losing the intimacy that made them special. It's a record shaped by detours, inheritances, and hard-won clarity, and it lands with the quiet conviction of a group who know exactly who they are.

Angie Ingrams

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