Throughout 2024, there was one band name that kept cropping up in conversations with, it seemed at the time, anyone and everyone in the industry, the band name in question… Good Health, Good Wealth.
I finally managed to catch them live towards the end of the year, and it was an exceptional performance. Just two lads, one with a guitar and a bit of tech, one with a mic delivering a spoken word sermon on the modern life of a twenty-something whilst encouraging the crowd to ‘ave it’ at every opportunity.
The crowd certainly did ‘ave it’… It was hard not to, with such a full-on electric blend of UK garage breakbeat, good old-fashioned acid house, and a bit of indie thrown in.
Fast forward six months to Friday night at The Isle of Wight Festival and the lad’s headline set at the ‘ThisFeelin’ tent was my festival highlight, and judging by the crowd, it was a lot of people’s highlight!
Previous releases, several of which are from this record, have been great, but as individual tracks didn’t quite capture the feeling of ‘event’ that a Good Health Good Wealth show is, and certainly didn’t convey the emotion the work conjures as a collection, but the album, well, that’s a whole different ball game.
‘This Time Next Year We’ll Be Millionaires’ takes the form of a week in the life of a twenty-something artist navigating the setbacks, the escapist highs and the subsequent brutal come-downs of life in a London that’s no place for the weak.
Severn songs dealing with a week in a far from glamorous world where it’s the little wins that matter, the little wins that push you to survive and believe, all wonderfully interspersed with voice notes from nearest and dearest setting the scene for what’s about to follow…
From the opening wit and reflection of ‘ Full Circle’ (Wednesday: The Parking Ticket) with its wry observation, ‘sometimes we get a free burger with our parking ticket’ through the longing for closure and moving on, ‘The Cafe’ (Thursday: The Ex), right up through to the much-needed and inspirational parental love, no matter what, of ‘Beautiful Boy’ (Monday: The Phone Call) ‘you won’t find glamour and gloss inside a plastic bag’ ‘doesn’t matter you’re still mine, ….beautiful boy’, every moment of this record is sobering, reflective yet uplifting.
Vocalist/producer Bruce Breakey and multi-instrumentalist/producer Simon Kuzmickas have pretty much self-produced the entire record, crafting a very personal, very immersive experience. The result is a record which is much more than the sum of its constituent parts.
This is a record to play in its entirety, to absorb yourself in. A true modern masterpiece.
Good Health Good Wealth are about to embark on a short tour throughout late November and tour the UK as guests of Big Special next February.
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